Make a Rustic Pallet Wood Bench

I recently got my very first circular saw, and decided to make a project with it. Being that it's Summer, I decided to make a garden bench out of pallets. This instructable will go through just how I did that!

The pallet I chose to use was this red one, as I thought that it would look cool with a finish applied. Coloured pallets are tricky; they can often contain harmful chemicals, but I knew this one was safe to use as I knew where it came from and what it was used for. Do your research before cutting pallet wood!

I cut the pallet slats apart using the circular saw, and from there it was pretty easy to just pry the boards up with my hands. After that I went through the lengthy process of denailing the pallets.

I arranged three of the slats in an order that I liked, then flipped them over and nailed battens in from the bottom to hold the three pieces together.

I clamped a board with a straight edge at 75cm from the end of the bench top. This would allow me to square up the bench and decide on the final length.

I screwed and nailed pallet boards around the entire bench top, adding stability and a place to attach the legs.

I cut 4 legs to a length of 40cm, then secured each one to the bench using screws.

I sanded the boards down using a power sander. This served two purposes. It smoothed and leveled the benchtop, but also added a nice style and texture to the top. I finished the top using spray lacquer, to make the colours really pop.

With that, I have a new garden bench! I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and love the look of it.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable!

-Shaun