What to do?

(July 14, 2012)

Wow... Things have certainly changed over the past 4-5 weeks. I think that I've become totally addicted to woodworking. Over the last few days I've not only completed my first few projects, I've also joined some woodworking communities. LOL! Yes... you know you are an addict when you join some communities. Today I worked on my blog and also got on Google+. I found a woodworking circle that has like 500 people in it. This is a group of people that are interested in woodworking. I went from following two people and having no followers... to having 9 followers and now I'm following over 500. WOW! And that was all within a few minutes.

Anyhow... here is where I am. I haven't acquired any new pallets lately. I've sort of been researching and acquiring some tools and some other consumable items. I really have an itch to make something with the pallet wood though. I keep thinking... rip it, cut it, make some more frames, make a box, make a cutting board, make an end grain cutting board, a bird feeder... anything. Problem... it's not square. None of the wood is square. I really would like to get a planer and a jointer. The hubby says that a planer is something that I don't need till I really start making big projects like furniture and after I've been doing this for some years. But man... I've got a pile of free wood just calling my name. I'd like to do something with it now. So the debate is... do I get the planer now... or wait?

Remember my boards?  Here are just a few of the 2"x4"s. 

And on here, the right side has a few of the boards as well. And look at that stack! That wood just wants to be re-purposed and used to make something. 

OH!OH!OH! I forgot to tell you something. I got some good news and some bad news yesterday. Bad news... my friend Matt says that the band saw he was tuning up for me is not gonna happen. It just doesn't work. The good news.... my table saw is ready. YEAH!!! Doing the happy dance! And... another great bit of news... he has made me a "pallet ripper" as he calls it. Matt is a man of many talents. I asked someone on facebook a question about welding and come to find out he can do that too. So I showed him a YouTube video on reclaiming pallet wood and he made me the tool they use. I can't wait to share it with you! It's going to be awesome 

Here is a pic of Matt. He's my friend/brother-in-law, supplier (tools that is, lol) and my wood mentor. 

James took this picture :)

So... right now... I am planning a trip to go to Matt's and get my table saw. Did I mention that he found a little work table for me too? It wasn't ready last time because he was putting a new top on it. The table saw wasn't quite ready because he was putting a zero clearance insert for the blade and put a new (slightly used) blade on it. Man... he is hooking me up. Like I said... he's my supplier. LOL

Anyhow... a trip is being planned. Probably going to go next Friday (today is Saturday). I'll get my table saw, my "pallet ripper" and my new work table. He told me yesterday that he did too good of a job on the table that now he likes it so much that he wants to keep it. I can't wait to see it. 

Also while there... he said that I could bring up my boards and use his jointer and planer. I have a feeling that this will just cement in my mind that I want both of these tools. And... he said he's going to show me some of his jigs. We may even make some while I'm there so I can take home. I can't wait!!!

I look forward to sharing with you again tomorrow. Hopefully I will have a project to share with you. I'm planning on making a box. Not out of pallet wood though :(

Some Odds & Ends

These are just some of the tools that I've acquired. I thought I'd share them with you. While I took the pictures all the same day... (July 14, 2012)... I've been picking things up along the way. 

This crow bar is actually the FIRST brand new tool that I bought. It saved me ALOT of time. 

I picked these router bits up the same day that I got my Bosch Router Table. I wasn't sure what to buy but I had my first project in mind so I just bought the bits it called for. The project called for a 3/4" roundover bit and a 1/2" straight bit. But I saw these sets and got these instead. Again... taking picture with my phone so they aren't the best. My good camera is back in action so hopefully I'll be using it again. 

Three straight bits and three roundovers.

This thing comes in real handy. It's simple but I love it. I have to work in the yard because of the lack of space in the garage. So having to drag the extension cord out every time was becoming a pain. I didn't even think about this. The hubby found it and suggested it for me. Notice it has 4 plugs? I was pulling this cord out... plugging in my miter saw and making a cut... then unplugging to use my router... then unplugging the router to plug in the sander.... then plugging the miter saw in again... and so on and so on... it was a pain. This really helps :)

Here are some things I scavenged from my hubby. The clamp on the left I actually bought at the flea market. I use the other two clamps (he has 2 more) and I've also found his double sided tape to come in quite handy.

