I promise, it’s entertaining

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Welcome to my backyard builds. Last year I published this video https://youtu.be/McK0kbPZNoU. titled “This video will change how you see wood. I promise.” It’s almost at 5 million views at this time. A good friend @FixitFingers and his wife suggested to make another compilation with my backyard builds, and here it is. But it’s not just a compilation. It’s new and old projects completely re-written and edited into one long video.

It also features contributions from @dainermade , @JackmanWorks , @turgworks4138 , @diyforknuckleheads and @BeauMiles . I also mention @Foureyes.Furniture when talking about pallet wood is a scam and @MikeFarrington about the biscuit joiner. Go check them all out.

🔨 About This Video:
In this video, I dismantle pallets to build garden furniture, craft a cabin from storm-felled trees, and eventually set up my own woodworking haven—all filmed over the span of three years starting from the lockdown summer of 2020. Discover how I make use of every resource, including repurposing old tools and learning from each mistake along the way.

🛠️ Projects Covered:
Pallet Dismantling and Reusing: Starting with basic hand tools to sophisticated methods, learn how to efficiently dismantle pallets for various projects.
Garden Table Creation: Watch the full process from cleaning boards to constructing a sturdy, rustic table.
Cabin Building with My Daughter: A heartwarming and challenging project using logs from nearby forests, showcasing the process of milling, designing, and building from scratch.
Tool Evolution: From a handsaw and a cheap drill to acquiring essential woodworking tools like a circular saw, planer, and the mighty biscuit joiner.

🌍 Setting:
Set in my backyard in Denmark, this video not only explores woodworking but also delves into the serene and industrious lifestyle that rural living offers. From the joys of working with natural materials to the trials of building in unpredictable weather, this series encapsulates the essence of DIY spirit.

👷 Why Watch This?
Inspiration for Budget Builds: Perfect for DIY enthusiasts looking for low-cost building ideas.
Comprehensive Building Techniques: From novice mistakes to professional tips, there’s something for every level of experience.
Community and Family: Building projects that bring people together, creating memories and practical skills alongside lasting structures.

🎥 Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Backyard Builds
00:56 One small step for mankind, but a giant leap for Jesper
18:43 Foundation
24:44 Getting help
26:34 The religion of PYT
36:50 The importance of talking to your neighbors
40:33 My pallet wood religion
47:10 Continuity
50:48 Everything is connected
1:00:53 Everything grows
1:04:15 If you build it, they will come
1:17:42 Use the force, Luke

🛒 Tools & Materials Used:
Basic Tools: Pry bar, sledgehammer, hand saw, cheap drill
Advanced Equipment: Circular saw, thickness planer, biscuit joiner, tenon cutter, sliding bandsaw (sawmill)
Materials: Reclaimed pallets, storm-felled logs, old tools gifted by family

📚 Behind the scenes
Explore detailed blogs and additional resources on my website: http://jespermakes.com

For real-time updates and behind-the-scenes, follow my second behinds the scenes channel here:: @JesperMakesBTS

🤝 Support My Channel:
Enjoying the build series? Consider subscribing for more woodworking adventures, DIY tips, and backyard engineering! Hit the like button if you learned something new, and don’t forget to share this video with other DIY enthusiasts.

💬 Engage with me:
Got questions or feedback? Leave a comment below! Interested in more detailed breakdowns of each project? Let me know which project you’d like to see more in-depth coverage of!

🎁 Sponsored by BetterHelp:
This video is brought to you by BetterHelp — Affordable, private online counseling. Get 10% off your first month by visiting our sponsor at betterhelp.com/jespermakes

#backyard #palletprojects #cabinbuild

Call to Action:
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more inspiring woodworking content! Dive into the world of backyard builds with me and see what you can create with a little imagination and a lot of determination.

🔗 Useful Links:
Subscribe to My Channel: Jesper Makes
Follow on Instagram: Instagram/JesperMakes
TikTok Adventures: TikTok/@JesperMakes

📺 Watch Next:

