Build a Wall Art Piece Using Reclaimed Pallet Wood
I see art in everything. I have a blue enamelware spoon hanging on the wall of my kitchen. A cleaned jar of salsa with a flame-licked label (spoiler alert: it was hot) sits proudly on display in my living room. When I moved to New England, I noticed a cottage industry of artisans turning shipping pallets into everything from furniture to pallet woods wall art. Situated neatly at the intersection of upcycling and artistry, I knew I had to make one for myself.
A pallet is a flat, crosshatched structure fabricated from raw, joined forest that is used for shipping and transporting appurtenances. Pallets are non only stiff, but they tin easily be lifted by machinery like forklifts, frontloaders and pallet jacks.
Since its invention in the early 20th century (pallets were first referenced in trade publications as early as the 1930s), the pallet has supplanted other forms of aircraft containers, similar wooden boxes and barrels. According to the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (yes, apparently that's a thing), an estimated one.8 billion pallets are used to move items in the U.s. every day.
Though pallets can exist made from plastic, paper and metal, most — effectually 93 per centum — are made of forest. Moreover, lots of our wood goes towards making pallets. The production of pallets accounts for 43 pct of hardwood and 15 percent of softwood usage in the United States.
Pallets are likewise frequently reused, upcycled and recycled. According to a 2018 written report published by the organisation in conjunction with Virginia Tech and the U.S. Forest Service, 95 percent of pallets produced in the United States are either reused as shipping platforms or recycled into something else.
Still, that leaves tens of thousands of pallets languishing in lots. (Pro tip: small businesses are more likely to have extra pallets, every bit larger stores volition hire third-party services to collect them). I wanted to find ane of these abased pallets, requite it new life and add information technology to my collection of reclaimed art.
Learning to effort
Before I started working on my pallet masterpiece, I had to brainwash myself about the pallet trouble that Pinterest won't tell you well-nigh — specifically, with respect to health and rubber.
After sampling pallets randomly from across the country (including in Portland, Maine), the National Consumers League found that ten pct of the pallets tested were contaminated with E. coli. Iii percentage of the wood pallets tested positive for listeria; half of these, when further tested, contained listeria monocytogenes, ane of the most virulent nutrient-borne pathogens.
Even if yous scout out pallets that haven't been used to ship nutrient, yous may still betrayal yourself to toxins. Some composite woods fiber pallets are bonded using the carcinogenic urea formaldehyde.
Moreover, to avoid cross-edge insect infestation, forest pallets crave heat treatment or fumigation. Heat-treated pallets are safe to handle, only fumigation can be washed using toxic methyl bromide (for newer pallets, though, this is unlikely — the industry pretty much stopped using that chemical about 30 years ago).
Before you lot bring a pallet back to your craft studio, check the numbers and letters printed on the wood. Pallets may accept other stamps or symbols indicating country of origin, manufacturers location and other manufacture data. The website 1001Pallets has a detailed breakup of what all these numbers and symbols mean.
First, check for the International Establish Protection Convention, or IPPC, stamp. It looks like a geometric tree, with branches on the left side and the aforementioned acronym on the right. This indicates that the pallet is rubber for international shipping — that is to say, complimentary of critters and chemicals.
Next, you want to look for the stamps indicating how the pallet was treated. "HT" stands for heat treatment, "KD" is kiln stale and "DB" is debarked, which are all safe to use. "MB" stands for methyl bromide, which should be avoided.
Already intimidated by the potential for pallet pitfalls, I knew I needed a pallet main to guide me on my journey.
A trying feel
I recruited Jason McKay, owner of Reclaim ME, and his girlfriend, Tonya McVay to aid my with my pallet wood wall art projection.
Repossess ME repurposes and refinishes former furniture and upcycled wood to create everything from benches and end tables to wine racks and board games. His products are in stores throughout the Bangor surface area, including Tiller and Rye in Brewer and Accents Home Furnishing & Decor in Downtown Bangor, where my mom and I unknowingly perused his candle holders made from upcycled pallet feet last Thanksgiving.
Jason founded the business effectually five years ago after watching HGTV's "Flea Market Flip" and thinking he could do information technology better. He started working with pallets nearly a year later.
"The textile is gratis, normally, and it's more unique," he said. "You lot have the character of splits, knots and holes."
More importantly, Jason used to be a woodshop instructor at United Technologies Heart in Bangor, so he knows how to safely manage woodworking newbies like me.
Given that nosotros only had an afternoon, Jason decided we would practise 1 of his quickest and well-nigh popular pallet projects: an American flag. He and Tonya got the thought online, merely while most pallet artists paint their American flags, Jason and Tonya color their flag by called-for the wood with a blowtorch for a rustic, sepia effect.
We started past disassembling the pallets. The pallets that Jason uses come up from Invironments in Hermon, where he works full-time in addition to crafting for Repossess ME. The pallets are safely treated, a little longer than usual (12 feet long equally opposed to the usual four-by-four) and made primarily from hardwood.
Shipping pallets are designed to withstand heavy weights and jostling, so the boards can be difficult to remove. Some of the nails and screws are besides warped and bent, making them extra difficult to split. Jason had to help me out and a few times he came out with a crowbar.
Next, we removed the nails by hammering the heads out of the lath and prying them off. I tried kickoff with a hammer, but then Jason gave me a crowbar, which was much easier (Jason warned that woods may with the force, so exist as conscientious equally yous can). These tricks and techniques are the trivial things you larn afterward crafting with pallets for years, he explained.
So came the heavy machinery. We planed the boards to an even thickness, straightened them out and halved them using a tabular array saw (which terrified me, but I managed to escape with all my fingers). I am non sure how I would have accomplished any of this without Jason'southward tools and expert guidance.
Tonya took over for the artistic elements. She helped me to categorize the boards into what would eventually become "reddish" and "white" based on their color and grain. She lit the blowtorch and started searing the stripes. Then, she passed it to me.
"It's just similar painting, but with fire," I thought, in an unconvincing attempt to steady my shaking fingers.
Eventually, though, I settled into the magical feel of watching the grain sally under the flame. Jason, Tonya and I quartered off a section to thoroughly darken and paint with stars. We used a stencil and white chalk pigment — information technology dries faster, Jason explained — and stapled slats to the back to keep the slats together (the blowtorch made me nervous, only I loved the staple gun — get figure).
Finally, we painted the flag with a low-cal layer spar urethane (a finish that is suitable for both indoor and outdoor display) to protect the masterpiece and go far shine.
We hung the flag outside Jason's workshop to get a expert expect at the finished product.
"I remember it looks great," Jason said. "The important affair is, what do you lot think?"
I thought it would make a spectacular, spangled centerpiece for my home gallery of upcycled fine art.
My tried-and-true takeaways
Amalgam pallet wood wall art is fun, but it is also challenging and potentially hazardous. Take the appropriate precautions when yous are choosing your pallet and working it with whatsoever tools you lot have at your disposal. In fact, I'd recommend taking a woodworking form earlier hitting out to upcycle pallets on your ain, or finding a buddy like Jason to make fine art with you while ensuring that you are working safely.
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Source: https://hellohomestead.com/i-tried-to-make-pallet-wood-wall-art-heres-how-it-went/
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