Looking to get an industrial, vintage look in your house but can't find a contemporary table to suit your needs? Frustrated at the 249£ price tag of the Legion Pallet Table offered by Made.com and think you can do an equally decent job yourself? Enthusiastic to start your own project but don't know what you'll be facing?
I hope this instructable will give you an opinion on the scope of the work to make your own pallet coffee table.
I hope this instructable will give you an opinion on the scope of the work to make your own pallet coffee table.
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First of all, the necessary materials:
You need to find a decent pallet, one which still can hold itself and is not too broken down. We personally didn't want to get a brand new one, as we thought that each scuff, patina and dent would add to the natural character and history of the pallet. Besides, we really wanted to make this project out of reclaimed wood.
We went to a pallet yard in the outskirts of the town where there was the possibility of choosing from hundreds of units. We eventually got an EPAL (Euro Pallet) measuring 120×80 centimeters (31.50×47.24 in), which cost us around 8$.
You need to find a decent pallet, one which still can hold itself and is not too broken down. We personally didn't want to get a brand new one, as we thought that each scuff, patina and dent would add to the natural character and history of the pallet. Besides, we really wanted to make this project out of reclaimed wood.
We went to a pallet yard in the outskirts of the town where there was the possibility of choosing from hundreds of units. We eventually got an EPAL (Euro Pallet) measuring 120×80 centimeters (31.50×47.24 in), which cost us around 8$.
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I'm disappointed with the stain I used. I went with Minwax water-based stain since the water-based stuff is way easier to work with. Unfortunately, it looks a bit splotchy, even after a coat of pre-stain conditioner, and it looks almost more like paint than stain on the end pieces of wood. The water based polycrylic looks a bit too plasticy, too. Next time I'll probably go with some type of oil finish, or maybe even wax.
I wish I had sanded more before staining. There are pieces of the wood that are still a bit splintery, which is unfortunate.
If I think of more tips I'll post them here in the comments.
I wanted to say THANK YOU again for such a great instructable! This was my first major project like this, and I hope to do more in the future.
Many thanks for nice comment. Any questions are welcome and I will gladly answer yours. The answer to whether the table needs to be reinforced with nails is a definite 'no'. I actually did it, but chose completely to omit the process from the instructable since I thought it would be misleading. After having glued the pieces together, I drove in 5 inch nails through every block with great effort. What I had in mind was to assemble the pallet as close as it would get to the original and I also thought that the nail heads would show themselves on the surface of the woods.
First of all, the bonding surfaces here are so large and wood glue is so strong that I don't think any force would be able to separate the slats from each other in one piece. Period. If you don't trust wood glue, use polyurethane glue or epoxy, but believe me the white wood adhesive I used is more than enough to do the job. Before I took the pallet apart, the joints were quite loose, flexible and they were also squeaking. Now, it's just a single piece of solid furniture.
After I drove in the nails, I came to see that they were pretty deep in from the surface, the holes had been enlarged from the brushing I did. Still, no problem since the heads where still visible. This was before the lacquer. During the lacquering, I noticed that the liquid was puddling in the dented parts of the wood. In the end, after the numerous coats I applied, a smooth filling of lacquer covered up all the nail heads, making the whole point of using them irrelevant (As I said, no structural use from the nails and after the lacquering, no decorative use either). Don't get me wrong, I do like it the way it is, it's just that the effort I went through showed to be pointless.
I’m sure you’ll put together a fantastic pallet furniture in the upcoming months. Cheers!
Many thanks for the comments. You're quite right about the edges, I seem to have omitted the rounding process. I used a robust belt sander to soften the corners a bit, again mostly because of concern for the baby in the house. He hasn't started to crawl or discover the world yet, but I'm curious as how much the table will turn out to be 'baby friendly'. I'm just trying to comfort my conscience with the fact that I put in a great deal of time just to sand and soften the wood.
Anyway, I would definitely recommend using a rasp or heavy grit belt sander for eating away the wood. However, I've seen that the belt sander does not do a great job in sanding flat surfaces, again as it eats away too much material and gets out of control.
Here in my example the magnitude of torque is considerably enhanced with the lever arm of the box wrench, so it still was not so difficult to screw them in. You would definitely feel the difference though if you were using a screwdriver. Too few people use this trick these days and it really does help.
be happy
I love to use and make anything with recycled material. And to think, we actually have a palette in our garage... hehehe. Showed your project to hubby and planted a few seeds :)
I love the rustic look and the casters to be able to move it around when needed. I also love the high gloss finish. I'm sure your wife is pleased and happy with the results. I know I would be.
Congrats, and am now following you... Hoping to see more of your inventions :)
http://www.instructables.com/id/Modern-Reclaimed-Wood-Coffee-Table-PalletSkid-Ta/
The iron supports add considerably to the industrial and robust feel of the table, very well done, congratulations!
Many thanks for the tip, I haven't had a chance to try the pressure washer yet but will surely have a go at it.
Since we played with the dimensions of the table and shortened the length of the pallet a little bit, the skid in the middle seemed a little obtrusive.
Being both architects with my wife, we didn't want to use this piece which seemed like it didn't add to the functionality of the table. But if I had used the pallet in it's original dimensions, I guess I would have left it intact.
I love your finish!
I remember seeing some tables made from recycled pallets few years ago at a craft fair. The maker had given them a deep grained finish by scorching the surface with a gas torch and going over it with a wire brush.
Regarding the chemical treatment of pallets. where I live, the lumber has not
been treated, but possibly kiln dried. There a facilities in our area that build
pallets that I have visited, and the lumber is definitely not treated in any way.
Most are built for single use. As a kid growing up, our house was heated by burning pallets. My father collected, and tore apart skids for twenty years or more. I actually built a 12 x 12 foot, two storey cabin entirely of pallet lumber. lots of furniture too.
Did you notice a strong rubber odor on the wheels? I have placed four of them from some wire shelving in my attic because they smell SO BAD. Years later they still stink!
I've flearned that women develop an unbelievably acute and heightened sense of smell during pregnancy :)