# Built not Bought...



## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Share some things that you have crafted rather than purchased.

Last August I bought a fixer home to get my family into an A school neighborhood for my son to grow up in, and get us out of the 700 sqft shoebox condo we were living in.

Besides repairs to make things like plumbing work right, a few things I have built for the house so far are...

Rolling kitchen cart ~ Pallet wood project, total cost $50 in stain, hardware, and casters










Holds all my pots and pans









Cutting board storage









Rolled out to the dining room with Thanksgiving dinner on it!









Mailbox to replace old rusty metal box ~ Pallet wood project, total cost $35 in numbers, polyurethane, and hardware



















Key and dog lead holder ~ Pallet wood project, total cost $28 in hardware. I used the left over stain from the rolling cart


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## redog (Oct 14, 2005)

Pretty nice stuff! You should open an eBay store and make some extra cash off that kind of stuff


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks! I have considered it for the small things like boxes, key holders, coat racks, etc.

For large items like the kitchen cart or toy chest I am about to start for my son, I could only do those for local people that would be willing to come pick them up. The cart is 24w x 48l x 36h and has to be pre-assembled. Also they are so much work I'm not sure people would want to pay upwards of $500 to make it worth my time.

Breaking pallets down carefully so as to not ruin the planks and runners is a tedious process at best, but is really a pain in the ...... It takes me about 90-120 minutes per pallet if I want to be able to reuse all the wood. the cart was made with the best wood of 4 pallets.

I get the pallets for free from work though. As long as we have 10+ back by the dumpsters I can grab what I want, and we are usually in the 30-50 back there range.


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## redog (Oct 14, 2005)

I think you'd be surprised at what folks are willing to pay for that kind of stuff!


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## welder (Jan 25, 2013)

at stuff is nice dude!


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

welder said:


> at stuff is nice dude!


Thanks Welder! I have a planer now, so one of these days I will redo the top on the cart. I love the rustic look it has, but always picking food out of the cracks sucks...


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## ames (Jun 6, 2010)

nice job man!! love the address plaque


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks Ames!


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Here is how the cart was built!

Dylan helping me unload the 2nd round of pallets:

















The breakdown:









The cleanup - hours of orbital sanding to do all pieces...

















Mockup of the top:

















Dealing with the bowing in the u-line boards to get the top and square as possible.









The top complete and sanded:









Stained top:

















Mockup of the base:

















Base assembled, mocking up the lower slats: (I used it like this for a week)









Base off for caster addition:









Finally seeing the end coming!

















Staring the cutting board holder:

























All stained and ready for polyurethane sealant:


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## Tazz (Jan 27, 2014)

Great work,


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Put an organic herb garden together this weekend. Total project cost $50 for the soil and herbs. Wood was from a pallet from work.

Made 3 boxes









Added some legs









Added some basil and rosemary in organic soil


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## Black Rabbit (Nov 14, 2009)

Very cool.


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## Beatrix Kiddo (Feb 12, 2014)

wow it all looks so awesome!!! good job! Looks like you had a little help


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## TeamCourter (Oct 22, 2013)

Those are some good ideas, nice job too I might have my husband build the rolling cart to use somewhere when we move to our new house. I need to do something like that for my plants also...Thank you for sharing!

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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

It's cool that you are growing your own herbs, but what I don't understand is it looks like you have a good area to plant them in the ground. I see people do this all the time with raised beds and buckets and have really never understood the thinking.


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

hashbrown said:


> It's cool that you are growing your own herbs, but what I don't understand is it looks like you have a good area to plant them in the ground. I see people do this all the time with raised beds and buckets and have really never understood the thinking.


Growing them indoors for a couple reasons. Much easier for pest control, weed control, dog not eat control, and I tested Saturday a nice spot with partial sunlight outside and the sun 'melted' a basil plant.

The sun down here is intense as heck...


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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

DickyT said:


> Growing them indoors for a couple reasons. Much easier for pest control, weed control, dog not eat control, and I tested Saturday a nice spot with partial sunlight outside and the sun 'melted' a basil plant.
> 
> The sun down here is intense as heck...


 Guess we do it it on a different scale I can't imagine planting in a pot. Tomato crop alone in peak season yields 1500 to 2000 lbs a day. It's hard for me to imagine planting in pots. Anytime I see anyone growing their own food I'm impressed. The photo is just one day of the canning season around here. Props dickey!


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

much different scale...

Maybe someday I'll build a 'green house' with screen mesh to expand into, for now it will be nice just to be able to pick a handful of basil for tomato sauce or to make some pesto, or add some to curry, etc...


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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

DickyT said:


> much different scale...
> 
> Maybe someday I'll build a 'green house' with screen mesh to expand into, for now it will be nice just to be able to pick a handful of basil for tomato sauce or to make some pesto, or add some to curry, etc...


