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Here's a fun way to reuse wood. Make this Adirondack chair from shipping pallets or other reclaimed lumber.
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Signing UpStep 1The low-down on pallets
Pallets come in many shapes and styles. They're made from lots of different types of wood. They are readily available for free.
In fact, most companies pay people to take them away.
But there's a catch: pallets aren't easy to take apart. They're also usually not made of very good lumber. If you use them for projects, you're going to spend A LOT of time dismantling them and you're not going to get much from a single pallet.
If you're expecting perfection, than pallet lumber may not be right for you. You can try salvaging used material from places like craigslist. I collected an impressive amount of wood for my other pallet instructable, the Pallet Playhouse.
If you're not interested in turning a pallet into something else or trucking around the nation looking for free stuff, substitute the pallet wood for some nice cedar or pressure treated wood. I made a PT set in a similar pattern that's held up for 11+ years of direct exposure to the elements. They're still perfectly sound. You won't get that kind of performance from pallet wood.
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The only changes I made are in how I took apart the pallets and the width of the chair. I used a reciprocating saw with a bimetal/demolition blade to simply cut through the pallet nails, then used a nail & hammer to tap the nail stubs out of each board. I did this because I used heavy-duty pallets with five stringers through them, making it nearly impossible to rock the boards back and forth like you would with a three-stringer pallet.
The chair itself is very comfortable. I sit in it and just don't want to get up. But I'm a big fat dude, so I wanted a little more room to spread out. So I went back and added 8 inches to the width, and the final product is ideal for my size.
I have little woodworking experience and the pictures help tremendously.
I just finished assembling my chair, no I just need to sand and apply some polyurethane.
Thanks again.
Take a look at step 2 of this instructable-- I talk a bit about pallet treatment, etc.
I'd say if you use common sense, you'll be fine. I wouldn't want to handle MetylBromide treated pallets, but they should be clearly marked as such.
The cut will be Square to the wood plank every time.
I was just mulling over how best to get square cuts without too much messing about when I just want the pallet to come apart. I doubt I'd have thought of using a speed square, but if I'm not mistaken I've got one buried in the garage somewhere. You just saved me a huge amount of time.
Thanks.
:)
Roughly how many pallets do you use per chair?
Thanks for the great project!
Usually, though, 50% of the boards are unusable.
Figure 4-5 pallets.
Good luck!
Sometimes there is enough room to use a reciprocating (sawzall) saw and cut the nails between the two pieces of wood.
If not I use a breaker block, which is a scrap 2x4 with a 45 angle on it.
Place the block on the backside of the plank, angle the point toward the nail Head; hit it a few times to free up a gap.
The blade is thin so you can work it in with minimal damage.
You can cut all the nails this way even the center support.
This will give longer planks to work with.
If you don’t want the nail heads, just use a punch (old nail) tap the heads up and pull them out.
Note, I use junk old blades.
You could certainly use the chop saw for the armrest supports.
The major pieces for the jigsaw are the armrests, the top and bottom seat rest brackets, and the seat stringer. You might be able to do something with the seat stringer, but I'm stumped on the rest of it.
The jigsaw isn't my favorite tool. Wish I had a bandsaw.
Good luck. I'd love to see how it works out.
I'm not sure....
Go for it! Let me know if any questions arise....
You are right though. Much easier.
I'm not sure if it's easier, but sure is cheaper.