BackYard DIY Builder

Building for the love of it

Entryway Pallet Table

By: comment

Hello friends 🙂

Today i worked on my version of an entryway table.  I broke down a couple of pallets to make use of the wood.

I took my design of this entry table from my pallet garden benches or tables as some people are using them for, I just expanded the dimensions a little, and included a shelf.

The height is 30 inches, and the width i choose was 16 inches.

Once I made all my cuts i used my torch and burned the wood.

 I assembled the ends first to get the height of the lower shelf i wanted. I used another 2×4 as the spacer for the height of the shelf, and simply attached 2 2×4’s on each end to get the basic frame work. Then it was a simple matter of attaching the 4 longer 1×4’s to the sides making the front and back for the table.

I cut all the cross parts just over 16 inches. I forgot i had to take into account the additional width that each 1×4 adds.  That’s why you do the frame work first.

After everything was attached and generally looking the way i wanted, it was time to sand and take off the over burnt parts i torched.

The finished results is as you see above.

 

Now i could have left it as is. BUT people have been receptive to chalk paint and whitewash effect on furniture. So that’s what i did 🙂

And here is the result 🙂

Oh and the serving tray I made awhile ago. Its a real simple build from some spruce 1×2’s and 1×4’s. I used a fruit-wood finish on the tray.

 I haven’t made my affiliate links yet… Still working on it.

But I’m still going to share what i used to seal the table.

 

Thanks for your support, I hope I can inspire others as i have been inspired.

 

SIDE STEP GARDEN

By: comment

This is going to be a quick post on me building a simple Step garden on the side of our house.

This project involves lots of 4×4 cedar posts, 10 inch spike nails, re-bar, and lots of top soil !! 🙂

I’ll give a more detailed process of how i put this together shortly, I just thought you would like visual of the process first. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POTATO PLANTER

By: comment

I found this pin.

 

I used 2×2’s , with some leftover cedar fence board wood, and built two planters pretty much like the pin.

I followed the instructions of adding soil and boards as the potato’s grew.

Be prepared YOU WILL NEED LOTS OF POTTING SOIL. !!

You can modify your size depending on your situation of course. BUT here is our result

 

We’ll update this post as we harvest the potato’s  🙂

DIY Cement Path

By: comment

Hello friends , and thanks for your support.

Spring  is here and we are all into home projects, myself included. This post will be about the cement forms for your path ways.

I had ordered this last year from Home Hardware i believe. It came with two in the package.

1st it works as advertised. which is excellent.
But, there is more work involved than it appears.
1st Determine where your path is going to go. You can use the forms to help you there.

Count how many casts you are going to need because each form takes one full bag cement.
And bags roughly cost 10$/bag. And your going to have to let each set up a little before you can move on to the next.
So if your path needs 10 forms to complete then that will be at least $100 in cement and a lot of work for each.
You can just cast your forms and be done or you have many options of being a little more creative, like adding color to the cement.

I’ve seen samples of each cast being painted with florescent paint so it glows at night.

Just be prepared for a lot of hard mixing work if you are doing this manually, or save yourself some time and back pain by renting a cement mixer.  A small price to pay if you are doing a long path and you’ll be smiling because you wont have a broken back by the end of the day 🙂
This is not a one day operation

How I BUST Pallets

By: comment

Good evening friends 🙂

Yes this is another post on Pallet Busting. In my other post I told you how I purchased an AFFORDABLE pallet buster on Amazon and i figure i better get an affiliate account going too 🙂

As everyone know its hard to start out and every penny helps.

Now I’ve seen many posts on Busting pallets and a variety of ways doing it.

1st the good old hammer and pry-bar.  Good it takes forever just to do one, and that’s no good if we have lots of building to do. So we have to work as efficiently as possible.

2nd the Reciprocating Saw.  Is a good start but you still have to use your hammer and wedge to separate the boards then you can get the saw in.  Its hard to do alone and you will go through many blades, because the pallets use hardened nails. Then you still have to try and remove them from both boards.

3rd option is using your circular saw and cut the boards away from the stringers.  Yes it works BUT you loose lots of board material and that limits you to what you can build.

That is why i got the pallet buster bar. No its not the name for this but here is the picture to show what i got and how affordable it was .  This is one reason why I’m started an affiliate account. 🙂

 

 

When i first used it i didn’t know what to expect but i quickly found what prying the side stringers  yo would only have one side under the board thus loosing your equal leverage and snapping the boards. And that does no one any good if you wreck all the boards you are trying to use.

What to do???  Then i incorporated my circular saw and cut the side stringers off. I loose maybe a half inch of board on either side. BUT the risk payed off. !!!

Here is a full pallet

Here is the pallet with no side stringers. Removed with a saw.

Here is the pallet buster at work. Notice the equal pressure on both sides of the board.  And the result is NO broken boards.

Now the whole board is intact. So its just a matter of removing the nails by hammering back through the board.

And removing the nails from the side stringers.

This whole job minus the time to remove the nails from the side stringers took maybe 15 to 20 min. and that includes sawing the sides off.

And the wood is read to use for your next build.

