There has been a rise in popularity in repurposing used pallets. Why? Well for starters, they are often free to their second home. Pallets are not a finished product, so to speak. Although they can be constructed of various materials, such as plastic, most pallets are wooden and built with rough sawn wood to hold cargo (often merchandise traveling to stores) and are only sometimes reused for shipping.
In essence, they are built roughly but strongly as well. With the ‘reuse and repurpose’ movement gaining movement, pallets are a perfect candidate. Some companies do reuse their pallets but many do not. Instead of adding pallets to our nation’s growing list of throw-away products, why not add them back into the loop? Wood pallets are easy to reuse; they can be dismantled in the same dimensions they were put together, or they can be cut apart and reused in smaller pieces. Pallets are sometimes made of hardwood, but more often they are made of softwood so scout around and see what your local pallet source has to offer. They come with different thicknesses of wood as well – sometimes in the same pallet. So take a look at the pallets available to you to see what options you have for your final product.
Shaping them into your future piece of furniture can be done in a number of ways. The simplest application is to use the pallet just the way it is, or by adding slats to give an even table top. You can simply screw a set of our hairpin legs to the underneath and you’ve got yourself a table! Or it can be dismantled and reshaped into the furniture design you’re looking for. The wood can be left rough for a rustic look (for an outdoor piece) or planed, sanded and sealed for a refined and finished look that will bring out the beauty of the wood. Be sure there are no nails in the wood before you finish the piece. They can hurt both your power tools and potentially you as well. Hairpin legs compliment a rough wood look as well as finished wood. However you choose to use the pallet, our hairpin legs will give you a functional and fashionable finished product.
