Easy Woodpallet Flowerpot Holder
by le monk qui rit in Workshop > Pallets
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Easy Woodpallet Flowerpot Holder
Pardon my english and my lack of experience in wood working. This is my first instructable so please don't be too hard on me. I am not completely satisfied with the result but the idea that I want to share can be designed in many different ways. This plant and flowerpot holder can easily be used as bottle holder or book shelf. I just wanted to show you a way to harm wood pallet pieces. Hope you find it interesting and that you dare to try it out.
What Will You Need?
- An old pallet (the older it is the cooler it turns your instructable)
- Pliers
- A hammer (okey I used two, but this is unnecessary of you only have one. I had one with silicone head to hit the nails, and the other one in iron which I didn't use to hit in order to protect the wood, but it's important the fact that it has a V-shaped back that helps a lot to take off the original nails from the pallet)
- Thin but long nails (you would need al least twenty, the length of the ones I used was about 7-8 centimeters. I am not acquainted with the inches metric module, but the size is approximately like an index finger)
- Coloured wood paint (I used one from Ikea which is pretty great because it tints but it still lets the wood to show its natural linear forms. I chose white color because I think it looks very discrete and elegant but it would be interesting to try out some other colors!)
- Maybe some white glue for wood (I had to use some because there was an angle which was very difficult to nail but I didn't but an expensive glue I just used mine from when I was at primary school because it glues perfectly on wood)
- Pliers
- A hammer (okey I used two, but this is unnecessary of you only have one. I had one with silicone head to hit the nails, and the other one in iron which I didn't use to hit in order to protect the wood, but it's important the fact that it has a V-shaped back that helps a lot to take off the original nails from the pallet)
- Thin but long nails (you would need al least twenty, the length of the ones I used was about 7-8 centimeters. I am not acquainted with the inches metric module, but the size is approximately like an index finger)
- Coloured wood paint (I used one from Ikea which is pretty great because it tints but it still lets the wood to show its natural linear forms. I chose white color because I think it looks very discrete and elegant but it would be interesting to try out some other colors!)
- Maybe some white glue for wood (I had to use some because there was an angle which was very difficult to nail but I didn't but an expensive glue I just used mine from when I was at primary school because it glues perfectly on wood)
Disarming the Pallet
Okey so here it is the most boring part. It will take you a lot of time because the nails that arm the pallet are freakishly long and they join the wood in two different directions. Here there are some tips:
- If you hits the wood on the side, the nails comes easily off.
- Starting with a slat of the pallet, firstly hit it on one side and another until you see that slat a little loose. Then push it down to let the nails stand out and grab them with the V-shaped back head of the hammer. If any nail folds, use the pliers to straighten it.
- The square blocks are easy but tiring to take off. Don't try pulling its nails because it will make you give up. Hit thw block on its four faces and keep on doing it until it finally comes off. Then it is time for you to take out the nails from the block and from the slat which was sitting on.
- If you hits the wood on the side, the nails comes easily off.
- Starting with a slat of the pallet, firstly hit it on one side and another until you see that slat a little loose. Then push it down to let the nails stand out and grab them with the V-shaped back head of the hammer. If any nail folds, use the pliers to straighten it.
- The square blocks are easy but tiring to take off. Don't try pulling its nails because it will make you give up. Hit thw block on its four faces and keep on doing it until it finally comes off. Then it is time for you to take out the nails from the block and from the slat which was sitting on.
Painting!
You can design anything you want even paint the whole pallet in one color or paint some of the slats completely. I decided to paint the long slats with vertical stripes. I forgot to tell you that I also used scotch tape (the same one that painters use on walls which is kind of yellowish and easy to cut with the fingers). I decided which parts would be painted so I put the scotch tape on the perimeter so I wouldn't paint more than what I wanted to.
Nailing and Arming the Structure
After waiting for the paint to dry out, I started designing how deep, tall and wide I wanted my pot holder to be. More or less I mounted and stacked the pieces in order to know which one was nailed to which one. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do this, I only knew I wanted the blocks at the bottom so I planned pairs of blocks, a pair on one end and the other pair on the other end of the slat that was the base. In the middle I placed the third pair (all pallets have at least six blocks, three pairs).
Then I used one slat of wood for the base which is the one that is attached to the blocks (four nails to join each block). Then I used another slat in the front of the structure to prevent the plant pots not to fall, something like a fence. I placed it one the border top of the three blocks on the front, and I glued its thinnest and largest face to each block because it was kind of difficult to nail that angle.
As the back holder fence, I used two slats joined with two 1/3 of another slat. Firstly I nailed one slat in vertical to the blocks at the back (three nails on each join slat-block). Then I nailed to this slat one 1/3 of slat in one middle point and then the othet 1/3 to the mirrored point of the long slat. And after this I set the last slat at the top end of the 1/3s. Look at the pics to see the result.
Then I used one slat of wood for the base which is the one that is attached to the blocks (four nails to join each block). Then I used another slat in the front of the structure to prevent the plant pots not to fall, something like a fence. I placed it one the border top of the three blocks on the front, and I glued its thinnest and largest face to each block because it was kind of difficult to nail that angle.
As the back holder fence, I used two slats joined with two 1/3 of another slat. Firstly I nailed one slat in vertical to the blocks at the back (three nails on each join slat-block). Then I nailed to this slat one 1/3 of slat in one middle point and then the othet 1/3 to the mirrored point of the long slat. And after this I set the last slat at the top end of the 1/3s. Look at the pics to see the result.
Done!
And well that's it! You can now put your plant pots and hang the holder to any wall or just leave on the floor!