More things that I've picked up at Lowes. Some paint brushes, my OWN safety glasses, a metal square, some gorilla glue, a scraper for removing the excess glue and some MinWax. On the right is my stain that I just picked up and I got some polyurethane. My son Kyle actually picked the stain color to match a table that he built in shop class at school. I think it's called Early American. And he said that I'd need the polyurethane, so I got some of it too. The black and red clamp looking this on the lower left is a Bessey clamp that I got. Mainly I got it for picture frames but the hubby said he'd probably have some uses for it at some point too. I'm sure it will get used. Also, above that is two small clamps. 

More stuff that I scavenged from the hubby's garage. The blue tape is just painters tape. I used it on a project (I'll be sharing what project later)

I made another trip to the ReStore and picked up these items. More stain, steel wool pads, a sanding block and some zip ties. I totally plan on using those zip ties to attach an extension cord to the work bench I plan on using. I saw that tip in a YouTube video. Guess how much all this cost? The Minwax that I bought at Lowes was like $6.77 or $7 something. The stain here was $3.89 and was a full unopened can. The steel wool was .75, .25 each for zip ties and .98 for the sanding block. Not bad, huh? Under $7. I got all this for the same price that I paid for just one can of stain. 

Side note: Guess what I found out when I made this trip to the ReStore? I asked if "the back" was open. They said that it was a one time special event. Usually they just use that warehouse to move stuff up as they sell things. I just happened to go on that day and didn't even realize it. They move stuff up quite often so I need to be going every Friday and Saturday. They are only open two days a week. Guess where I'll be going next Friday?

More tools that I scavenged from the hubby. He has all kinds of sandpaper like this. I have decided that I don't like his sander that uses this paper. But I can use it to hand sand. So I'm glad he has such a big stock. There is more in the garage. AND... he tells me that he has one of those finish sanders. He called it a mouse sander. I don't know what it's called but I know what it looks like. The Kobalt tape measure is one that he just picked up. It's more for him. I like the smaller one anyways. And this hammer is one of the three that I keep using. He won't let me use the rubber mallet on the pallets. Not that I want to... but i can see a need for it in the future.

 And of course... I'm always on the look out for more pallets. Found this little guy.... ummm.... actually I don't remember where. LOL! But I have found three places that have pallets come in pretty regularly. One has some really NICE looking ones. Then I found that the newspaper in town has a steady supply (if you get there before someone else does) and I found quite a few at the local pool supply store. They said anytime I see any by the dumps to go ahead and pick them up as I wish. I saw a bunch the other day. But I had too many kids with me and couldn't fit any in my van. The lady kind of looked at me funny when I told her I'd be back with my van to pick them up. I just lay the back seat down and they fit perfectly. 

I also found quite a few odd sized one behind the family dollar store in town. They said I could take them... haven't been back yet. Actually... that's where I got this one. Just couldn't fit anymore because of the kids. :)

I look forward to sharing a project with you on my next post. 

Reclaiming Pallet Wood & Storage Challenge

(July 1, 2012)

So I have this little workstation going on. I've shared this picture with you before. See the pallet laying there with the blue arrow pointing to it? This little guy gave me some issues. He just did not want to be taken apart. 

Here's a little closer look at him. Seems harmless enough, doesn't he? Well... let me tell you.. He wasn't. I don't know what kind of wood that is that those boards are nailed to but I could not get those boards off with out destroying them completely. After I removed two boards, and cracked them all the way up and down, I tried to get the nails out. They would not budge. So I don't know if it's the boards or the nails. BUT... these nails are the same nails that I've seen before. They are the spiral ones but I've removed them before with no problem. 

Well... I decided that I had enough. And this pallet wood looked pretty good so I didn't want to just write it off as a loss and I didn't want to keep destroying the boards. So I got the Jigsaw out. Actually... I went with the Skilsaw first, but I soon found that I needed to put it on the charger. But the Jigsaw actually worked just fine. So I cut the boards off along the rails. 

Now I have this nice stack of boards that I can actually do something with. And... while they aren't square... they are all in pretty good shape. I have already sanded some of them down.

