ScrapHappy March 2020: Palletgate V2.0

Ah, PalletGate. Somewhat battered but still hanging on…

A hundred years ago (OK, six), PalletGate rose from the primordial soup (OK, an old pallet or two) and has stood guard, like a Colossus (OK, a colossal eyesore), over the space between paradise and Hades (OK, the area we keep the chickens in and the other bit where we don’t). That momentous occasion (OK, no wait, it WAS) is recorded here.

Weather and not-very-good quality wood means the pallet is beginning to fall apart

The seemingly endless storms we are now having, with high winds and lots of rainfall, mean that the wood is rotting and Palletgate is beginning, much like the writer, to fall apart. Fortunately, I still have a few pallets from a neighbour, who moved out and no longer needed them, and a new bottle of single malt to help me through the construction process (as and when that actually happens).

PalletPile

The plan is this: using the reasonably nice pallets from the pile, treat one (or maybe two) with the same external primer and paint used for PalletCart then build a whole new gate. I am tempted to use two pallets to give a good height so that the mesh (which I will re-use from the existing gate) will be more stable in the high winds that we seem to having more frequently now. I am also going to use those gate hinges that you hang gates on rather than the current ones (I will try to source second-hand ones).

Watch this space for developments! Actually, just come back occasionally, it is partly going to depend on decent weather which seems to be in short supply at the moment…

oOo

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!

Lots of other happy scrappers contribute too, so check them out: Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon (me), Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie and Bekki

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

 

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

PalletCart in Action!

Your challenge! Move this almost-empty (about 50Kg) water butt to the other end of the house.

Challenge accepted! Easy does it now…

Taking the strain (just)

Destination: Other end of the house

As if by magic…water butt in new home. Note the complete failure of PalletCart to break.

Challenge complete! Wheels up with a book and a drink.

oOo