ScrapHappy September: The PalletGate Affair

PalletGate dreams…

PalletGate was my earliest use of pallet hard scrap and is still in use, even to this day. And even to this day, I haven’t got around to painting it purple.

I had to buy hinges and a couple of carriage bolts but everything else was scrap from the eclectic mix of rubbish that forms “my stuff”.

PalletGate today – tatty and a bit worse for wear but still soldiering on (like its creator)

One day, I want to add a new handle made from recycled milk cartons – I started the project to do this a long time ago, but that can be the subject of another ScrapHappy!

Happy Scrapping!

PalletGate 1

PalletGate 2

PalletGate 3

PalletGate 4

These ScrapHappy posts are curated by Kate, who provides links to other (mostly sewing) ScrapHappy bloggers at Tall Tales from Chiconia on the fifteenth of every month. I have sneaked a non-fabric-based Scraphappy in when no one was looking!

oOo

 

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ScrapHappy August : Barely Palletable

A Slightly Deeper Purple than this in real life

Continuing the ‘hard’ scraphappy theme, this month, because I said I would as much as anything else, I will direct you towards my series of posts on Pallet Table. This was a project I embarked on in 2015 and it worked out OK.

The project helped to underline how useful a resource pieces of pallets are as opposed to using them in their entirety. AND it was an excuse to paint something else purple.

Palletable

Palletable DIY 1.5*: The Rot has set in

Palletable DIY 2: We have the technology, we can rebuild it…

Palletable DIY 3: Painting the town table red pelt

Next month, I will share with you Palletgate and, after that, write about some non pallet-based projects!

oOo

ScrapHappy July 2018: Pal-let it Be

Daisy checking PalletCart for Regalness

For me, “Hard” scrapping (as opposed to “soft scrapping which is what all you wonderful knitters and crocheters do) tends to be either things that start and are completed quite quickly or projects that languish forever in the corner of a workshop or under a workbench. Over the next few months, I hope to share with you examples of both.

This month, I would like to show you a completed project that used that most versatile of re-usable material: pallets. They are usually free, should never be wasted (but often are) and have spawned a whole new Scrappy field, mostly converting this wonderful resource into furniture of all descriptions and uses.

So here’s a useful cart (what I did earlier to misquote Ernie Wise)  for moving things around on, built out of a scrap pallet, scrap wheels and axles and a bit of rope. This was designed for moving small weighty items through the gap between our backdoor step and the raised beds, a space that is too narrow for our smart cart (not so smart now, eh?).

PalletCart 1: It begins

PalletCart 2: It continues

PalletCart 3: When will it end?

PalletCart 4: Paint my wagon

PalletCart 5: That’s a load off, er, on

PalletCart 6: What the Romans did for us

 

PalletCart at rest after a hard day’s carting

Next month: Rescuing a table…

oOo

Top of the Pop(pies)

Here is a time lapse film of some poppies in the Chez Snail garden doing their thing, and blooming for a day. I was surprised at how early in the morning the flowers started to bloom, and also how high the temperature recorded by the camera reached (it was in full sunshine, but in free air).

For anyone even vaguely interested, I used a Crenova RD1000 Trail Camera, recording a 12 megapixel picture every minute for about 45 hours or so. I used Windows Movie Maker (the one that comes with Windows 10) to turn the 2700 stills into a movie – each picture is displayed for 0.03 seconds.

Enjoy!

oOo

Shaving the Planet

A Razor and a tool to take it apart… guess what’s going to happen!

There are many things that irritate me in life. Rather than list them all here, I would just say check out Wikipedia, that covers most of them. One thing that not only gets my goat, but then slaughters it in some satanic ritual after which it claims supernatural powers, is the way electronic devices have non-replaceable rechargeable batteries.

I’ve banged on about this before – Chez Snail’s radio is a prime example (here it is, look). I suppose the issue stems from the fact that, these days, rechargeable batteries last a long time by which point I am supposed to be a good consumer and buy a new whatever-it-is.

Yeah, like that’s going to happen…

I have had my electric razor many, many years now. It has a winter break then is eased back into service as I go from full beard (winter plumage), through a goatee thing (Spring plumage), to no beard at all (Summer plumage), Autumn, much like life, is like spring but in reverse. So, I always knew that one day the internal battery in my razor would stop working properly.

That day arrived.

I psyched myself up to have a battle to get into the thing, let alone sort out the problem. There are two screws on the back that I had to enlarge to see what kind of screws they were – those security star-shaped things, as it turned out. My trusty £1 bargain bin tool was the one to use here. After the screws were removed, the whole case came off very easily so well done Philips for making that bit easy.

Joy! Easy to get into and nothing complicated to get in the way!

The battery was soldered to the board, which I expected.

The only problem I had was prising the battery off the sticky pad it was on – quite why it was attached like this, I don’t know since the back casing was moulded around the battery anyway. Never mind…

Old Battery Out…

Thirty minutes later and the job was done. I think the last battery lasted about ten years. I should get another decade out of this one!

…New Battery In

So, have a look at taking that device apart and replacing the rechargeable battery the next time – your nearest repair cafe/geeky me-type person/teenager will probably be able to help you save the planet, one battery at a time!

oOo