 And I've also cut the other boards off. All that's left are the sides. Since I can't get the nails out, I guess they are bound for the junk pile. I'm not sure what I will do with that wood yet. I've always lived in the town so I don't know about building bonfires. I would assume that the nails wouldn't be a problem and that someone could use the wood in their bonfire and clean the nails up the next day. ??? I just don't know. 

 Anyhow... the hubby can't tell the difference between the boards that I want to keep and the ones that are "scrap". These boards... are not scrap. They are what I consider usable and I want to make something with them. My "scrap" pile is a pile of wood that maybe has cracks in it or some other defect. I want to use it for testing out my tools or for shims or for whatever. It's wood I just don't care about but that I don't want to throw away. Most of the stuff I throw away in my "junk" bin is stuff that has nails in that I cant get out. Or some other defect that I feel like I can't really use for anything.
So what does the hubby do...? He keeps trying to use these boards that I just spent forever salvaging and he wants to use them as scrap wood or junk wood. He tried to take them to use as block stops for his trailer even.

My point isn't to complain about my dear hubby. He's not trying to irritate me (at least I don't think so LOL), but he just doesn't know. So... what do I do about it? I have my own system of knowing which wood is which... but it's really only known to me and not obvious enough, I guess. So I need to come up with an idea of separating my "good wood" and my "scrap wood". I would love some suggestions. Keep in mind that some of the wood is small boards like the ones in the picture above. Maybe 12" long. And other boards are longer. Also, some are thinner and then I also have some 2"x4"s.

So consider it a challenge. I don't care if you share an idea that you've done on your own or something you've seen on a blog somewhere or on Pinterest. I wish I had a price to give away to motivate... but for now... it's just a plain ole personal challenge. LOL... wouldn't it be nice to have some stuff to give away? LOL

I look forward to your suggestions. :)

More Tools!

(June 23, 2012)

I know I'm backing up in my time line but I had to go back and talk about my new tools. I had passed by this building hundreds of times. I guess it used to be part of the County Highway Garage or something. So I never paid attention to it. It looked plain enough. 

Doesn't look like much does it? Well... I guess one day I finally read a sign and saw that it said "ReStore". I had no idea what that meant and moved on. But as I was scanning the world of blogs about pallets and reclaimed wood there was also this whole "upcycle" community. And I kept seeing posts where someone picked something up real cheap at some place called the ReStore. 

Finally one day I passed it again and when I saw it something finally clicked. So I turned back around and pulled in. Of course... it was closed. :( But there was the sign. 

                                

Now it all made sense. So I checked the times and made a mental note to come back. I stopped in another day and wondered around. It's a small place and I really liked it but I guess I expected more. On this trip I had went with two of my step daughters, Bailey and Jenna, and of course James was with us.  

On the next trip it was just me and my daughter Brianna. We walked in the door and the guy at the counter said "the back is open today too". I probably looked like it was time to open the presents at Christmas. I was like... "the back? there's a back?". Of course we took off and went straight to the back. 

Now if you go back and look at the picture... the entrance to the ReStore is on the other side of that big pine tree. See the big grey building in the back? That's "the back". It was one of those HOT days that we had here that was like 100 degrees. There's a gate and we had to walk to the back. That's not normally an issue. It's not that far. But when it's 100 out, it's miserable. Was it worth it? YES! I felt like a kid in a candy store. They had all sorts of stuff. This was the big warehouse where they take donations and sort everything out. And even better... they had some teen/college age volunteers working it. Some of the stuff was not marked. Brianna found half a can of paint in her favorite color... blue. The guy looked at her like... why would you want that?. He told her $1. She jumped on it. 

They have mostly stuff like kitchen cabinets, sinks, tubs, trim, appliances, furniture. All sorts of things. It was miserable hot so I had decided that it would just have to wait for the next time. Brianna started complaining that it was time to leave. So... I gave up. I rounded the corner to leave the warehouse and I saw this little grey box. Looked like a box for a tool so I grabbed it.... Brianna protesting the whole time that it was time to go. Inside I found this.....

