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. 

Taking a Little Detour

(June 13, 2012)

While this post is not about pallets... it's still part of the adventure. Remember how I said this whole thing was started by a visit to Pinterest? Well... part of that was not only reclaiming wood... but also other pieces... like furniture. I wish I would have taken pictures of these items when I first got them. But here are a few pieces that I picked up at the local Goodwill. The round table and chair were $8 together  and the other small table was $5.

I took some primer to the table before I remembered to get the picture. 

(Notice the pallets in the background :)

 My backyard is very shady so it's hard to get some good pics. And I think my husband may have been on a mowing strike or something (LOL) because the grass is really high.

The idea was to take the round table and chair and paint it blue for my youngest son, James. And then paint the top of it with chalkboard paint. He picked out the color. Here he is posing with all the supplies I got. What started out as simple ended up with me getting more than I expected.

The table and chair are not actually done yet. The chair and the table legs are painted. I ran out of paint and had to get more. At that point I got focused on the pallets and haven't been back to it yet. I really need to get it done. 

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.