stuff I absolutely don’t know how to do
building a cabin from big lcks building
a table from a pallet so it doesn’t look
like a pet building a stool from a Roden
trus making lock benches making a
workbench from big poles cutting down a
tree with an axe and that is just the
beginning of what I don’t know but I
don’t know that I don’t know so let me
take you on a journey to my backyard in
Denmark where this dumb guy lives with
two left hands and no tools yet this
video is filmed over the course of 3
years in my backyard starting with
dismantling pallets with minimal tools
building Garden tables benches a
greenhouse and a cabin and ultimately
building my own good booking shop along
the way it all started in the summer of
2020 where we couldn’t travel anywhere
and we didn’t know what the future would
bring so I grabbed that opportunity by
grabbing some old pellets I plan to burn
or dump at the recycling
station I know I’m lucky to have some
space around me or actually it is not
luck I chose not to live in an apartment
a long time ago I decided not to have a
cafe or shopping opportunities just
around the corner which was very
fortunate when it was all closed down
anyway
this is one of the first things I have
ever built and looking back almost 4
years later in my woodworking Journey
there are definitely some things that I
would have done differently I still have
the table and a little later in this
video I will show you what it looks like
today the good thing about using
palletwood as your primary source of
wood is that it is free I hear from
people from different parts of the world
that pallets are not free and not lying
everywhere but in many countries they
actually are I live in Denmark in the
northern part of Europe I get pets from
stores and factories in my area that get
Goods delivered on pallets from
different parts of the world a lot of
these pallets are outside any recycling
program and another good thing is that
this wood is already sewn and Mill up
for you you get some boards that are
pretty easy to use right away in your
projects
the only drawback of using pallets is
that you must take them apart and remove
the nails I have developed a lot of
methods of doing this and I will show
you some more examples later in the
video and also with some better tools to
do so for now I’m using my sledgehammer
and a pry bar to dismantle this
[Music]
palette a brilliant trick for hammering
long nails out is cutting them short
with a B cutter or an ankle grinder of
course don’t just let one part of the
nail drop to the ground Outdoors like I
did right here I had quite a party
getting the parts up with my magnet
again but the short nail is easy to
hammer out
[Music]
[Music]
so now we have a bunch of boards without
nails ready to assemble to something
again I listed an advantage of
palletwood being mil and swn off for you
a minute ago and you might think isn’t
all Lumber mil and swn off for me and
that is very true if you take a trip to
any wood section of a big box store in
the same way that food is nicely killed
packed and pre-cooked for you in any
grocery store but my backyard isn’t a
grocery store to appreciate the
palletwood a little bit more here is a
little peek into what it actually takes
to get from a big tree to usable Lumber
in January 2021 I decided to see if I
could take a big tree down the good
oldfashioned way with only using an Axe
and let’s just say I didn’t complete
this task on the first day all the
second
I’ll show you what I made from this tree
a little later and also how it came down
exactly a few years later my daughter
and I started building an off cabin from
blown over trees from a nearby Forest
the amount of work required to move
locks out from the forest and cut them
up to Lumber to build from you can’t
imagine but we will also get back to
that build
[Music]
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[Music]
moving on with the garden table the next
project is creating the tabletop from
the boards essentially it is just gluing
them together but to be able to to do
that I need to prep them a little I had
just gotten a used thickness planer a
massive upgrade from using my belt
Center to flatten and smoothen Boards so
I ran the boards through the thicknesser
on both sides and a trick I think I may
have invented to make the sides of the
bolts completely straight and ready to
glue together I just clamped them
together standing up and run them
through the thicknesser until the blade
has contact with all the bools that is
simple and effective and some people
can’t stand that I put clamps through
the machine well you just have to deal
with it
[Music]
[Music]
so here is a little rundown of a cheap
joining tool I learned about from
watching Mike fron thanks Mike who
showed me the Mighty biscuit
joiner a biscuit joiner works by cutting
a little Groove in the opposite edges of
two pieces of wood wooden biscuits which
are small oval shaped pieces of
compressed wood are then inserted gently
into these slots with some
[Music]
glue this tool is commonly used for
aligning edges in woodworking projects
and I’m making woodworking projects such
as cabinet making and tabletops and this
is my first tabletop ever and I’m also
about to make a giant mistake but hey
I’m just a kid playing with Lego here or
actually I’m playing with pallets and
biscuits remind me not to eat any of
these because I love
biscuits after the glue door boards had
dried overnight I subconsciously decided
to make a
[Applause]
[Music]
mistake I believed I was clever when I
cut the tabletop in
too then continuing my cleverness I used
three short Rafters from the pallet and
inserted them into the other direction
to avoid cing in the future brilliant
because at this point I hadn’t figured
out what to do with the legit or any
base of the table but we will get to
that
[Music]
after another night of glue drying I
believe this palette with tabletop is
pretty sweet well except when I
discovered a bunch of ugly nail holes in
the top this is palletwood yeah there
are nail holes in palletwood and this
shouldn’t surprise me since I just
removed the nails from the bols but I am
a little dumb well now there are several
ways to go about nail holes and the
easiest is leaving them in there and
just call it The Rustic look another
another is filling them up with sawdust
and glue or some other wood filler but
this is future yesper talking 2020
yesper had this set of forer bits with
um let’s call it a cking bit if you know
the proper term for this let me know in
the
comments the idea is to drill out the
nail hole with the first bit and with
the bit counterpart you drill this cork
out from a similar piece the wood then
you just glue the pins or corks in the
[Music]
holes if you’re really fancy you can
even align the wood grain direction to
match in both
pieces let’s just say I wasn’t
fancy when the glue had dried overnight
again a little action with a Japanese
inspired puls saw cuts all the corks
flush
the next step is cutting the table to
size and I do that with an old circular
saw that I got used from a friend for
free to make this act like a track saw
and cut a straight line because we like
straight lines apparently I clamped down
my level that is not so level anymore
and used that as a track or guide and
the sharp viewer noticed my little wood
block here which best translates to a
circle or S spacer thing if you have a
track saw you just align the edge of the
track with where you want to cut but
with this homemade guide rail I need to
account for the foot plate on my circle
saw So to avoid measuring for every cut
because I hate measuring I made a spacer
that is the width of the plate on the
saw that’s pretty brilliant for a guy
like
that I’m sure you like to watch people
sanding but still I don’t so while I
send this tabletop let’s quickly look at
some of the awesome tools we will use
later in these backyard builds I’ll be
using a Tenon cter to make lock benches
a big or drill bit to make some giant
holes in wood and I even got a sliding
bands saw also known as a sawmill I
