Garden Dominoes ...

Just when you thought there wasn't anything left to make with bits of pallet...

Technically I meant to do this last summer, but have only just got round to finishing it (seems there's a lot of that here) using the various off cuts from various pallet related builds (chicken coops and such like) I made a game for the kids to play in the garden, that game being dominoes.

A simple but fun game, that my daughter already seems to have a lot of luck at (she wins most games)


Here's the finished set -

A bit rustic, but still just as much fun.

As I said these are just off cuts, that I've made roughly the same length (6 inches or 15cm if you prefer) and each is roughly 3 inches wide (7.5cm) and there are 28 tiles in all, I gave them a sand first as they were a little rough.

Using a list I printed out from wikipedia - here (opens in new window) so I could remember what numbers each tile needed I set about marking them out ready for drilling.

It didn't take long to mark the tiles out - 

Much marking to be done.

Basically I divided the tiles in half then in each square I marked a cross, then on the cross I made a point for the drill bit to locate in, on all the tiles the holes are roughly an inch (2.5cm) apart, except the tiles with six holes, these holes are half an inch apart (1.25cm) and for the hole I used a 10mm drill bit in my post drill, using a hand drill would be just as easy, just don't go all the way through, although that would work too.

Tiles marked, you can see where each hole will go - 

A simple set of marks.

Once each tile was marked out I then took the lot to my shed and set about drilling holes, using the post drill is handy as it has a depth guide on it, which means I didn't end up drilling all the way through the tiles, I also used a saw, again with a depth guide to mark the halfway line that divides each tile.

Holes drilled, lines sawn - 

Ready for painting.

Next I figured I'd paint the holes (of which there are many) with a bit of black paint, just so they are more obvious, and as these are meant for use outside I will probably give them a coat of linseed oil, just to make them last a bit longer.

All done - 

Much easier to see what the numbers are.

Time for a game - 

Table is just as good as outside apparently.

I even made a wooden box to keep them in, it needs a bit of a sand though - 

And there you have it, easy to make, great to play on a sunny day in the garden, what could be more civilised ? any wood would do for this, I just had a load of bits lying around, but you could pick up a cheap piece of wood from your local diy shop, I've also been instructed to make a Jenga set as well, and if you do have pallets for a project remember to keep the blocks, they make great building blocks for the garden, in fact I wrote a short post about that very thing - heavy duty wooden building blocks (opens in new window)

Thanks for reading.

Another homemade trug ... ...

Warning contains yet more ways to use bits of pallet ! ! !

A while ago I made a small trug from random bits of plywood I had lying about, you can find the post here (opens in a new window) to be honest it was more a decorative thing than an actually functional carrying device.

The other night I was watching Super Scrimpers on channel 4, if you don't watch it you should really check it out, it's a great program, on the episode I watched I saw someone using a trug type basket for collecting their foraged items, so I thought (as I often do) I wonder if I can make something like that, and so today I did, and yes I used bits of pallet.

Here it is -

Mines a little different to the one I saw.

I'm oddly pleased with this for some reason, normally once I've made something I tend to look at it and start finding faults with it and thinking about how I could have done things differently, this however I'm finding faultless (at least from my point of view) you can see how it's made, it's just two curved bits of wood held together with thin strips of wood, with some natural fibre rope as handles.

This is very easy to make, and another good project for kids to try, especially if they are getting bored, the curve on the bottom is really easy to do, all you need is a few small nails and something bendy.

As I said the curve is easy to make, just mark out a length of wood to use as one of the sides, I made mine 18inches long, but it's up to you how big or small you want to make it.

Here's how to make the curve - 

Here's the wood marked at 18 inches.

Once you have marked out how long you want to make the trug you next need to mark 2 inches done from one edge, do this on each end.

Marking 2 inches down - 

There is a mark at 2 inches, honest.

Once you've marked each end you then need to find the middle of the section of wood, so if, like me you've made it 18 inches long then you need to put a mark at 9 inches.

The middle marked out - 

Next we need 3 small nails.

What we need to do now is put a small nail on each of the marks we've made, so a nail each end at the 2 inch mark and one nail at the 9 inch mark.

Nails all ready - 

I used small brass pins, I also used them to fix the trug together.

