An old wooden pallete can become a beautiful bench in just one afternoon. All you need is an old wooden pallete, four pieces of 2×4 to use for the legs and some basic tools. Just follow these few simple steps and you will have a beautiful bench made out of wood pallets for your hall, balcony or patio.
1. Cutting
Use the hand saw or the jig saw
to cut the pallete in two pieces in 1/3 and 2/3 ratio as shown on the picture below. Pay attention to cut on 1/3 of the pallete because you will use the smaller part for the back and the bigger part for the seat. Cut four pieces of 2×4 for the legs of the bench. The lenght of the legs determines the height of the future bench, we recommend 24 inches.
2. Attaching the legs
Turn the bigger part of the pallet upside down and use the metal corner brace to assemble the legs on the corners as shown on the picture below. Also it is better to use the plate corner brace
to reinforce the legs on the other side. It is very important to use only the wood screws designed specially for wood, using screws not intented for wood will lead to unstable final product!
Turn the bench on side and use the plate corner braces to attach the back of the bench. Then put the bench back into position and reinforce it on the front side with the metal corner brace
and the bench is finished.
4. Preparing and painting
Inspect the surfaces of your new bench and fill the gaps and holes with the wood filler using the putty knife. Then let the surface to dry for about two hours and then sand the whole surface with the sander
and wipe the surface. Then paint the surface with the paint brush
and two coates of latex paint. The final product is astonishing and the best of all it is almost free!
I really like this. I have a few mates who have made some dining room tables from pallets. It’s amazing what you can do with things you can get for free.