Home-made Indoor Pallet Wood Trellis Planter - Part 1 the Base

Many people complain that pallet wood isn't a suitable material for use in anything but rough and ready carpentry or cutting edge rustic design. I hope this shows that with a little effort, a free and valuable resource can be used to elegant effect.

Introduction

We have three greenhouses in the garden for growing vegetables, none of which are heated. To overwinter our chilli plants, peppers, aubergines, sweet potatoes, ginger and turmeric we decided to bring them into the kitchen and keep them going and growing in this planter made entirely from pallet wood. In addition we also sowed some nasturtiums and lettuce, this to provide some early fresh leaves for salads. The trellis at the rear of the planter gives us an added dimension in which to grow sweet potato vines and nasturtiums .

Preparation

Because the planter was to be in the house all Winter I decided to plane all the wood so it looked more like an item of furniture. Furthermore, I chamfered each plank's edges to make the walls less monotonous. This being so, all the pallet wood was selected and checked for nails. I planed the surfaces with an electric planer. The chamfering was undertaken with a router with a 45° conical bit.

The wall planks, nailed to top and bottom rails were also planed and chamfered. The planter dimensions were 1.07m x 0.41m x 0.39m this latter dimension was chosen so that three wall planks could be cut from one standard pallet plank of 1.20m.

I selected a a long pallet wood plank, to make the top and bottom rails and cut it in half lengthwise. I then planed and chamfered the two rails.

I did the same with the planks selected to make the walls.

Notice that the planks are not the same width.

To ensure the opposing walls were of the same length, I laid the planks out prior to assembly. A little 'shuffling' was needed until this was achieved. Hey, it is free after all!!

The wall planks were nailed to the upper and lower rails and for aesthetic reasons I decided to mitre the ends of these rails. 

To this end, I laid the rail against the edge of the wall and marked the cutting line at each end which was set by the wall length plus twice the rail thickness (one additional thickness at each end).

Once cut (I used a mitre block to guide the saw) the wall planks were laid on the top and bottom rails and were checked for squareness prior to nailing. To prevent splitting at the end of the planks, I pre-drilled the nail holes with a slightly under-sized drill.

When both front and rear walls were made the operation was repeated for the side walls, once again ensuring the planks were shuffled to give the same wall width.

One important point is that the end sidewall planks were offset from the top and bottom rail ends by the thickness of a wall plank so the mitred ends of the walls would meet.

The four walls were screwed together whilst resting on a smooth flat surface.

Four base-support rails were cut and screwed to the bottom of the planter and planks were cut to the narrower dimension of the inside of the planter.

The two base planks which were butted against the end walls were screwed to the bottom rails as illustrated. This was an essential stage in the assembly as this stiffened the whole planter. So as to have the maximum effect, I selected as wide a plank available for this (105mm/4").

The remaining planks were just laid in position without securing.

 

As usual, there was someone on hand to check the progress of the build.

And that's it! In the next post I'll describe how I made and fitted the trellis. You can find it here

 

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All the best, Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

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DIY Sack Truck Hand Trolley for 1 dollar/euro/pound - Repurposed Pallet Wood.

Vested Interest - Snowman and co trade up to a hand trolley.

How to make a medium duty sack truck from repurposed materials, pallet wood, old (lawn mower) wheels, screws and brackets, total cost of materials:coach bolts, screws and a little glue $1. 

Our old wheelbarrow pictured above has done sterling service. It's metal tray wore out years ago but I relined it with pallet wood and it's still going strong. Every now and then however, it would be useful to have a sack truck for moving heavy items and in particular because the wheelbarrow is often in use elsewhere in the garden.

Making the back rails and shaping the handles

 

To make the handles/back of the truck, select a suitable length of pallet wood timber 100mm x 50mm (4x2). We used one measuring 120cm (just under 4ft).

Cut in half to produce the two pieces.

Sketch an outline of the handle profile you would like.

Cut outside curve to shape and make vertical saw cuts to the line of the inside curve. 

This will allow for the easy removal of surplus wood with a chisel. However, if you have one, the profile can be cut straight out with a band saw.    

After using the saw to reduce the handle width so that it fits better in the palm of the hand, the final shaping is done with the spokeshave.   

Making and fitting the forks 

Cut the forks from a piece of pallet timber of 50mm x 50mm (2x2). I cut these with a circular saw and tapered them, so they were thickest where they were to join the back rails.

Cut the forks to length. I made mine 350mm long (14"). I sized to the fruit crate dimension because this is what I use for stocking my fire wood.

