7.19.13 DIY Friday

DIY Friday, I mean Sunday

Hello guys! It's only the second week into my blogging experience, and I'm already falling behind schedule. Oh boy. Anyway, I was trying to decide what to do for a DIY Friday this past week, when BAM, all of a sudden, I had a billion different projects at once.

Okay, not a billion, but I am working on building a bar for my brother to take to his college house, some rustic pallet artwork for my sister's wedding, and gold metals for the first annual Beer Olympics with some friends (we got the idea for Beer Olympics from the wonderful blog of Team Studer. Check it out at http://studerteam.blogspot.com/2012/07/4th-annual-studers-invitational-beer.html). Not to metnion, I just got a bunch of hand-me-downs that I need to alter.

So out of these projects, this DIY page is going to be about pallets. Yes pallets. It seems they are everywhere on pinterst. I just saw a link for making a teepee out of pallets. Seriously, what don't people do with pallets? Anyway, so here are some tips for those who want to try some pallet projects, but don't know where to start.

1. Don't pay for your pallets. There are so many places you can get your pallets for free. I get mine from the local John Deere. But any construction/manufacturing/etc. place will have pallets, and if you ask nicely, I'm sure they'll give them to you for free.

2. Remember that although pallets are free, they take time and work. Depending on what your project is, you'll more than likely have to disassemble each pallet and sand each plank of wood. Here are some tips for disassembling:

So here is your basic pallet. This one would be a really nice one because it doesn't have any stains or markings other than the nails pounded into it.

• Things you should have are a crowbar, a large hammer, a long big flathead screwdriver, and a regular size hammer.
• Start with the middle. Carefully wedge the tip of the crowbar between the two pieces of wood by tapping it in like a nail with the large hammer. Use the crowbar as a lever to loosen the nails. If the crowbar is too damaging to the wood, use the long flathead screwdriver and small hammer instead.



• Do the same thing to the outside ends until the board comes off.

• Do this to all the boards. Remove the nails from the boards you want to keep with the small hammer. Remember to keep the nails in one spot so nobody gets a flat tire or a nail in the foot.

3. Try to pick out pallets with the least amount of work. This one seems obvious, but if you're like me, you go a little overboard on free stuff. And then you have piles and piles of dirty pallets sitting around that you don't have time to do anything with. Look for holes in the pallets, knots (these are very rough and will take a power sander to get smooth), the roughness of the wood, and how dirty it is. I would actually probably choose something with a little bit of mud on it rather than a really rough pieces of wood if you are hand sanding, since the mud will come off much easier than the rough edges on the wood.

Those are the tips I have for you. Hopefully by next week I will have at one of my many projects done to share with you guys.

Happy Friday Sunday!