How to Make Things with Wood Pallets or Wood Skids

Businesses often have no use for wooden pallets and may be willing to give them away.

Wood pallets or skids are readily available materials that are often given away by businesses with no further use for them. Use your creativity to explore the value of a wooden pallet as a reclaimed material for your projects. Pallets consist of wooden slats that are fastened to wider cross boards. They provide a platform for storage and transport. Your own ingenuity is the only limit to what you can build with them.

Things You'll Need

• Wooden pallet/skid
• Circular saw
• Miter saw
• Hammer
• Router
• Round-over bit
• Engraving bit

Instructions

How to Make Rustic Flower Garden Edging

1. Cut the slats from the pallet using a circular saw. Saw off the slats at the inside edge of the cross boards. This will provide you with several sections of slats to use to make any number of things, including rustic shutters.

2. Using a miter saw, cut the ends of the slats off so that they are square. Cut the slats to a uniform length at 18 inches.

3. Cut a 45 degree angle on one end of the board to create a point. The point will be driven into the ground around the garden.

4. Measure around the garden. Calculate how many slats you will need to edge the garden if you leave a 2-inch space between the slats. Cut the necessary number of slats.

5. Drive the slats into the ground around the garden bed. Leave a 2-inch space between slats. Drive the slats 6 inches into the ground.

How to Make a House Number Sign

1. Remove the slats from the pallet in the same manner as with the garden edging project.

2. Square the end of one slat using a miter saw.

3. Cut the slat to 16 inches in length using a miter saw.

4. Rout around the outside perimeter of both sides of the slat with a roundover bit. Sand the surface with fine-grit sandpaper. Sand with the grain.

5. Draw the numbers for the house onto one side of the slat. Rout out the letters using an engraving bit. Sand the routed letters with fine-grit sandpaper.

Tips & Warnings

• Leave the pallet wood natural to create a weathered rustic look on your projects.

• Wear eye protection when working with wood.

References

• Groovy Green: How to Use Old Pallets in Your Garden
• The Dollar Stretcher: How to Create Cheap Landscape Edging
• Backwoods Home: Free Pallet Wood and Birdhouses Add up to Big Country Dollars

Resources

• Web Ecoist: Art of Upcycling: 20 DIY Wood Pallet Reuse Project Ideas