Wheelbarrow Rebuild Using Pallet Wood

A useful and versatile accessory, most of us who garden or undertake DIY projects need a wheelbarrow from time to time. The most familiar, commercially available type is the tubular metal-framed single-wheeled one with a pressed-steel painted or galvanised tray attached. It is this latter component which most often succumbs to corrosion or damage resulting in many of them left to decay in a remote corner of the yard/garden or taken to the 'tip'. Our 'barrow was no exception, and after about 10 years of use, the tray became detached from the frame due to corrosion around the mounting holes.

I made a pallet wood replacement for this and it served its purpose for about 8-10 years. During the last few months in this form, I could see the inherent mechanical weaknesses in my version and so as the frame and wheel were still in running order, I determined to make a more robust wooden tray.

Design Inspiration

It was while I was leafing through a copy of 'The Home-Lovers Encyclopedia' published by The Amalgamated Press Ltd., London that I came across the plans for making a wheelbarrow from wood, this included how to make the wheel, which would require the aid of a blacksmith to fit a  'hoop' around it. The book dates from the mid 1930's and the type of wheelbarrow can be seen in garden photos from that era, or conversely, many modern types are sold as 'planters' for the garden.

Nevertheless, I could see that some of the elements of the design would be an improvement on my first version of the tray so I set to with a stock of pallet wood and a few tools.

Construction 

The crucial feature of the new tray I was making was the base which comprised of planks nailed to two 3" x 1¼" (75mm x 30mm) 'rails'. These latter were set to the width of the barrow frame upon which the original tray was attached.

The rails extended beyond the intended base dimension so as to provide a suitable anchoring point for the front wall supports (the wall nearest to the wheel). The rigidly supported front wall was also the basis of the front support of the side walls. The side walls were at an angle to the tray base so as to make the open top of the tray wider than at the base and to this end angled supports for the rear of the side wall could be rigidly attached to the tray support rails.

When I made the tray base, I had in the workshop several offcuts of tongue and groove pine floorboards which were ⅞" (22mm) thick. I had cut off both the tongue and the groove sides because at the time, the project I was undertaking only required planed wooden planks resulting in a finished width of 3½" (90mm). 

To ensure that the bottom rails would sit closely against the frame tubes, I turned the barrow frame upside down and laid it on the workbench, positioned the rails how I wanted them against the tubes and marked that position on the bench top with a piece of chalk. I lifted the barrow off the bench and could then cut each base plank to width and shape by laying each plank onto the rails and drawing the cutting lines with a pencil using the rail edges as the guides.

Once cut, I attached the planks to the rails with 2" (50mm) nails. To prevent splitting the planks I pre-drilled pilot holes for the nails and secured each plank starting with that at the handle end of the barrow. There was a slight taper in the width of the barrow tubes towards the wheel and this was my reason for not cutting the planks to a measured width. Once all the planks were attached, I was able to try the base on the barrow for fit. The base was then attached using the existing holes in the barrow frame, 4 holes were drilled in the base and coach bolts were used to secure it.

The front wall supports were then attached to the rails. These were inclined at the desired angle and secured to the rails with two coach bolts. To ensure that both supports were at the same angle, a plank was laid on the tray bottom and rested against the first fixed wall support, the second support was then put into position on the rail and inclined to meet the plank prior to fixing. The three planks comprising the front wall were put in place, the lowest plank was planed at an angle so as to fit to the base. The planks were cut to overhang each of the wall supports by at least 1" (25mm). The lower two planks were nailed and the topmost one screwed to the supports.

The rear wall's angle was set by that made by the barrow's up-swept frame tubes against which the first plank could rest. As with the front wall, the lower edge of this plank was planed so as to fit to the base.

The side wall supports were then cut from 1¼" (30mm) planking. They were to be attached to the rails at the rear of the barrow and were cut so as to 'lean out' from the rails to produce the slope for the sidewalls. The limiting criteria for the slope was that the tray width would not exceed the handle width so as to be able to pass through the doors of our greenhouses. Each of these supports were glued, screwed and bolted to the rails, with the rear face resting against the sloping face of the first rear wall plank. The two rear wall planks were then screwed to the supports. As with the front wall, the planks were cut oversize and the surplus sawn off, using the sloping face of the side wall supports as the saw guide.

The side walls were to be level with the top edges of both front and rear walls and to determine this height I used two try squares, the first held on the base and the second held against the perpendicular straight edge and lowered to let its blade touch the upper edge of the wall. The height could then be read off from the edge of the first square. It was evident that the wall height needed to be greater at the front than at the rear so I needed to cut the first, lowest, planks with a taper. I was fortunate that I had a second plank wide enough to complete the wall and of the same thickness as the tapered one. I used this piece as the guide to determine the angle for the front side wall support by positioning this piece against the  inside face of the rear side wall support and kept the long edge along the base edge. The front support position could then be marked on the front wall. Suitable lengths for the supports were cut and screwed to the front wall at the marked position so that the sidewalls would rest against the supports hence any load in the barrow would tend to push the walls against them.

I cut the lower sidewall planks to the correct taper and as with the other two walls, planed a chamfer on the bottom edges so as to fit closely against the base. At the deeper front end of this tapered piece I was able to screw it to the side wall support but at the rear, which was only about ½"(12mm)  high, I screwed it to the base. Now that the first pieces were in place, the second piece of the wider plank could be cut to fit the sloping front and rear walls and screwed into place.

As some of the timber was overlong such as the tray base rails and the rear sidewall supports, I was now able to finish the rebuild by trimming  off the surplus.

Road Test

Now was the time to move the barrow into the garden and put it to work. Initially, I was quite surprised  by how much heavier the barrow felt especially as I had to negotiate 5 steps up to enter the garden from the workshop. However, once in normal use in the garden this extra weight was not noticeable. The great advantage now that the rebuild is complete is that I can very easily attach extension walls to carry less dense loads such as leaves, hay etc.

So for very little cost, I have no doubt that the usable life of this wheelbarrow has been extended by at least another 5 - 10 years and will be used as a roost just as the last one was (see above) for years to come.

I have recently acquired another, older, wheelbarrow which needs the same treatment and will give us the luxury of being a 'two wheelbarrow household' - such decadence.

The Film

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Until next time and from a rainy day in Normandie,

Cheers, Andy

© Andy Colley 2019