Making a Baby Pallet Picnic Table
| July 12, 2012 | Posted by Issa under Parenting |
We needed some more pallets for constructing our new big compost bins, and I headed out yesterday to pick up some free ones listed on Craigslist. Turns out they had some smaller sized pallets, too, that I snagged certain I could find something to do with them.
After getting them home and pondering them a bit, I figured one pallet was just the right size for a tabletop for Dylan. I could make a picnic table!
I used our table saw to slice boards off a second pallet to make the seats.
Then I cut up a third pallet to make the base. Some extra boards I cut up to make boosters to make the tabletop just a bit taller. Dylan helped the whole time, of course!
Here you can sort of see how the seat boards nestled into the base.
A few screws later, and there ya go! A baby-sized picnic table!
I may sand it a bit and even paint it, but I’m also pretty happy with it just the way it is. Especially since it was mostly free and took less than an hour to make.
Super cute! Hope Dylan didn’t get splinters in his tush. I’m envisioning a toddler tea party in the future!
The wood is not particularly ragged, and he didn’t seem to mind. A once-over with some sandpaper would do it good, though.
Pallets should not be used for human furniture. Humans who work around them suffer long-term health consequences: http://www.pallettruth.com/
Hahahahahahaha… No. That site is advocating for the use of plastic pallets, which I would never support. I’m sorry, “wood dust”? And they’re flammable? Yes, I have noticed that wooden pallets are made from wood. Durr. I agree that rough edges and surfaces, nails sticking out, etc is worth looking out for, and I do. I also know that not all pallets are the same. We use pallets for a few different things around here, and the ones we stack firewood on are of different quality than the ones I made baby furniture out of. But seriously. That “pallet truth” site just looks like it’s trying to sell plastic.
I agree that that site’s agenda may be pushing plastic pallets, but this is still a valid concern any of your food comes in contact with it. If your pallets are heat treated, then they should be fine. But if they are chemically treated, that’s a different story.
I just chose a site with clear info…was just trying to help. I didn’t know about this until my 15yo DD wanted us to make a pallet headboard for her. My sister in law (she is pretty crunchy) was the one who said we should use new wood because pallets can have mites, bugs, and chemicals, and you never know where they’ve been used (and reused).
Okay, I appreciate your help. I do like to know about things… It was a commenter here who alerted me to the dangers of raw milk and changed my mind about drinking it, for example. I think that the benefits of using pallets outweigh the risks for me, and some of those things I don’t care about at all, like the wood dust or bugs. But I do thank you for providing information about their use.
Very cool project! I recently came across a site giving instructions on how to make a pallet into a planter for gardening. The instructions included a tip on how ro readily determine whether your pallet was heat treated or chemically treated – basically stamped with HT or MB , respectively. A concise description, with photo, is here http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-determine-if-a-wood-pallet-is-safe-for-use/
Have fun!
Ooh, good information! Thank you! I do hate chemically treated wood. Usually when I pick up free pallets there are lots of different ones to choose from, so this will help me choose. I’m trying to figure out how to get out of using treated wood on this outdoor backyard living space I’m designing. The wood will be buried, so it has to last.
My mom and I just spent about 10 minutes SQUEEEE-ing over these photos. Dylan is too cute for words.
That is great!