still can’t believe I was able to get
there anyway I use it to cut up locks
into Lumber and when you need to move
big locks around you also need a lock
Arch like this one I’m using to lift and
transport big locks out from the forest
and home on the ban so like I did with
my daughter when we started building a
cabin from these we draged locks Out of
the Woods Mill them up and then directly
began putting them together to form the
base construction of the cabin you mount
the floor and the rest of the house on
this thing and I can already hear the
internet scream at me in the comments
don’t you need to drywood before you can
use it and the answer is um hey just a
quick thought why don’t we finish the
garden table and learn something before
we get too deep into the back C lock
building after I sanded the tabletop
with a belt sander and then a random
orbital sander up to 150 GD sandpaper I
took a very cheap router from skill and
mounted a 45° routing bit to make these
chamers on the top at the beginning of
the video I said I didn’t have any tools
that was almost correct honestly when I
started in 2020 I had a cheap drill and
a hand saww and that was it but when I
started showing a slight interest in
woodworking some family members came
around with some of their used tools my
father-in-law gave me his old Circle or
saw and a drill press my father had an
old compressor and a nail gun I bought
some cheap tools like a tracka from Ein
Hill and this router from skill I also
saw a lot of makers on YouTube using a
table saw so I bought the cheapest one
possible from shac at this point I had
spent less than $500 on TOs
[Music]
I need to make a base for the table and
some legs I found a pallet with long
Rafters so I decided they would have to
work as the legs so I liberated them
from the palletwood boards and after
making sure there were no Nails left in
them hopefully I split this Oney rafter
in two
[Music]
my tabletop could cup in the long
Direction after I cut it in two so I
decided to put two of these Rafters in
the long Direction
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
then I made two Exes from the remaining
four Rafters and mounted them under the
[Music]
table what I didn’t know then was that
by making something from palletwood
filming it and sharing it on YouTube as
my first ever YouTube video woohoo I was
actually joining a cult the pallet would
makers cult and as with any cult they
also have haters I was about to find out
when I told my wife I was building a
table from pallets she imagined a big
chunky table that still looks like a
pallet and she hates the look of pallets
made into Furniture but when she saw
this table she was more like H what kind
of finish do we put on that so I could
almost touch the sweet sweet feeling of
Victory I was one step away from getting
a piece of petwood furniture wife
approved this is probably one small step
for mankind but it was a giant leap for
yesper
[Music]
to avoid them from starting to wiggle
and wubble after some time I mounted two
angle pieces to support those
[Music]
legs this is actually a very sturdy and
lightweight table
[Music]
I started the finishing process by
setting the table on
fire some of you may think I finally got
to my senses and decided to burn this
palletwood creation and you’re right I
wanted to try out the old Japanese way
of preserving and protecting wood so I
fired up my torch and gave the table a
good burn all over
[Music]
after the table was charred all over I
took some sandpaper and removed the
loose particles from the burn
[Music]
I had mixed up some beeswax with linseed
oil my own natural wood finish and I
gave the table I could scrub with that
mix
[Music]
so this is the finished table made from
one pallet and treated with wood burning
and Beeswax and nothing else and I still
have this table 4 years later and I’ll
just run and get some footage from it
I’ll be right back and while I wait for
my future self to return with some fresh
footage from the garden table 4 years
later including the mistake I made Let’s
dive into building the foundation of the
[Music]
cabin when we decided to build our own
cabin we also built the base frame
elevated from the ground
level I saw people like bu miles build
his cabin on top of some big rocks and
he’s in Australia which is pretty
dry we in Denmark where it’s not pretty
dry it is pretty cold 6 months every
year and we get a lot of rain and snow
and the temperature fluctuates more so
elevating the the structure helps to
prevent water from accumulating around
the base that can lead to rot and
mold so we put these concrete post
supports in the ground they are built
with these post anchors where you can
adjust the height after it is put in the
ground heavy rainfall is increasingly
becoming a problem in most parts of the
world and my hope with this elevated
structure is that the water will just
pass underneath here we’re also building
it on this uneven rain so elevating it
means we don’t have to level the ground
beneath
[Music]
it I keep saying we when I talk about
this cabin build it’s because I’m
building it with my daughter she asked
if we could build her a cabin together
and none of us had ever built anything
with a roof before but I just like the
idea of her being able to build a house
with her own hands somewhere out there
in the future so this cabin built is a
perfect project for learning basic house
building techniques for both of us and
learn to use tools like a circular saw a
nail gun drill and a chopsaw and not
only hand tools she quickly learned to
operate the Sawmill which became very
valuable a little later in the cabin
build we needed wood to build the base
frame and a year before a storm took
down a few trees in the forest that is
literally only a 2minute walk away from
this cabin the forest owner asked me if
I wanted the trees and and when I looked
at them I discovered they were black
Alder trees so I looked up black Alder
and it looks like it is known for its
natural resistance to rot and Decay
especially if it is not in direct
contact with soil this makes it a solid
choice for the elevated frame of the
cabin
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
so we dragged the logs out from the
forest put them on the Sawmill and
started Milling up Timber for the Bas
frame and almost immediately after
Milling the wood we started building
from it even my mother who has
absolutely no experience with or
interest in woodworking asked me if the
wood didn’t need to dry before I could
use it I think we need to take a little
wood history
lesson this obsession with drying wood
is a rather new thing Furniture
carpenters and Timber Famers have in
most of woodworking history used wet
wood to build from and when I say
wetwood I mean Greenwood uh freshwood
wetwood let’s call it wetwood they were
so skilled they just accounted for the
shrinking and the movement of the wood
when constructing the furniture so over
time the joints and fittings would just
tighten up more simple framers the guys
building houses and structures from wood
still prefer wetwood it’s easier to
shape wet wood it is cheaper and it is
way more accessible and when done right
having the wood drying in the position
where it’s supposed to be sitting can
tighten the joints and make the
construction
[Music]
stronger unfortunately I’m not an
experience timber frame I don’t make the
fancy joinery that I would like to make
the most fancy joints I’m currently
making are half flap joints which is
basically removing half of the materials
on both pieces so they fit together
that’s a pretty effective joint in many
cases and I’m using it a lot in this
base construction we slam the base
together with big wood screws and wood
glue and we don’t tighten it or screw it
to the Anchor Post in the ends yet
allowing it to move a little bit over
time
we’ll get back to the cabin build
because let’s just go a little back in
time to my first experience with
building from wetwood I was taking down
this poplet tree with an axe remember
and oh boy did I get comments on X size