Now for the bendy bit, I used my steel ruler, but a piece of plastic trunking, or some other flat bendy substance will do, what you need to do is bend your ruler/trunking and use the nails to hold it in place, see the pictures below.

The curve already to be marked onto the wood - 

You can see how it works.

Here's a rough diagram of how to arrange it all - 

Simple really.

Ta da ! ! ! one curve - 

Not the greatest of pictures.

This is a quick way of making curves on bits of wood, and to be honest this is probably the most complicated bit of building this trug, adding the wooden strips is just a matter of cutting a load of wood and sticking it to the curved sections, I fixed mine with glue and brass nails.

All you need to do is fix the strips onto the curved part of each side - 

Roughly half an inch gap between each strip.

Now you may have noticed that the two centre strips are slightly thicker than the rest, this was just because I had cut enough wood, and I couldn't be bothered to get my table saw out again.

Here's what it looks like underneath - 

Probably best not put anything small in it.

It has gaps in it, so this is more a trug for collecting apples or other such things, as for the handles I had intended to bend a piece of thin wood over the top to make a loop type handle, but the wood I had wouldn't bend very well, so I went with plan 'B' 

(when undertaking any project it's always good to have a plan 'B')

Plan 'B' uses some natural fibre rope, which to be honest I like better, kind of makes it look more rustic ?

To make rope handles is just a case of making two holes in each side and then threading rope through and tying it off, you could also use an old leather belt as a carrying handle.

The rope handles - 

Thread through from the outside.

A simple knot does the job - 

A bit of super glue on the knot will stop it from undoing.

And there you have it, takes hardly anytime or money (if you have a load of wood lying about) and is a good sturdy functional thing, great for collecting fruit and veg when you next go foraging.

Thanks for reading.

Garden edging made from pallets ... ...

If like me you make loads of stuff out of old pallets (or any type of wood for that matter) you may have a lot of off cuts, and in the case of pallets maybe some broken bits, well here's an interesting use for them.

Garden edging can be expensive, I've seen it in pound shops though, but if you have the wood you might as well make some yourself.
You only need a few tools, a saw,tape measure,staple gun and some strimmer wire (the thicker the better) and perhaps a few other bits and bobs.


Broken bits of pallets -

These have been on my shed roof for a while.

You'll need to work out what length to make each section of edging, I made mine about 16inches, mainly because I had a short piece of wood I used as a guide, which oddly enough was about 16inches long.

Once you cut your lengths of wood you'll need to make one end of each piece pointed, this will help when hammering the edging into the ground, basically you want to make a load of flat stakes.

I made a template rather than measure and then cut each piece (I made 20 pieces in the end)

To make the template find the middle of the wood, then measure 2inches up on either side then you just need to draw a line on each side from the centre to the mark on each edge.

Like this - 

It doesn't have to be too precise.

And then you just use the template to mark each bit of wood and then get cutting, this can also be done (a lot quicker) on a mitre saw, but I couldn't be bothered to get mine from the shed.

Anyone for a stake ? - 

Just need a vampire or 2 and I'm sorted.

Next you want to line up all your stakes, it helps if you can butt them up against something, I used the back door step.

All lined up -

Now we just need to fix them together.

This is where the strimmer wire comes in, you can use metal garden wire, but it does tend to rust and break after a short space of time, where as the strimmer wire being plastic will last much longer.

All you need to do is staple the wire to each stake, a line at the top of the stakes and one at the bottom of the stakes.

Like so -

All done.

To stop the wire slipping out of the staples you can loop it round and fix it, you don't have to use a staple gun, you could use small wire clips, a staple gun is quicker though, and if some of the staples don't go into the wood all the way, just give them a tap with a hammer.

The loop - 

Use a staple or 2 to fix the wire.

And that's about it, you can make it on long lengths or short ones, the height is up to you, it's easy to make and if you already have a load of off cuts it's a good way to use them up.

I took a picture of it standing up, just for demonstration purposes, I shall be using the stuff I've made to make a raised bed or two, but one that can be moved and rolled up when it's not in use, I'm leaving the wood plain, but you can always paint it, or stain it for a nicer look, not that bare wood isn't nice.

It works ! -

You get the idea :-)

Thanks for reading.