Like I said before, Man I think it's awesome! I personally think everyone should know where their food comes from and at least know how to grow some food. So you have to shade plants? Basil melts down here when its young but get's hardy with age.


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Yeah, the young-ins need shade. I lost 1 plant just trying to figure out is outside would work.

When these are well established I'll probably move 1 outside and see how it does. If it works well, I'll move them all outside and grow something else like mint in the window boxes.


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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

DickyT said:


> Yeah, the young-ins need shade. I lost 1 plant just trying to figure out is outside would work.
> 
> When these are well established I'll probably move 1 outside and see how it does. If it works well, I'll move them all outside and grow something else like mint in the window boxes.


Mint takes sun well! I usually plant in some sort of containment bed to keep it from taking over. Mint winters here and comes back 10 fold the following year and the next and next until all you have is mint!


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

What is winter? We get 9 months of Summer from April to December, then 3 months of spring starting in January... haha


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## Rachel_PitLover95' (Mar 1, 2014)

we get 9months of winter than 3 months of spring/summer lol

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## bluedozer (Sep 8, 2013)

That is some very nice wood working DickyT. My built not bought is a outdoor wood furnace, very common in the northern states lol.







I spent all of November building it, hooked it up in December and haven't used a drop of propane since. Just some man hours cutting wood. My winter workout


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks, and that is really cool! No need for such a device down here, the coldest we got this 'winter' was in the low 40's...


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## bluedozer (Sep 8, 2013)

I see your from FL. We had a few nights with wind chill close to -40 f in MI this winter.


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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

It was 90 here last friday and spitting snow today. My thermal underwear is irritating my sunburn!


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

hashbrown said:


> It was 90 here last friday and spitting snow today. My thermal underwear is irritating my sunburn!


:rofl:

:cheers:


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## Katey (Aug 5, 2013)

Wow... Impressive!

Dicky, my dad has built a platform that has pressboard wood on the top, he poured a product that looks like fiberglass resin over it about a 1/4 the inch thick to seal it up. Not sure if that would work for your kitchen island. It's pretty tough stuff and it's clear.

we are what we do repeatedly. excellence is then not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

My island is polyeurethane coated, so sealed and food safe!

I built an organizer for my wife's side of the closet today. The off colored wood is scavenged,
But the same 1x12 white pine that I made the rest out of, just stained.

When money allows I will do my side and the back wall. Project cost $85 in lumber. If I had not been so lazy I could have only spent $60 on lumber and edge joined and planed it square myself. The extra $25 would have been at least 2 hours extra work in tool setup and work, and yielded more scrap from the sniping on the ends of the planed boards, so would have been about $70 do to another plank needed.


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## ::::COACH:::: (Apr 4, 2012)

Nice stuff DickyT!!!i have a bunch of wood....I need you to build me stuff!!! Lol! The only thing I built has been a spring pole...lol!


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

::::COACH:::: said:


> Nice stuff DickyT!!!i have a bunch of wood....I need you to build me stuff!!! Lol! The only thing I built has been a spring pole...lol!


Thanks COACH! If I'm ever in your neck of the woods I'd be happy to build some stuff for ya :cheers: It is relaxing for me and a great sense of pride when done.

I can't wait to have the budget to finish up the rest of the closet and get it stained.


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## OldFortKennels (Mar 10, 2006)

Recently I have been doing some leatherwork..........


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## ThaLadyPit (Oct 12, 2008)

Very nice Andy! So glad to see you stop by. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Mobile.....at the moment....on petguide.com app


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## Katey (Aug 5, 2013)

Those are great OFK

we are what we do repeatedly. excellence is then not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Nice work OFK!


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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

A few of my built not bought projects.


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

Love em all hash, specially the crawlers!


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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

DickyT said:


> Love em all hash, specially the crawlers!


Anyplace to crawl in FL, Dicky?


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## bluedozer (Sep 8, 2013)

Probably a little swamp crawling in FL hash. You have a very nice collection of toys. Do you prefer the irok over the tsl?


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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

bluedozer said:


> Probably a little swamp crawling in FL hash. You have a very nice collection of toys. Do you prefer the irok over the tsl?


Yes, the Iroks are stickies the sticky does great on the rocks. I cut the tsl's and it helped them a lot!


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

hashbrown said:


> Anyplace to crawl in FL, Dicky?


Only muddin' down here Hash  A few places for the RC crawlers, but no place for the real rigs to hit the rocks.


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## hashbrown (Mar 17, 2013)

Just finished a project for Jacob yesterday. Built him an Easter egg slinging trebuchet. We needed rid of the left over eggs and this does the trick!


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## DickyT (Jan 29, 2014)

That is sweet! I love Cata's and Trebs! Using rocks in the wood basket for counter weight?


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