and many many other things apparently
there’s a lot of X tree failing EX on
YouTube just hanging around and waiting
for something to comment on and I may
have become a part of the palletwood
cult but I have definitely not become a
part of the X filling
cult at least not
[Music]
yet I’m fortunate to share this journey
with my family building alongside my
daughter and sharing my day work with my
wife but being a YouTuber and woodworker
I often work alone I enjoy being in my
own company most of the day but in 2022
I lost my father to cancer and it was
suddenly more difficult to be alone with
all my thoughts all day long a good
friend recommended getting some help to
navigate the difficult period but I
rejected it because I thought it meant
taking huge chunks of time out of my
daily work schedule to go see a
therapist but then I found better help
who is today’s sponsor an online therapy
platform designed to provide support
exactly when and where I needed it with
better help I found a space to work
through my issues with a licensed
therapist from my home I was able to
schedule sessions around my busy life
and if the therapist didn’t feel like a
good match I could just switch to
another better help offers access to
over 30,000 licensed therapists so you
can be sure there are someone who can
relate to your specific needs and
experiences in my case it did not just
help me navigate losing a family member
but also dealing with job and life
priority issues which in the end meant
that I took the jump to becoming a
full-time YouTuber this proved the power
of reaching out for help and I hope it
can help many others too if you are
considering seeking help I have
partnered with better help to offer you
a special discount by visiting better
health.com mix or choosing yesx during
sign up you’ll get 10% off your first
month remember it is okay to seek help
let’s build a supportive commun
Community not just about making and
woodworking but in all aspects of Our
Lives I had just gotten a sliding band
off so I was looking for something to
cut up my neighbor had just taken down
some poer and pear trees in his garden
and dumped them at my place I’m
apparently the kind of guy that people
dump their wood with so if you ever find
yourself needing to get rid of a forest
or maybe just a few trees remember I’m
your guy just be sure to give me a heads
up before you start seeing my yard as
your personal Lumber Dumping
Ground these ppla guys are very wet they
still produce green leaves so they are
perfect for my little wetwood building
experiment this was the summer of 2021
and it is now 3 years later I still have
the benches are made from the wet poer
wood so we can take a trip to the Future
later and see how they are doing
it’s generally not recommended to use
popler for outdoor use because this wood
is not naturally resistant to rot and
insect attacks so of course that is
exactly what I plan to do the plan is to
make a lot of lock benches to have
around our garden and the house and to
try out my new Tenon
color I really appreciate that you have
been sticking with me for this long in
the video and I feel we should get to
know each other a little better I live
in Denmark and if you could just type in
the comments down below where you’re
from I’ll be happy to say hi to you I
have a friend an American who moved to
Denmark and started to learn Danish he
told me we have a very unique word in
Denmark that became one of his favorite
words and I think it’s a word that we
will have some good use of knowing going
forward in this video there isn’t really
an English word or sentence that means
the same but the best way to describe
this word might be a combination of
never mind let it go or it is what it is
so the dest word for all of this is put
yeah just put so the next time you’re
stuck in traffic and late for a meeting
or your woodworking project goes
completely bunkr or your SD card crashes
with one week of footage on it remember
shake your shoulders a bit and say
p
p I will need to use this word a few
times in the upcoming builds so I
thought I would just bring you up to
speed with a little insight into Danish
culture and language you’re
welcome this is one of the first times I
have used this sliding ban saw or
Sawmill and I’m pretty excited about it
but bear with me if I’m looking a bit
inexperienced I can already imagine what
the comments are going to look like and
yes most people do not have a horizontal
band saww in their there are many
ways to Mill Lumber for lock furniture
and before I had this saw I used my
chainsaw or to M Lumber I’ve been
working and saving really hard to be
able to get this s and this small model
is really not that expensive but if you
have access to Locks it’s a really
brilliant way to be able to turn locks
into usable lumber for your wood
projects and a ton of other uses I’ll
show you some crazy uses a little later
this lock is no problem for the saw and
I aim to get three big slaps out of it
and I plan to make five lock benches one
really long and four shorter ones so I
must cut two slabs in
half and after debarking the slabs I
start on the joinery joinery on lock
Furniture is pretty simple it is more or
less just drilling holes to hammer the
legs into so I pull out my 2in Japanese
Oro drill bit and start drilling some
holes I really like to work with Ora
drill bits like this one 2in bits like
this are not easy to find but I am super
impressed with the sharpness and
precision it Dills perfect holes into
these popl locks and even my little Jeep
inel drill seems to be able to turn it
around and a little later in the video I
will try to use this or bit to drill
down a standing hardwood tree
[Music]
oh
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[Music]
for the leges I’m just grabbing some
branches and I’m using a 2in tenant
cutter to cut the tenants on the legs
the primary function of a tenant cutter
is to shape the end of a piece of wood
into a tenant which will then fit snugly
into the corresponding mortis aka the
hole I just made with the drill imagine
you are all geared up for a long session
of Tenon cutting I know I was but the
drill you have is a budget friendly
slightly underwhelming inheld drill and
apparently cutting tenants is quite a
hard job for this little fellow after
four tenants that is just one bench inel
started to smoke it wasn’t just being
dramatic it literally died half through
the four tenant and I guess I’ll just
have to say p and move on I got through
the rest of the tenants with a
combination of all my other drills some
of them CED I also ordered the most
powerful drill I could find a Makita 40
WT brushless Powerhouse that I will test
a little later
[Music]
[Music]
sh
[Music]
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if you have seen any of my videos you
know that my favorite way of treating
wood for the outdoors is by burning it
box fungus moisture hate the chart burnt
wood burnt wood is even more resistant
to Catching Fire what and it’s a natural
and safe way to treat wood unless you
burn it it down of course and it will
last for a long time if you don’t burn
it down I treat the bottom of the legs
with linseed oil to make them more
resistant to rot and
moisture I’m burning the top of the
bench until it’s black and then I brush
it gently with some
sandpaper and then I pre-treated with
some linseed oil
[Music]
after the oil has soaked in I gently
heat up some of my bisx mixture I have a
video on my channel if you want to see
how I mix it this has made the surface
of the bench completely water resistant
for many years and I’ve used be spacks
on all my outdoor tables benches and
chairs it will be interesting to see if
this works on freshwood and how it will
develop over the next few years
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
the benches have been left outside for
the last 3 years and I’ll just go and
grab some footage of them and show you a
little later in the
[Music]
video the only thing left now is
inviting family and friends to celebrate
Midsummer in Denmark around the bonfire