I was like... ewwweeee... awwweee (imagine a kid at the fireworks). A router! I had wanted one. Thought about them, but wasn't really looking to buy one. So I asked the young guy... "how much?" He looked at me and said.... "I don't really know. I think he said I could sell it for $25".

LOL!!!

So... in the next aisle over is this man. Probably in his late 40's early 50's. He hears "$25" and runs over and stares with a look on his face that said "are you gonna buy that?". I asked if I could turn it on and try it out. I looked at the older guy and said "I think I'm going to buy it". He was kinda drooling even more than me. So the young kid turned it on and it worked. The other man was quite disappointed that I took it. Of course he rebounded quickly and started talking to me about. It was obvious he has a love for woodworking. He talked to me about all kinds of things. He even explained the bits to me. It came with 7. 

I know that there are 2- veining bits, 2 - 1/8" straight bits, 1- V-groove... and I don't remember what the other two are. So for $25 I snagged the router. The whole time Brianna is begging me to leave.

As you can tell from the pic. It's a Skil, 2 HP Variable Speed Plunge Router

So as I'm leaving, right next to the router I see this....

 So I ask the guy how much.... again I got the shoulder shrugging that he didn't know. Then he said "$20". I wasn't sure about it and actually left. But I ended up calling my friend Matt and he said for that price I might as well pick it up. So I went back to the store. Brianna is 12, almost 13.... so the eyes were rolling. LOL... Anyways... I love my new tools. This little Skilsaw has actually came in pretty handy. And the blade on it looks brand new. The young kid that checked me out said that a guy had just dropped those tools off.

(June 30, 2012) 

So... another trip to Matt's. This trip was to visit with my sister. My brother and his family also went up and all SEVEN of my kids. Luckily a couple rode with my brother. They live on a lake so the day was spent swimming, cooking out and enjoying each others company. Of course... the trip could not be complete without a visit to the work shop. He didn't have my table saw and band saw ready but he had the scroll saw ready. Here it is. It's an older saw. It's a Craftsman. It has a 3" blade. Which... they don't sell at the stores. Only on eBay. But I got home... plugged it in and cut away. I don't intend to do a lot of scroll work so it will serve my purpose. And another tool to add to my collection :)

It's ran by a foot peddle like a sewing machine. 

I don't know how old this is... but it looks like it's seen a few years. 

All in all it was a good day! Here is a pic of 5 of the kids. The oldest, Kyle (16) and the youngest, James (3) are the only ones not in this pic. This was their last jump in the lake of the day. They all decided to hold hands and jump in at the same time. James is not brave enough to jump yet (thank goodness), and Kyle is too old to join in. It was a great day.

More Reclaimed Furniture

(June 26, 2012)

You may have noticed in one of my pictures in the last post that there were some dresser drawers. This was a piece that I found on Facebook. One of the groups that I'm a part of is called "Free-Recycle". Some posted this dresser as free because of the top drawer being missing. Well... back to Pinterest. LOL. I had seen several posts of dressers that were redone because of missing drawers. The plan... pull out the borken/missing drawer (just the front was missing) and make that dead space a shelf. My daughter Brianna was in love with the idea.

Here is another find that I cam across. Two bench ends at the local antique mall. These were $4 for the set. I just knew that I'd be able to find a way to make a bench with these. Or... I hadn't thought of it before until now.. I could make a chair. Either way... I can't wait to find my inspiration for these. I know whatever I end up doing with them that it will be fun.

Here is another picture of my dresser. I sanded down the top and took out all the drawers. There was a piece of gold plastic decoration along either side. Brianna said that HAD TO GO.

This has become my work area. More pallets laying around to be disassembled too. (Have you got to the point yet that when I say "disassemble" that you hear the voice of Johnny #5? LOL!)

Just a wider shot of the side of my garage. My kids never play in the back yard unless I'm back there. So this may look bad... but it's really not. And generally before I wrap up I always clean up and make sure there is nothing for them to get hurt on.
Oh... and did you notice the dresser in the pic below? I have it sitting on a pallet to keep it off the ground. :)

I found a plastic tote that had a couple of cracks in it. The hubby wanted to throw it away. I found a better use for it. This is where I throw my scrap/trash wood. This trash wood is either too small to make something, too messed up or I couldn't get the nails out.

