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Pallets of your dreams!

12K views 31 replies 22 participants last post by  mochoa 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
In the spirit of Bertha's famous ""Handplanes of your dreams"":http://lumberjocks.com/topics/26023 , how about a post dedicated to our favorite reclaimed wood projects, ideas, and musings?

Here's one of my favorites built from reclaimed fir flooring and mixed pallet pieces (sorry for pic quality):
Wood Shelving Shelf Wood stain Hardwood


This post is brought to you courtesy of the humble pallet:
Rectangle Wood Natural material Wood stain Hardwood
 

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#2 ·
That's awesome. Love to see furniture out of reclaimed wood. We get solid surface counter top materials on large skids and have made a lot of farm table legs from the skids. Takes some time to get all the nails out of them but well worth the time and the nail holes add…character that women seem to love.
 
#8 ·
I have been a dumpster diver all of my life. It started with the need to eat, but I quickly learned that much can be gained for free if ou know what, where, and when to look, and are willing to put invest the elbow grease to make something out of someone else's trash.

Many of my pieces of personal furniture contain much repurposed lumber that would have been otherwise tossed in the trash. Most of said wood was obtained from my employers, manufacturers who toss their scrap when it builds up too much. Here are two examples that contain high percentages of scrap wood.

First, I found a used 4×4 used to sticker an incoming lift of lumber. I noticed how heavy it was and took it home before it got tossed. It turned out to be a gorgeous, refractive piece of hardwood with a warm orange glow to it. I paired it with some pieces of ebony I had left over from another project, and voila! A christma gift for my wife. We love it, and it sits proudly on our fireplace mantle.
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The next piece is a 5 drawer chest made from old discarded mahogany doors. I literally pulled this solid Genuine Mahogany from a 40yd, dumpster at a door & window manufacturer.

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Note the pieces of dowels showing in the underside of the lid. They are kind of like battle scars.
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I made this in my early days of ww and didn't have too many tools then. I resawed the 1.75" stiles on an old, underpowered tablesaw, then meticulously thickness planed them on a craftsman 4.125" jointer. Each of the cases' sides you see, and some of the drawer fronts fronts too, are made up of edge glued 1.75" wide pieces! Even the mirror's moulding was pulled from the dumpster. I rabbeted it's back, mitered it, and there you have it.

The Vert, Grained Douglas Fir drawers sides were made & glued up in the same way as the case.
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#10 ·
I love reclaimed wood. Almost all my projects are reclaimed from something. My wood store is Craigslist's Free section. I pick up off-cutts, old furniture, you name it. It takes work, the wood is not always what you would like (but then again when is it?) and the price is awesome. And there is nothing like making an 'awesome' find. Like about $300 worth of mahogany and maple being thrown out by a commercial cabinet shop because they 'need the room'. My most usefull project was made with free wood found on Craigslist. Its my workbench. It is by far my most valuable tool!

Table Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank


Anyway this post is about the pallet. My favorite pallet project is this toolbox I made for my son. It is being used by me now, but that was the plan. I make it, use it and then when he is ready he will take it, and whatever is in it (He is 12, I have time to give it good character).

Wood Wood stain Chair Pollinator Art


(also see my own tribute to the wonderfull pallet)
 

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#11 ·
Wow! Lots of projects already! That 5 drawer chest is unbelievable. I'll have to start digging around in the dumpsters at cabinetry and millwork shops for sure.

Tokolosi's workbench gives me bench envy. Also, very cool to have an heirloom toolchest to hand down to your son :)
 
#12 ·
What a great idea for a thread Jesse. Wait until Mads see this. He's always picking up some useful wood that's been chucked out and strapping it to his roof rack.
 
#13 ·
What a wonderful idea to collect the recycle posts.
And what wonderful projects you all show here.


Pallet wood.


Pallet wood.


Pallet wood.


Recycle wood, could be pallet.


Pallet wood.


Pallet wood.


Pallet wood.


Old winebox recycle.


This one from a old parasol.

As you can see I have a soft spot for recycle, and especially for pallets, this modern throw away life hurts my cave man, so I have big joy in making my humble contribution to saving - if not the planet - then at least some wonderful wood from beeing trashed.

Best thoughts,
Mads
 
#14 ·
I love recycled projects. As many of you know I spend a lot of time restoring vintage tools, but a good share of my wood projects come from some sort of recycled or reclaimed wood.

Here is just a few.

From a house remodel…...


From the firewood pile


What loggers left for firewood
 
#16 ·
Chips - Once when I visited Mads, I was waiting at the train station and he turned up to collect me and his roof rack was packed with wood that he'd scavenged. In Denmark, people have the opportunity to put stuf they don't want out on the pavement and the authorities will take it away. Mads gets in first and loads up his car. Great idea.
 
#18 ·
I have an old toyota corolla, I found an aluminum roof luggage rack in the trash and put it on top. The rack is bigger than the roof, but the feet of it just fit. I've had it loaded with an amazing amount of scavenged wood on trash days. I get some looks, but hey, free is free ;)

I've used pallets on occasion, but most of my wood is reclaimed from houses slated for demo
 
#19 ·
When I moved my wife from Ontario to Alberta. I Flew into Toronto, loader her Malibu, whatever went in car is all she took. I instisted ROOF RACK…..NO were her words. She said did you ever watch movie with CHEVY CHASE going camping ? ALL the way to ALBERTA, 2500kms ,almost every car go by with roof rack, tarp blowing in wind and things flying OFF, we giggled . WE ARE STILL TOGETHER TODAY.
AND I am NOT ALLOWED a roof rack ….........
 
#21 ·
Yesterday I was on Craigslist and I found an add in the "Free" section where someone was giving away a stack of old wood. I responded and the person got back to me and said I could come pick it up. I was not expecting much but when I got there I saw they had a huge pile of redwood, old oak beams, old grown pine and other misc hardwood. There was enough to fill the whole back of my truck. This will keep me busy for a while.
Automotive tail & brake light Car Vehicle Automotive tire Automotive lighting


There were at least 10 Redwood planks that were about 10ft long.
Automotive parking light Car Tire Wheel Land vehicle
 

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#24 ·
My buddy got a pallet made from some type of exotic rosewood and some other stuff almost like mahogany. Lucky little bugger. It was a huge pallet too, with 5/4 for top rails, 4/4 on the bottom, and four 6' long 4×4's for main supports. The pallet was 6'x8' total size, a monster, and all exotic wood.

I'll see if I can get him to send me pics of what he made and has left from it.

I've looked at ship yards and reproduction antique sellers who gets pallets of repro furniture in from all over the place, and I've not found anything like his find yet.
 
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