Toolbox

Looks really good! I’ve got some time off myself with no budget for wood as well. Checking Craigslist every day. Might have to go after some pallets…
Again, it looks great. Nice job!

-- If I could just get this whole "Time/Money" problem figured out...

That looks great! I just got a pile of weathered pallets given to me I am going to be disassembling so I can use that wonderful, grayed out stuff to build some custom pieces for my wife.

-- Upstate South Carolina Woodworker

Great salvage. This shows that you do not need new lumber to make things ! Good looking tool chest.

-- "My mission in life - make everyone smile !"

Try a repackaging plant for pallets, especially an industrial one. I’ve gotten really nice red and white oak, cherry, maple, and birch in amazing sizes.

-- --Rev. Russ in NY-- A posse ad esse

If you can find a metal processing service company in your area they almost always have great pallets. It is easier and cheaper for them to throw them out than to recycle and reuse. One of my clients that cut coils of stainless steel into smaller pieces for sink makers etc. used green white oak for all their pallets. The five ton coils came on 4×4 oak pallets. I still have some of them waiting for the right moment.

-- My mother named me Hamilton, I have been trying to earn my nickname ever since.

Nice looking tool box.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Awesome toolbox, neat design, great joints, I really like it.

-- Don, Royersford, PA

Great looking project, especially for a practice project!!! Good luck on running out of time off!

-- "Man's ingenuity has outrun his intelligence" (Joseph Wood Krutch)

Cool looking piece. Gotta love the reclaim !! Great job !!

Great job…love the repurposing of pallets!

-- "The beatings will continue until moral improves" -- Bart Ridings, Illinois

Nice tool box.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

Slick project. Great reuse of “waste” wood, must have been a lot of fun to build.

-- - Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true. -

Thanks to all for the kind comments. It was a really fun project. I will try those tips about where to find pallets tha are made with hardwood.

-- “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” ~ JRR Tolkien

I too love using pallet wood. From your description of the “Dense White Mystery Wood”, I am led to believe you have encountered Sweetgum. I run into it often while reclaiming pallets and shipping crates.

-- "Luck is the bastard child of Preparation and Opportunity" ~Watkinsville, Georgia~

Shawn if you are right I am cutting down that messy Sweetgum in my front yard tomorrow and milling it up for project stock! It was reallt nice wood to work with. Ripped like butter, sanded easy, but dense and solid. And because it was so white it took the stain really well.

-- “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” ~ JRR Tolkien