this was a very special Midsummer for me
because it was one of the last times my
dad was able to visit me and he was very
impressed with my use of
pler he got sick and died a few years
later I miss you
dead I know he would have loved the
cabin build that I’m now doing with my
[Music]
daughter I love the cabin built too we
have the elevated base structure in
place and the next thing is putting
insulation in place between the wood
posts before we start putting the
flooring in place on top I figured we
could use some pallet wood to rest the
insulation on so Julia got to work
mouching some Thin Rafters along the
beams and then she is putting some
palletwood boards on the top with a bit
of spacing for ventilation this prevents
moisture build up in the future I hope
so
[Music]
a big part of this build is what I call
Top management because of the frequent
showers from above and it will only get
worse
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so after some days of heavy rain we’ve
removed the top and got to work sorting
out the boards that we had for
flooring this is actually 150y old
flooring we got for free by picking them
up a little earlier we noticed a nearby
house started to throw these fine Boards
out of the windows what so we knocked on
their door and asked if we could pick
them up and guess what we could so we
got the boards home and we denail them
and we cut off the most damaged parts so
now we’re just playing around with the
floor to find their best use on top of
our little platform here these boards
are really solid with the tongue and
groove intact on most of the boards who
would throw these out so after we had
decided what boards to use we gave them
a quick cleanup using a small desktop
fer
this minor operation was challenging for
this little machine still we got the
boards to a bit more uniform size and at
the same time leaving some of the use
marks on the wood from its previous
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life some of the charm of building with
historic materials such as these is that
this little cabin is getting deep roots
into history and stories to tell those
who visit
we still needed to figure out where to
get the wood for the cabin timber frame
but then I talked to one of my neighbors
who had previously been in the Christmas
tree business he had a place with some
old Noble first that had been used for
producing Greenery and he was looking to
get that area cleaned up still it was
only accessible briefly when the
cornfield around it was harvested and
suddenly he called me and said that
window wasn’t out so I had a few days to
harvest as much as possible before they
would plow the field and make it
inaccessible again so I started off my
old tractor grab my chainsaw and throw
off I realize we have talked a lot about
building with locks Milling up locks and
even more stuff with locks so while yper
is off to have some more locks what more
locks let’s talk about pellets and some
pet dismantling we should have plenty of
have time to cover this because I have
seen this guy getting locks it will take
him some
time many Woodworkers see palletwood as
junk wood full of poison pesticides and
chemicals and they also see the people
building stuff from palletwood as some
sort of scamsters and I’m not thinking
about anyone in particular here Chris
indeed pallets are often made from the
sapwood part of trees but that is still
usable it’s illegal to treat pallets
with chemicals they are only being heat
treated and also I avoid dirty pallets
painted and spilled on pallets my love
for palletwood started as a practical
thing it was available for free it was
already sewn into boards and it was an
opportunity to reuse something that
would otherwise have been burned or
buried in a landfill also I prefer the
look of recycled wood with some history
to that of new wood but also the message
that it sends recy reusing that kind of
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stuff I started dismantling pallets in
2020 and here is my guide with the best
and the worst ways to taking pallets
apart I’m going to dismantle these four
types of pallets including one huge
pallet dismantling failure I’m also
giving you my best tips for tools to use
and what definitely not to use more
about that in a
moment the Euro pallet many people seem
to avoid Euro pallets like the plake
still they are actually very easy to
take apart because they have a lot of we
spots first get the bottom stringers and
the blocks off take a sledgehammer and
tap the blocks slightly on the sides
like you would knock on a door with a do
not disturb side okay maybe a little
harder in a horizontal position the
system with blocks and stringers is very
strong but if you put it up vertically
it becomes weak immediately the next
step is removing the large nails that
connects the top boards with the blocks
you can shoot them out with a reverse
nail gun but if you don’t have one like
I didn’t have at this point the best way
is just cutting the nails short and then
play a little game of whacka mode hit
the short nails one time with a hammer
turn the pallet over and remove the
nails the Pyar
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with the big Nails out of the way we
just need to get the top board separated
from the stringers most people will take
a crowbar and start twisting the boards
apart but don’t do that I have made my
own pallet Buster kit it is just two
Rafters that came from a pallet of
course and I call them pallet buster one
and two place number one on the ground
place the pallet over it and just tap
the stringers lightly with number two
and you will have the board separated
from the stringers fast and without any
spinter boards in most cases the pallet
almost takes itself apart well almost
you still need to do a little work okay
we still have the bottom balls with the
blocks on them and you know I like to
use all wood from the pallet including
the pallet blocks so here are three
techniques to get these pallet block
teenagers to leave home one way of
getting them off is to hammer a crowbar
in and twist them off not the best way
another is hammering them off like this
not the best way too the best way is to
fasten the Block in a visce and use the
board itself as a
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lever in a moment I’ll show you some of
my weirdest palletwood projects but
first we should talk about the sawur if
you mount a demolition blade on one of
these things it will cut through wood
and nails and many people place this
method of taking pellets apart like in
this very popular video don’t use a
hammer one question if you cut the nails
you are stuck with two parts of the nail
in the wood one in the top boards and
another part in the bottom boards or in
the blocks they will be very hard to get
out so here I’m planing pallet wood
boards for the garden table build and
with nails stuck in the wood I would be
unable to use most woodworking tools
like sauce and plers on it and I could
definitely not have made this tblop from
pallet blocks if I had left all the
nails in the blocks this is a North
American type of pallette and this one
is extra strong which with five
stringers I’m pretty sure I can take it
apart with my homemade pallet Buster kit
but um let’s save it for a little
later this is a different kind of block
pallet Square in diameter and it is
pretty strong with bottom boards in both
directions no obvious weak points I
prefer to cut these balls with a
circular
saw I use these boards for many things
like making this paded wood wall in my
workshop and then again just put it in
vertical position and use a hammer and I
can disassemble the rest with my
homemade pallet buster
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now my take on the American palet this
pet is about 10 years old and the wood
is very thin and fragile the ball just
splinters on me and there is no other
use for this than the fire stove some
pallets are just not worth it here are
my tips for what pallets to use and what
not to use so okay to use does it have