I look forward to sharing my next post with you!

Road Trip - New Tools!

(June 22, 2012)

At this point it was time for a road trip. As you can see in the above picture I had acquired several pallets and had some wood that I was piling up that needed something for me to do with it. 

Here is another picture of more 2"x4"s that I have all the nails out of. It's ready for the next step. But... what was the next step? I had gotten quite a few (in my opinion) pieces of wood but it was dirty and they were of different sizes and different types of wood. So it was time for a road trip. I called my good friend Matt who is more like family. Well... he kinda is family. He's been dating my sister for 7 years now. They live about an hour and half away. I talked to him on facebook and started talking to him about woodworking because I know he has been doing it for years and has his own wood shop. 

(June 26, 2012)

So I made the trip and checked out his wood shop. He showed me all his tools and his wood stash. Wow! He has a lot of wood! LOL. To my surprise most of it was pallet wood. I was amazed at how he took some dirty pallet wood (just like mine), threw it through the planer and a jointer and was making pieces of furniture. It was incredible. And as we toured his wood shop we found that he had a couple of tools that he was willing to part with. So that started the beginning of my true addiction. 

Here are my first two tools that I brought home from him. A Black & Decker Miter Saw and a Black & Decker Random Orbit Sander. I was SOOOO excited. I was even more excited that I got these for only $40. But at that point... it was all over. It was just the beginning. 

On the way home the first thing I did was stop at the store and pick up some sanding paper.

Side note: I have a Lowe's in my town. Usually this was where I shopped. On my way home I stopped at a Home Depot. As much complaints as I may have about Lowes... my hometown Lowe's has EXCELLENT customer service. Home Depot (at least this one)... sucked. Sorry... I just didn't like the whole experience.

So... this did not stop me... I got a package of sanding paper for my new sander. It had 60-100-150 in it. So as soon as I got home... first thing I did was grab some of my boards and start sanding. I kept to the 60 and didn't spend a whole lot of time. I just wanted to see what "could" be done. Here is a picture of my first sanding experience.

 The bottom is what the middle board started out looking like. The top board I sanded half of it just to see the difference. I was totally hooked and just kept sanding boards.

Matt also had a couple of other tools for me that I didn't bring home. He said he had a table saw, band saw and a scroll saw. He wanted to tune them up, clean them up and get them ready before I took those home. But if I was that excited about a sander.... what do you think would happen with a table saw? LOL!

Back to my Pallets

(June 18, 2012)

So... I scavenged some more pallets.

I found a great place that gave me quite a few. I packed as many as I could in the back of my van. Since my acquiring the pallets is happening faster than my dis-assembly (insert Johnny#5 voice here)... I cleared out a place behind my garage to store them neatly.




























I didn't get pictures of all that I did pick up. But first before I started stacking them I took the blue pallet (first pic above) as my base. I figured I'd never use it for anything so I might as well use it as a base to stack. You can't see it in that picture but to the right of it is another pallet where I began storing the wood after it was completely disassembled... no nails, no staples... just wood ready to prep for use.

And then... I also decided to make a better "workstation". So I made a nice pile of pallets to work from, making sure to use the worst pallet I could find as my bottom.
Here's my "workstation" with my "tabletop" on the top to finish it off. Works great. I have a flat surface to lay items and then in the front I can use the open slots when turning the wood over and driving out the nails.

Notice the "DO IT" board that's in there? Bailey thought it was awesome that it said that on there and that is strategically placed in the stack. It's kinda became a reminder not only that I CAN "Do It"... but it's also a reminder for me to get out there and "Do It". 

And remember my lofty idea of using the reclaimed 2"x4"s to fill in the gaps of my larger piece? Well... here I've started the process. I haven't cut any of the boards to length or attached them yet. I want to see what I have before I start doing that. Still have more pallets to take apart. 

My husband has been skeptical all along. But after I laid the boards out he at least could see where I was going. Of course he wanted to remind me that this is not treated wood and that before I get too eager that I should remember that it's all going to rot out. SO..... not knowing anything about treating wood I'm open to your suggestions about how to do that. I know there is stuff out there to use. But the hard part is going to be getting the parts that are already attached. It's not like I'm going to go through the craziness of taking apart to treat it. So I'm not sure how to go about this process. 