So with all the struggles i had busting pallets this was by far the best option and the fastest FOR ME. I’m not saying the other ways aren’t effective BUT if i want to build fast i have to bust the pallets the fastest and most efficient way possible.

I think i found it for me. But i hope it helps others out there too 🙂

If i can save someone the headache i went through, and pass on a little bit of advice.

Then i’m happy 🙂

Builds for Flee Market

By: comment

Hello everyone 🙂  !! It June 7th

I would first like to catch everyone up on my past weekend Outdoor Flee Market at Trail-Bay Mall this past Sunday. I had several small items built and i’ll attach pictures below.

I have discovered that people love the Caribbean Blue Chalk Paint color I’ve been using lately and a Lime color that has been popular.

Sorry i don’t have the exact brand name, it was a sample the wife found 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The small Pallet tables or stools what ever your need may be sold really fast. As well as the small cedar garden benches.  The one the was chalk painted lime green sold with in the first 2 hours.

So this really makes me happy !!!  🙂

I also did some research on Pinterest  and i found a great way to seal the wood without taking away from the product. Its an alternate to  polyurethane.

MINWAX

I’m going to keep using this product. And when i get my affiliate links going i’ll link it up 🙂

 

 

Pallet Buster and Amazon Affiliate

By: comment

HI !!!!! Its May 24th 2017 and I’ve just taken my next big step in the world of Blogging and the development of my site and business !!

I’m so excited 🙂  I’m sure many bloggers know how to create affiliate links with amazon and other companies.  So please bear with me as i’m totally a newbie to this 🙂

Any advice will be helpful.

So this is just a regular post no links yet. It was quite a process to set up an affiliate link to amazon.  You need to have your tax number ready if you have one.

Your website, and a small description of what you are all about when applying. And if you are a US citizen and some other related stuff. Including your banking info.

I had no idea what i was doing so i Just filled it out as best i could. Then there was a Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United Sales Tax Withholding and Reporting.

What ever that is, then the GST Canadian Tax Stuff.

To be honest I have NO idea what i was doing but i did the best i could, and the Canadian Govt is only really interested in you when you start earning 30K.  So for now I’m just going to keep track.

Always write down and make a file my DAD tried to teach me.  So hopefully I wont stumble with this too much.

 

PALLET BUSTER

 

NOW ONTO MY POST !! 🙂

Today i received a pallet buster i ordered from Amazon. I find Amazon way easier to use and pay for stuff that Ebay. Just my personal opinion. This is a screen capture of the Pallet buster i got.

The price is better than most others I’ve seen and WOW is it built !!  As with anything there is a little bit of a learning curve. How NOT to break your pallet boards.

I had two pallets that i would have used a circular saw to cut up what i wanted, but the pallets were in really good condition and i have plans that require more of the full length boards intact.

My review of this Pallet Buster so far is …. Its heavy and well built . The bottom part where you slide between the stringers  actually swivel so the pressure on either side of the board remains level and constant which is a nice surprise.  Considering I had no idea what to expect.

It made short work of two pallets !!  Minus time figuring out how to work it , the busting of pallets took only maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

I didn’t take pictures of the stringers but here is what was left of the pallets. Mostly intact.

Just some hammering to do to get rid of the nails. Some boards are cracked but its because of previous cracks in the boards, and of course figuring it all out.  ITS A TIME and BACK SAVER!!

With all the DIY ways to take apart pallets, my suggestion is to make a little investment in a proper Pallet Buster. Because your time is valuable and you have to work as efficiently as possible especially when you’re starting out like I am 🙂

NAIL REMOVING JIG

I will be adding a picture of the nail removing jig i made.  It will make this tedious task go much faster, so you can move on to what we all want to do and that’s BUILD !!  🙂

Let the games and new projects begin !!

See you soon 🙂

May 21st Flee Market at Trail Bay Mall Sechelt

By: comment

May 21st is the next Flee Market at TRAIL BAY MALL in Sechelt 🙂

If the weather is good which the forecast says it will be, I’ll be there once again !! 🙂

 

Some driftwood candle holders as well as some other driftwood items.

 

Some more pallet trays, with new colors.

A new side table with a new color Caribbean Blue

And a new X style side table .. The picture below shows it almost complete.

 

Built from plans supplied by Rogue Engineer  one of my inspirational DIY bloggers.

https://rogueengineer.com/diy-lybrook-side-table-plans/

 

Large Raised Dog Bowl Holder.

By: comment

Hello everyone !!  Well after some trial and error I came up with a suitable way to make raised bowl holders that i can easily customize.

I haven’t done it with this particular job but it all a process.  You have to try and fail in order to learn and succeed.

I had a client request for a large bowl with a bowl diameter – 9 3/4 in., chest height – 14 in.

I’ll explain how i got such a large diameter hole done in another post, but the solution was a little creative 🙂

For the frame i used 2×4’s. For the top rails i used 2×2’s .  It had to support the large diameter holes so the wood wouldn’t cave in. Then i just finished off the sides with 1×4’s. I burned all the wood as per clients request.

I also only used screws and non toxic glue.  I didn’t fill the holes as it kept the rough look. I also sanded down with 220 grit sand paper to give the whole unit a soft smooth finish.