the HT stamp it means the pette has only
been heat treated is it clean a quick
visual inspection should reveal no oil
stains dird or mold and what about the
origin try to get pallets from
businesses that ship non-toxic Goods
such as Hardware or grocery stores not
okay to use stay clear of palletes
marked with MB that is metal bromide and
also if a pallet has unknown stains or
chemical smell it is best just to leave
it I would also leave painted and
colored Petes and also overly worn and
damaged pallets just leave
them seen from the outside this is just
some guy jumping on an old tractor and
driving 10 minutes over to his
neighbor’s cornfield to pick up some
logs what’s the big deal but think
thinking back on it a little later I
think this was the moment when I
realized something important my father
gave me this tractor he died in 2022 and
I’m just so happy he got to see the
beginning of my journey with wood when
he was sick the months before he passed
away we would sometimes sit and watch
videos from the north men together all
evening especially the video grandfather
reminded him of his own father when he
was a kid I still have a private
playlist on YouTube with the videos we
would watch so driving out to this field
on my own and also having his old
chainsaw with me along with my own just
gave me this journey through a spectrum
of emotions mostly thankfulness of being
able to do this and also having a part
of my father with me in what I do and
that I’m being allowed to do this with
my own
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daughter so I got to the noble first
spot and started taking down a few trees
closest to the
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field you can see there aren’t many big
branches left on these big lcks because
they have been used to harvest Greenery
for Christmas for many many years these
trees have already served their purpose
so I’m just happy that we can repurpose
them meaningfully to build their cabern
otherwise they would probably just end
up as waste or in the best case maybe be
shredded into wood chips for hardening
or to be used as fuel in a biomass
burner Noble fur is also known for its
straight grain and low weight so it’s
really optimal for Timber framing or
whatever it is called what I’m about to
do it’s also pretty resistant to rod and
pests so I’m just glad that they can
contribute to a cycle of
sustainability after putting them down
luckily out on the field I started to
remove whatever ever was left of
branches and also cut up the logs into
pieces that would fit on the
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Sawmill my homemade lock mover can only
take one log at a time so I’m just
having some mornings and some evenings
where I’m driving back and forth with
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logs sometimes Julie came with me to
help me prepare and load the
logs but then she shifted job and became
the master of The Sawmill she started to
Mill the wood for the timber frame while
I was going a bit back and forth with
more
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locks the important thing I realized was
a profound sense of continuity and
connection to my roots and also a new
found meaningfulness with my work with
wood my father may not be here but my
daughter is and someday out there in the
future she’ll be building houses or
cabins with the people that are
important to her and it started with
this little
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cabin so before we go into building the
Sim frame for the cabin I I would like
to take you back to another little build
that was sort of my first timber framing
build even though it was just a little
stool so the whole story leading up to
this was that I was still in the first
year of my woodworking and YouTube
Adventure I saw another woodworker from
Australia announcing a little
competition that he called rubbish wood
basically find some really rubbish wood
I can do that something that would have
no other destination than the rubbish
bin or the fir stove and build something
from it put on YouTube and some judges
would take a look at it and announce
some winners easy so my thought process
or just process going into this was I
have rubbish wood check I do sort of
woodworking check I also film and upload
to Youtube check what I didn’t do at
this point was talk to the camera or
talk at all in my videos so how do you
tell a story without any words that was
the real challenge that I put myself up
to with this little project storytelling
without
words looking back at it now let me try
to explain some things that people might
or might not notice and also let’s have
a good laugh I found an old scaffold
walking board that was in pretty bad
shape to say the least it should have
been trashed a long time ago because it
was way too dangerous to walk on but I
decided that was a good starting point
for a video having a piece of wood that
was very close to end its life cycle has
wood my plan was to clean it up off
camera but then I saw all those lovely
snails having a party on the wood so I
decided to film when I relocated the
inhabitants to other parts of nature
that’s not exactly the cycle of life but
at least taking care of other living
creatures and this wood gets a second
life
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this scaffold platform is held together
with some traded metal rods and very
optimistically I gave the bolts some
WD40 but that was a bit optimistic you
can see
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why some outdoor and then also some
indoor cleaning of these pretty rotten
Rafters and then I ran them through the
thickness planer discovering there
actually was Some solid wood Parts in
these rafters
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so far the storytelling has been pretty
straightforward in this build find wood
check save inhabitants check cleanwood
check but at this point I started to
think about yeah think about the ending
of this little video and I tried to
incorporate some elements I produce
later I had gotten my first request for
a sticker swap so I had an envelope all
the way from Down Under in Australia
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I was also cutting down the Raptors on
my mitosol and I recorded all the rot
offcuts going into the bin because I had
a feeling that I would need those a
little
[Music]
later the next part of the build is a
basic glue up I add ordinary wood glue
to the sides of the rafters and clamp
them together for the clamping po I’m
using some homemade pipe clamps this is
the absolute cheapest way to get a glue
up clamping set the clamping part is
very cheap in most big box stores and
you just screw them on a water pipe in
whatever length that you
want the glue dries overnight and I
started to think about how to make the
so-called fun Groove in the seat there
are hand tools to do the job but I had
another idea which I didn’t see Jackman
Works do first first I’m pretty sure he
watch me do it first um okay so it’s way
easier to just show it than to try to
explain it so far I have taken a
building material that was let’s just
say less than ideal cut away the most
rotten Parts glued the remaining parts
together and formed a seat that is
pretty solid and bum friendly and yes
wood glue joints are very strong this
seat will hold even the biggest of bumps
and I’m not thinking about anything in
particular here
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now heading into the legs build I had
this idea to build the base without
screws and nails I had success using my
new little palm router here to make the
bum Groove so I thought hey let’s try to
make some joinery with the router too
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[Music]
if you have watched this video so far
and I trust you didn’t skip any chapters
you know that I liked
it sorry that was was my daughter
starting to laugh in the middle of my
voice over if you have watched this far
in this video and I trust you didn’t