Using a sheet of plywood approx 13mm (½"), recuperated from a low-grade pallet, cut a reinforcing 'plate'. Use the rail and fork as a pattern to mark the shape of the plate.
Alternatively, you can use steel angle plates to act as the reinforcement. You could possibly also repurpose shelf brackets to do the job.   

Drill clearance holes in the plates and also through the back rail.

 
Screw backrail to fork to make sides. Just ensure that the outside angle is at 90°.

  

Glue and screw plates to truck sides. I use a waterproof PVA glue.

I made sure that the plates were on what was to become the inside face of each side.

The truck is now beginning to take shape.



   

Making and assembling the back and base panels

 

 


We are now ready to cut and assemble the three plywood panels, which form the back and base. These come from the same piece of plywood as the corner plates.

Drill screw-clearance holes in the corners of each panel.

Position, glue.....

and screw into place.




 

Fitting the Wheels

The recuperated lawnmower wheels had already been used in a small trolley to transport the roof panels for the hen house. I had recuperated some steel angle brackets from a rather ugly piece of furniture which had outlived its usefulness. 

I only needed to drill an additional hole, the diameter of the wheel mounting shaft, in the side face of each bracket. 

The wheels were attached to the brackets which were then held in place on the truck with G-clamps. This was so that the wheel positions could be checked before the bolt holes were drilled. Just check that the truck can pivot easily on the wheels when the trolley is tipped as when in use.

Remove the wheels so as to allow through holes to be drilled for the mounting bolts. Two bolts in each bracket were enough for load bearing.......

 


and a screw in the third bracket hole resisted any twisting movement but a third bolt could have been used.

I noticed that any wide load could scrape against the wheels - longer wheel brackets would have prevented this. These brackets not being available, I screwed two spacing timbers to the trolley face so that any load would be held clear.

 

Testing, Testing..........

 And now if you'd like to, sit back and watch the film.

Until next time.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment, ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.

All the best, Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

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DIY Pallet Wood Hen House Chicken Coop Part 4 - Assembly contnued and Finishings

Natural Finish - A piece of buddleia branch trimmed to make way for the Hen House is used to fashion its doorknob.

It's day three of the Assembly of the new Hen House. The chicks have spent their first night in their new home. It's bigger and roomier than their old one, never again will I design or make a hen house which doesn't have space for us to stand upright! I also found that putting a door in both back and front makes for ease of cleaning and is a good way of removing perches and keeping the house aired in hot weather. The house is sited on the far side of the garden and is in the angle of the back wall of a neighbouring longère and the North bocage (raised hedge). In the Winter it receives the sun quite early in the morning, when the rest of the garden is in the shadow of the house, which runs the entire length of the garden, some 50 metres (164 feet). It's  a regular suntrap in the Summer, which is why the fig tree does so well there and the hens, sybarites through and through, love it.

 

Breakfast in front of the New Hen House.  

Raising the Roof

We start the day by putting the gable ends in place. These are temporarily held in position with diagonal supports to the walls, which will be removed once the ridge purlin is in place.

 

Using a straight edge ensures that the wall and gable end are in line so that the ridge purlin brace may be fitted.

The House is now beginning to take shape with both the gable ends in place. We are now ready to fit the ridge purlin.   

The ridge purlin is measured and cut to length once the gable ends are in place.  

The ridge purlin is screwed to the inside face of the gable end apex. Screw holes are drilled through the gable end frame prior to fitting the purlin in place.

Once the purlin is in place, the braces can be fitted to each end of the Hen House. These braces are designed to take the roof load off the screws securing the purlin to the gable end. The roof load is thus borne by the side walls and floor. 

Once the ridge purlin and brace have been screwed together, the temporary diagonal supports may be removed.

 

Furring strips are now fitted to the ridge purlin. 

The roof is now ready for the panels to be fitted.

The panels are screwed to the walls and gable ends from the inside and from the outside to attach the ridge purlin.

  

The most expensive part of the Hen House, a good quality tarpaulin, can now  be fitted.

The surplus material is trimmed off and battens cut from pallet wood are used to fix the tarpaulin to the underside of the roof panels.

The open sides of the pallet base are sealed with planking, nailed to the wooden blocks.

The decoration with découpage is made from paper napkins.

The building inspector calls to assess the job. He's a white-laced buff crested and bearded Polish, one of three brothers who are joint heads of this house.







If you want to see our Polish chickens in action:

There is another post here, which shows how I used butt joints to construct the roof panels of pallet wood too. This makes the house even cheaper for those of you who don't have left-over or recuperated tongue & groove cladding.

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to share this article, comment, ask questions and if you'd like to be assured of getting the next post, then sign up to follow this blog.

All the best, Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

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