Upcycled Pallets are a common DIY theme running through Pinterest and a dream for many DIYers.
It seems so very easy: pallets are generally free – so it’s simple, right?
Yes and yes. However, depending on what you plan to make from them, it can be a little time consuming.
We’ve seen bedroom furniture, bed bases, table tops, vertical gardens and day-bed swings. These are the easiest upcycling projects you can start with as you are using the pallet whole. If one or two of the boards are broken or rotten, it is also relatively easy to replace them with boards from a donor pallet.
When it comes to removing the boards in an attempt to construct furniture of a completely different design, you’ll need to ensure that the boards some off cleanly so they don’t snap or crack, leaving the boards unusable. Here are my simple but handy tips for removing pallet boards in-tact!
Handy Tips for Removing Pallet Boards
- Don’t attempt to use grunt and bang off the boards with a hammer or sledge hammer! The nails are extremely secure and you will only crack or break the boards in the process.
- Create a small 3-5mm gap between the boards using a hammer and a small flat-headed screw driver to prize the boards away from the base. This is enough room to get a hacksaw blade in the gap to severe through the nails leaving the boards whole ready for your project.
Over the past 12-18 months we have been regular contributors to the NZ Lifestyle Block magazine – and feature regularly with DIY projects we create just for them. We LOVE upcycling and recycling so this has been fun, although it has taken us away from our own DIY projects!
Here’s our Pallet Swing (featured in the January 2019 issue) which was made basically using a whole pallet, and our Mobile Pallet Table/Bar which was made with pallet boards (deconstructed pallets) as featured in the September 2019 issue:
