A chair made from a shipping pallet (4/4)

Here it is, I could finish the chair before the week end!

It is made with less than 1 shipping pallet. I tried to make a chair with thin profile different from most of the bulky one I could find on line (see previous post). When the wood is ready to be cut, it takes around 2 hours to make it, with some training, the chair can be made in 1 hour. It's really easy and rewarding to make.

The Tools:

Jig saw, tape measurement, drill

The material:

Deck screws (1.5 inches minimum) and a shipping pallet.

 

How to make it:

The pallet I found, come with two different size of wood.

40 X 3.5 X 5/8 and 

30 X 1.5 X 3

The legs (A and B) come from 40 X 3.5 X 5/8 pieces and the piece of wood that the legs are attached to, come from 30 X 1.5 X 3 pieces.

Step 1 is to make the cut in the stud C that is around 19 inches long.

Step 2 is to cut the legs (A and B) and attache them to the stud.

Step 3 is to cut the pieces that make the seat and the back seat. Start attaching the first piece on the seat closest to the back legs. Cut one piece and screw it, then cut another one.

A regular seat should be 16 inches wide.

The Cost:

As long as you have a pallet and screws, it's pretty cheap to make .

Conclusion:

Now that I know how to make a regular chair, I think that I will try to create or replicate a fancier design. The chair is really confortable. I might be tempted in writing a full tutorial and sell the pdf online and give it for free to the followers of my website (thanks Stuart for being my first and only followers in spite of the not-so-bad traffic my blog is having).

   

  

A chair made of a pallet (3/4) progress report...

This weekend I was hoping to complete the chair project, but I only could spend a couple of hours on the project. I tried to stick to the first sketch of the chair I was thinking about and made this :

      

The good news is that to make this chair you just need a table saw or a jig saw, they both great for it, a drill / screwdriver, tape measurement and a pencil.
I will continue to work on the chair as soon as possible, worse case scenario, it will be this week end, but I might be lucky and find some time during the week.
I will try to give a step by step description of the making process.

I just need to finish the back seat, it should not take more than 30min. My only question is, where should I stop filling the back seat?  All the way through or low enough to be confortable to seat on? I might go for the second option.
Should I finish the seat using wood stainer and give an ironic rich look to this almost free chair, or stay basic and leave it this way?
If you have any idea or advice, just drop me a comment!

A chair made from a pallet (2/4)

I have to step back from my ambitious design in the previous post. In a first time, my goal will be to make a functional and stable chair but I will also try to add a modest touch of style. It's not because the wood come from a pallet that I should stick with the rustic look I have seen most of the time.

I think I know how the profile will be, but still hesitating between these two.
I think I might have some time to start this project this week end and luckily I will have some pictures on monday to show if there's any progress. Now I have the pressure, because most of the time, when I talk about a project, it's because i'm just thinking about it or it's finished... this one has just started.

A chair made from a pallet

I have not posted for a couple of weeks, but I'm thinking and trying to collect few pallets to start making a chair, I don't have the final design yet but I'm trying to make something a bit different from the chair I have seen around. This is the usual designs:

I would like to come with a design that looks more like this one:

Something that looks more comtemporary, but still easy to make with one single pallet, like the one I just found yesterday:

I'll try to do this project as fast as possible.... and will keep you updated with the design I'm planning to choose.

Making the lamp with PVC pipes and soda can Part2

Update (March 25th): The US Readymade Magazine's blog featured the lamp! have a look here.

I spent some time yesterday night to finish on time for the crafster.org electrifying challenge (see previous post).
This is  my version of the lamp I talked to you about, yesterday.

  

What you need:

You need good scissors, a knife maybe and a marker.

The material:
It's pretty easy actualy, you need the PVC pipes and 2 elbows, a bulb and the electric wiring.

  

The most important is probably the soda can itself.

I'm a big fan of the Arizona ice tea, I like the design and the colors of the can.

How to make it:

You just need to assemble everything together... All the PVC pieces come from the plumbing department and are I assume, easy to find. I happen to redo my basement recentfly and didn't have to buy  most of them.

  

  

1- the PVC elbow

2- PVC pipe

3- The base (which to be honest with you), I don't really know what it is but I found it in the plumbing department and happen to make a pretty stable base.

Everything fit together nicely no need to glue, the electric wires are inside the pipes and comes out under the base. 

Making the shade

Two cans are used, one for big petals and one for little ones. Once you have designed all the petals you cut the can with scissors along the dashed line and then you can cut the petals, Be careful, you have to stop cutting when you reach the bottom of the can so the petal stay attached to the base of the can.

You will have to make a hole (with a knife or scissors) to fit the bottom of the can with the PVC elbow.

You can easily remove the drawing on the can by using ethanol to clean it.

The cost:

Depending on what you have in your house, this lamp is around $10, or 6 pounds or 7 euros ;-)

Conclusion:

It took me 1h to put together, it's easy to do, and exciting to choose the can you like.

If you like it, please just go on crafter.org website and vote for the project you like the most!

Work in progress... Making a lamp out of plastic pipes and soda cans Part 1

Today is the deadline for a craft project contest involving electricty that I found online at craftster.org, and I'm a bit late in sending pictures of the final project, for a good reason, I have not started making it yet.
But.... I have all the pieces ready to go into the project, and I can start sharing the few elements that I'm planning to put in the project.
Tonight I'll try to take the picture and will post the final project tomorrow on the blog, with how to do it.
This is the elements I will use to make it :

       

 

What I'm planning:
I'm planning to make a desk lamp that will look like a flower, using the soda can to make the flower, I still don't know if everything will hold together properly. We'll see that tomorrow!

The Cost:
$15 in the worse case scenario.
$10 for the lamp and the cord. But if you need to pay for the soda can and the the PVC pipes, around 5 more dollars.

How to make it:
Let see in my next post tomorrow if I can do it.

Beautiful lamps made of plastic bottle

There are tons of "Eco-projects" online showing lamps that are functional but not necessarily attractive or stylish.This is the work of Sarah Turner, she makes stunning Lamps with just plastic bottles.

This is the ones I like the most :

Cola 10 is made with 10 Coke bottles that are sandblasted to give this opaque look.

Lily 9 is made of  2L Sprite bottles.

Daisy 12 is made of 2L bottles.

If you think you can make stuff as interesting as this, drop me an email or a comment!

Recycling pallet into furnitures

This pieces of furniture made by artist Mark Dabelstein inspired me when I saw them; and like a lot of posts from this blog, I keep this as a project for later. At my work, I see a lot of pallet going to trash, and I will start collecting pieces to make one cabinet like this.

The trick to make such cabinet is the joinery, and today I will buy the Kreg jig for $39, this is a wonderful tool to create hole that will allow you to join two pieces of wood using screws, without having to be a professional woodworker. This is what I need. 

 The other tool needed would be a circular saw, wood glue and patience...