skip any chapters you know that I like
to burn toat wood that is meant to be
outdoors and this little stool is no
different
I decided to change location to the
woods for the sanding not really sure
why but perhaps to Mark the change to a
more spiritual part of the build and to
illustrate a deep connection with nature
that may or may not be there and of
[Music]
course she did it
again and of course sending Outdoors
requires less dust
protection that’s
good give me a rating for connecting all
the here I took the off cuts from the
stool and put them on the bonfire then I
used the envelope from my friend in
Australia to light the offcuts on
[Music]
fire I had some PE wax and I bored my
daughter’s cast iron pot and melted it
directly on the embus of the
[Music]
offcuts I then finished the burn stool
with the hot beeswax in which I mix some
linseed
oil this is my own natural wood finish
mix and using the offcuts to heat it and
apply it to the remains of the wooden
trestle creates the cycle of creation
and transformation at least in my head
it reminds me of a line from one of my
favorite TV series where the main
character keeps saying everything is
connected and honestly the more I think
about interconnectedness nature
Recycling and relationships the more I
realize how true this is everything is
connected
I’m very lucky to have a wife who loves
gardening and growing our own food so
when she asked me if we could build a
temporary Greenhouse a structure with a
poly cover on it I said yes because that
means more food and I made this
structure from materials that I found
around our house see this build in a
moment so a newspaper interviewed me
recently and I was asked to give advice
me give advice really okay on how to
become more sustainable in your approach
to Woodworking and building in general
So my answer is to be less perfect
accept that your project has a rustic
look enjoy the story rather than all the
flaws there’s probably many I made this
wall in my workshop from pallet offcuts
and it has become the thing that people
talk about well that was until I made a
workbench from these very reclaimed
poles some old chip BS from my father’s
bar and covered it with lock in Grain
slices more about this build
[Music]
shortly the cabin is coming along nicely
but slowly building with reclaimed
materials just takes longer time Julie
is making the interior of the cabin and
I’m making the exterior and it will be
finished this spring and depending on
when you’re watching this there will be
a full buil video on the
channel I promised to show you the
pallet garden table and the lock benches
4 years later and here I am in the
future not keeping you in the dark any
longer I gave the garden table to my
wife and it has been her steady
companion over the last few years in and
around her little Greenhouse here
nothing has been done to this table
after I finished it and here is the
problem the end pieces are mounted
directly on the boards and when they
expand and extract over the course of a
year they will cause a gap in the
tabletop I didn’t know about wood
movement when I made this table
[Music]
the lock benches made from Green popler
are holding up very nicely there’s one
right here in the greenhouse in perfect
condition but the others have been left
outside for the last 3 years so let’s
take a look at them one of them is down
here in the fence
Garden it is doing pretty
[Music]
fine the big one is outside my workshop
and there is absolutely no sign of
rotten or loose legs and these were just
some ppup
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branches so let’s turn back to the
building of the poly greenhouse and the
reclaimed workbench
my wife and I wanted a polyon greenhouse
so we could grow more and become
self-sufficient fit vegetables
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I had this wire mess from an old wood
pillar container that I wanted to get
rid of and I thought it might work as
structure or Hoops for the tunnel first
I had to get it out and see what
measurements I could build the tunnel
in after measuring the wire mess and
Consulting with my wife of course who
was it as big a tunnel as possible I
decided to go for a 3 m wide and 6 M
long and 2.5 M tall tunnel that’s a
pretty big poly tunnel I cut the wiess
to size when cutting with my angly
grinder I realized I could just have
used my bolt cutter for the thin
wire so I have the wire mess and the
basic layout for the bottom frame in
place and I will now move it to to the
poly tunnel side and continue
[Music]
there this is the side and we have been
using it to dump Garden off cuts for
some time so I will have to move that I
figure this could make a start for some
compost bins so I’ll start by building a
compost
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bit this is the side for the compost
bins and after cleaning the area I go
find some stuff to build
from so if you didn’t skip anything up
till now you know that I’m a pallette
guy so I’ll just use four pettes and 12
screws and then I think I have made
myself a compost bin
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oh
[Music]
so one of the two things that I bought
for this build was four concrete
foundation blocks the same kind we used
for the cabin to make sure the tall does
not blow away in the storm and it will
also lift the wooden base a bit off the
ground so I just need to dig four holes
to put the blocks
in one of the cool things about these
Foundation blocks is that you can adjust
the height of them after you have put
them into the ground that’s a good
feature as the site is not level here
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my wood for the base structure is not
wide enough for the fitting on the
concrete blocks or long enough for the
full length of the tunnel so I’ll just
need to add some blocks and prolong the
raft a little
[Music]
I always use wood glue when screwing two
pieces of wood together it holds up so
much better
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I’m adding supports in the corners and
in the center of each side
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before I go on I treat the base with
some clear wood preserver on all the
sides
[Music]
when everything seems ready level I
fasten the base to the foundation
[Music]
blocks for attaching the w missed to the
base I decided to cut some pieces from
this metal hanger strap with
holes these metal strap things were
perfect to fasten the wiess to the Bas
frame I shifted between mounting them
horizontally and vertically to be sure
the wire Mist could not move
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after attaching the wire Miss in the
first half of the tunnel I put up some
structure that will hold the wiress in
place and give me something to mount at
thorn
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yep that is pretty
[Music]
Square I also make a structure in the
middle of the tunnel and in the back end
in the back of the tunnel I made ready
for a window to be put in later I never
did that for a ventilation if needed
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[Music]
I bought a sheet of 10 * 6 m of PVC
cover that will almost cover the entire
[Music]
tunnel I fasten it with cable ties to
the base frame all the way
[Music]
around we had an old kids playhouse that
we have planned to take down for several
years and I needed some wood for the
siding of the toall so I figured I’d
reuse the playhouse in the pony ton and
if I did not have this old playhouse I
would probably have gone and used some
palletwood instead use whatever you have
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my wife is starting to prepare the
tunnel for growing
[Music]
vegetables she started with a layer of
cardboard and then she’ll put a layer of
horse manure and compost on top of
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that there’s a storm coming up and we
need to secure the tong fast I need to
make a th really really
[Music]
fast so we covered the door with the PVC
