Wood Working Wednesday | Pallet Wood

Welcome back to “Wood Working Wednesday” this one is brought to you by something called “spare time” - Some of you know what I’m talking about. I’m talking to the moms whose spare time consist hiding in the restroom in hopes of not having a child popping in to re-cap to you how the dog just chased the cat right into the bedroom door. Not that kind of spare time.

The kind of spare time that is very truly unplanned time all to yourself.  This past weekend we ran around like crazy people but not because of our plans, no, because of little bear’s plans. She went to two birthday parties Saturday and then spent the night at her cousin's house, this could have presented two scenarios: 1. I could have spent the rest of the evening at home laying on the floor enjoying the silence, I would have even played DM to make the whole evening more memorable. Or 2. I could out to dinner with grownups only.  So because the last time I was able to spend my evening on the carpet, enjoying the silence with grownups only was on my anniversary in May. I got dolled up a headed out for a nice night out on the town.

Sunday, little bear had another party, at this point I felt like I would never get a chance to work on my projects so I asked my very nice husband if he could take apart a few pallets for me while I escorted the bear to her friends birthday party. Then something amazing happened- The little girls' mom wanted me to come back and pick her up later. Hum what? Suddenly I had two and a half hours of time- spare time, unplanned, unoccupied time. I almost went shopping. Then I realized I had two and a half hours of wood working time without the guilt of parking little bear in front of a movie or her tablet.

So while my husband helped me out by taking apart a few pallets, I cut down wood to the size I need for various projects I’m working on and began my sanding process to make these pallets smooth and workable.

I also took this as a chance to give you a little bit more info about pallets:

I have a great friend who gets pallets for me all the time, I know that they are clean and safe because of where he works but I also know this because of the stamp on the actual pallet. This one gives me a company logo IPPC or International Plant Protection Convention. It has a registration number on it and most importantly it has "HT" stamped on it. "HT" tells me it is Heat Treated vs. Chemically treated. You can find more information here.

Many people ask how do we take them apart, my husband uses a mallet and a pry bar and goes to town. If it's just me by myself I cheat and use a miter saw cutting around all the nails- which I don't like because I like the nails holes. I also take the time to sand it down in three steps, 180 grit sand paper, 150 grit and I finish it off to 220 grit. Basically the higher the number on the grit the finer the sandpaper and the smother finish you will get. 




Although pine is low cost and it can be rough when it comes to you as pallet wood, I don't mind working with it. The nail holes and imperfections give it texture and gives it that "rustic" look. In the end some of the most rough pieces of wood have the most character.




These knots and grain are some of my favorite out this batch, I'll show you next week how beautiful these look once they have been cleaned up and stained.