Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Around 2010, there seemed to be quite a hype about green energy and re-utilizing anything that could. I vividly remember how exciting it was for people to add a, "Rain barrel" to their home's gutter system for the sake of catching rain water to store and use for various activities such as watering gardens. There were many articles on green energy starting with solar panels, to geothermal energy, wind energy, and many more. However, today's media features much less about such innovative designs in energy production and reusing resources that were commonly thought of as waste.

I personally have always been intrigued by reusing things that others thought were unusable or tedious to reuse. Naturally, the idea of using pallet wood, a wood most commonly looked over, but favored by, "hipsters", caught my attention. However, I quickly found out that what was a, "green" and exciting idea, would have its draw backs. We all know that free never really is free.

Though many businesses commonly sell their pallets for cheap, if they are not giving them away, no one really pays attention. The weekend warrior woodworker, whom is trying to create a thrifty coffee table may care, but most people don't care. A decade ago, when I began wood working as an 18 year old, I had little experience, few tools, no money, and access a ton of scrap wood from my father's fence business. So, I began to experiment. I started with bringing home a pallet. The first challenge was to figure out, what parts of the pallet could I use, and how to get those sections of wood. I was super optomistic at first, thinking I could use all pieces. But I quickly learned that nails and saw blades don't mix.

After freeing up various sections of wood, the most ideal sections are perpendicular top and bottom slats, I had the chore of cleaning up the wood. As every woodworker knows, the entirety of wood working revolves are details, and precision. Even if one is creating a piece with gaping crevices and various holes, it is to be said that a skilled wood worker is intentional about those holes and where they are. I learned that the process of cleaning up the battered and saturated pallet wood was a difficult and timely chore. I had to start with manually removing nails and any metal within the wood. Then you have to plan, and joint the boards. Lastly sand, sand, sand. During the whole process keep in mind you probably want things to be square so you constantly need to measure.

After you're done processing all the wood you need, you finally get to assemble the project. This is one of the easiest steps as it is the one that attracts most hobbyist builders. The idea that you can dream something, then see it come to fruition. With pallet wood I suggest lost of fastening. I always use atleast two methods. Glue and nails, or glue and screws, never rely on one since most often pallet wood will warp and split due to change in the environment and humidity. Which leads to the next most important step, finishing.

After building you have to decide whether or not you would like to stain your piece. Whatever you decide, it will behoove you to seal and top coat your piece, otherwise all your hard work will be in vain in just a few weeks. Sealing will protect your boards from exposure to different levels of humidity. Sealing will protect your wood from splitting, cracking, and warping. Sealing is important because you won't walk into your living room to a coffee table doing a piroette on three legs with a corner to the sky and huge cracks down the center rendering it utterly useless. After you seal the piece, you must the top coat it. Top coat provides an enamel shield to the wood, making it a bit more durable and protecting it against physical abuse such as large dents, scratches, and chips.

All things considered, when using pallet wood, expect to spend three times the amount of time your regularly wood on a project. See what I did there, I said, "wood" instead of, "would". I am funny. Also, consider that the wood is not protected from warping and cracking until you seal so be mindful of your environment and changes in humidity and consider moving fast to protect your piece. Pallet wood projects can be beautiful but consider the project in totality before you catch yourself in a wood working nightmare.