cover and fasten it with a stanless
sharpshooter you can use any kind of
stapler
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this temporary Greenhouse served well
for three seasons and now we need to
change the PVC cover to a newer and
better one but it is really nice to have
early potatoes and late tomatoes growing
here along with a lot of other
vegetables that I almost can’t name
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[Music]
so I just got an order for a big epoxy
table project for a customer waa I got a
customer but Houston we have a problem I
don’t have a big enough workbench to
build it on I’ll need to start on the
customer project in 7 days and with the
timber prizes these days I have to build
the workbench from reing or free wood oh
hey I’m yesper and I’m building a
workbench hopefully from old Horse bar
poles petwood old chipboards and old
dining table and a lock I found in my
backyard apply locks laying around in my
backyard and I need to finish it in 7
days and keep the costs as close to yeah
as close to nothing or zero as
possible it is winter in Denmark and I’m
inside preparing for this build I found
this old video about a simple workbench
build from DIY for Knuckleheads let’s
check it out it’s got to be tough sturdy
cheap since I’m kind of a knucklehead
myself I’ll try to follow the basic
principles from this build I haven’t got
any plans for the build except my own
little drawing here wow I’ll start the
build by making the legs two pieces
screw together to form one solid post I
have a couple of big Old Poles from a
horse Jed or a Horse bar and I think
they’ll be more than solid enough on
their own so I’ll just cut them to
length on my mitosol I’ll need to
connect the legs with a rail and the
video suggest not just bolting it on the
side of the legs but cutting off half of
the the thickness of the lake for the
rail to rest on and that’s in both
directions ah that is too complicated
now before you say oh that’s too
complicated it’s really simple He
suggests to mix Some Cuts with a
circular saw and then chisel the
material out but my legs are a bit
bigger than my caur can handle so I’ll
start the Crosscut on my
[Music]
mitur and then I’ll reach deep down into
the ancient ways of Woodworking and I’ll
find a handsaw to remove the rest of the
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
material and before I know it I have
four post
ready now I’ll need some long pieces of
wood for the rails and I have this long
Hors shed pole it is way too thick and
way too long after some denailing I
decided to split the pole on my band saw
yeah I have turned my band saw over and
put it on Rails I guess you could call
it a sliding bandaw it is no problem
splitting the pole in half and without a
bansaw I probably would have used a
Handa or maybe a table saw or my
chainsaw or splitting it with an ax and
wedges yes you you can actually do that
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[Applause]
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[Applause]
I’m turning the whole thing upside down
for assembly and I’ll glue and screw the
rils together and I’ll also Mount the
legs on them with some more glue and
more screws
[Music]
next thing we need to do is add some
extra support for our bench top and you
do that by adding these Noggin speed
enough that for the support I’ll need to
go diving into my reclaim wood pile and
that’s a big one and I found some usable
Rafters from pellets and shipping boxes
shelf I found an old beat up dining
table at the roadside and I’m hoping I
can use the table base support for
support of the lower part of my bench it
is a little long but I’ll just fix that
with my good old handsaw I made the legs
a little short so there’s space for some
casters this is so heavy there is no way
I can move it around without them later
hello Jasper my old Scandinavian Skelly
wag how are you mate it’s Shane conin I
don’t know anyone with that name it’s
Uncle neckers from DIY for
Knuckleheads you
knucklehead oh that’s Shan if I’m right
I think you’re building one of my
projects right now yeah I’m I’m building
it right now but how could you possibly
know that didn’t you just leave me a
comment saying that you are literally
building it right now yeah I did but it
it is really not a good time right now
yeah look I just wanted to offer my help
I’m sorry I’m sorry I got to
go well what a weirdo
what’s interesting
guy Dian
the workbench is looking more like a
workbench now but somehow some of the
support petwood sticks out a bit so I’ll
just need to adjust some of them with my
good old hand plane and there you go it
is time to mount the sheet that will
make the top surface and I have this
sheet of form ply that I’ll try to mount
on the base I noticed that Mr fancy
knuckle DIY guy also glued his top on
but I’ll avoid the glue and just mounted
with screws this is in case I’ll need to
change the top later and this is future
is the talking I needed to change the
top
later instead of just having one big
shelf under the table I’m planning on
filling it up with drawers so the first
step is mounting some sides so I have
something to mount drawers on I have
these old chipboards that I got for free
from a demolition in my dad’s bar using
a circular saw on old dusty chipboards
indoors creates a lot of dust so I
switched to a handome for a few Cuts
before long I had four vertical sides
mounted under the
[Music]
table the weather finally got a little
better and I have moved outside to cut
up the old chipboards all the sides of
the drawers are 22 cm in height so I
might just cut up all the boards into 22
cm strips I do that with a tracko and a
spacer that is 2 2.1 cm long that is
some inches I don’t know how many but
you figure it
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out I can now cut all the strips to link
on my mitas saw that’s SC proper do
collection from here it is just making a
lot of boxes
[Music]
for the bottom of the drawers I have
some sheets of plywood from shipping
boxes that I’ll use I could have caught
a Groove and slided the bottom in but
that just takes a few cenm off the
usable height inside the drawer instead
I’m just gluing and Brading it directly
to the bottom and then I’ll trim it with
a router and a floss trim bit that’s
easy
peasy I’m not worried that the botton
will fall off because the old Ikea
sliders that I’m mounting it on will
attach at the bottom not the sides so
the plywood bottom will rest safely on
the sliders I’m definitely not a cabinet
maker no you’re not yesb but somehow I
manage to mount and drawers under the
workbench woohoo I’m not a big fan of
the chipboard look so I’m trying to come
up up with a little plan to make them
disappear I could paint them but that
would just look like painted chipboard
who likes that so while I’m waiting for
creativity to strike I’m going to
Instagram my M Tim from the UK is trying
to split a log into cookies with a
handsaw it’s actually fairly easy to
cook there’s just a lot of it
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yes yeah get in this just gave me an
idea for the work prins I could cover
the drawers with cookies I have a
handsaw and I have a lock I’m going to
do my own splitting hey but wait it took
him 4 hours and and after all that work
it’s going to take me days to cook to to
cut all those
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cookies remember Jesper you’re the guy
with the sliding Band Saw you’ve got to
use that to your advantage nice one then
I suddenly remembered that I have a
sliding painsaw and what if I could
Mount the log vertically in the saw and
use that
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what a top little project yeah so I’ll
just see if Uncle Lagos has some final
words of wisdom that I can use to make
this workbench better of left a list in
the description box down below of the
materials and some of the
dimensions project that that sounded
like plans did you have plans for this
on your website all this time
yeah God
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