Disassembling

(June 16, 2012)

Time to disassemble 

(thanks to a post I saw I hear Johnny #5 from Short Circuit every time I say/type "disassemble") LOL 

As you can see from the first picture, I've stacked all the pallets up to make a "work station". I then got a board out of the garage to make a "table top". With a plastic cup for the old nails we pulled the boards out, pounded the nails back out and then pried the nails out and threw them in the cup. There were quite a bit of staples as well. The screw driver really helped pull these out. 

Here is some of the process.... 

Here is Bailey, my stepdaughter, helping out. 

These metal plates were a PAIN in the BUTT to get out. But I was sure happy to get those 2"x4"s. 

Here is some of our piles as we were working in the back yard. 

It looks like a mess right now... patience :)

My First Tools

(June 13, 2012)

So I start bringing home these pallets and all I want to do is rip them apart. As I said in my first post, I have no real woodworking experience. I really just wanted to make stuff from this free wood.

So here is where I started...

I talked to my husband and found that he had a jigsaw and a sander. I pulled this table out as a place to sit things. I also confiscated three... yes I said THREE... of his hammers and a screwdriver. Away I went.

Also... I should add that me and my stepdaughter and my son went back to the place that had the pile of pallets and brought quite a bit home.

After bringing these hope we continued our adventure of trying to disassemble these guys. And as you can see... some of these weren't just pallets. The top picture must have had some sort of heavy machinery on it. Then, as you can see, in the next two pictures these pieces look like they were doors or sides or something. They are not regular pallets. And those boards... they are 2"x4"s. The top picture is also 2"x4"s.

Yes... by now you may have decided that I'm a little crazy and that maybe I'm not quite sure what I"m doing. But the plan was to dismantle those door looking pieces with 2"x4"x and use those to fill in the gaps on the larger piece in the first pic. I never have measured how long it is but depth of it is 69".

So armed with 3 hammers and a screwdriver... we began taking these babies apart. At this point I didn't really use the jigsaw or the sander. I was too afraid to cut the wood. LOL... don't know why.

My First Find

(June 12, 2012)

As I said.... Let the adventure begin!

I started off on my new adventure not really knowing what I was looking for or what I would find. As I was running an errand to town I had my eyes peeled. I found myself looking at the dumpsters of every business I drove past. I didn't have the courage to stop anywhere. I did make a mental note of the places that I saw pallets. I was in the neighboring town I passed a small car repair garage. And yes... laying against the wall next to their dumpster was a pallet. It was too late though... I had already passed it. So I summoned all my courage and went back. Two men came out and I asked them about the pallet. They looked at me kind of funny but told me that I could take it and that in fact they had one more out behind the building that they would be happy for me to take off their hands.

My FIRST two pallets :)

I was driving my husbands Dodge Dakota that day so I loaded the two pallets in the back of his truck and took my new found pallets home. Somewhere along the way I ended up picking up one of my daughters. (Bailey is the oldest girl and just turned 13. She is my stepdaughter). I had shared with her what I was doing with the pallets and she jumped on board immediately. We were just about home and she spotted a pallet laying against the wall at another local car repair/tractor parts/??? (I have no idea what this place does really:). But there it was... it didn't look too great. But of course we stopped anyway. As we went into the business Bailey marched ahead of me with a "I've got this!" attitude. She walked up to the guy behind the desk and asked if they had any pallets we could have. Again... the strange look. The guy asked "What are you going to do with them?" Then he paused and said "Wait... I don't need to know what you are going to do with them. YES! I have a whole stack of pallets you can take." He then directed us to the back of the property where there would be a pile.

I don't remember it being this destroyed. But I don't think I cared :)

As we left the store we grabbed the lone pallet laying against the wall and threw it in the back of the truck. We drove around to the back of the property where he had directed us and there was a massive pile of old broken up pallets and all sorts of wood. It was more than I knew what to do with so we decided to come back later. We went home with our three pallets and was quite happy with our find.

I'm not sure if this is a great beginning or not... but... I know I was pretty excited. I look forward to sharing more.