Thread: Ideas for new challenge

Pallet challenge sounds interesting. Northcote pottery had a shipment of something or other (prolly planters.) on pallets with wide natural edged planks. Very speky. There are a hell of a lot of different brand pallets out there. If uniformity off starting material is decided necessary maybe another company that does green or yellow ones would be more amenable to working with us.

Another idea. Maybe we could all start with a new fence post from Bunnies or something. Then we could make the wood into other shapes than planks. Where do we get red gum fence posts from?

new fence posts are unseasoned. oldies more or less ok but need drying properly.
but a good suggestion nevertheless. Could just stipulate a specific board size to be used eg 200 x 50 x 2400 et al or equivalent volume.

Suggest timber species could be limited to blond timbers (or reds or dark browns etc)
so pines, tas oak, etc ok but more exxy stuff limited.
otherwise fancy timbers may disadvantage people with lower budgets.

Actually the rules in the waste converters comp in the link Brett posted in post#24 might be worth using as a general guide. Its also interesting that the volume of timber in those pallets is set out, so if that volume is used then anyone could scrounge enough disposable pallets so everyone uses an equivalent amount of timber. I would have entered those particular comps but it would have meant 600 km travelling just to get the official pallets.

We need to keep in mind that in our context the finished pruduct is a photograph, not an actual object that can be touched and examined by the judges to assess the woodworking skills of the maker. In the two challenges so far, these could be somewhat deduced because the intrinsic qualities and limitations of the starting material where identical and known to all. If the rule is "get the best out of a predetermined quantity of cheap timber" the object of the competition becomes more about design than woodworking. Which is still fine, we are developing this idea as we go, but we have to be aware of where we want to go. To quote Lewis Carroll: "If you do not know where you want to go, any road will take you there".

i picked up 2 hardwood pallets today from councill pickup and noticed a few pine ones aswell.

for those who cant get a pallet they could make one and them break it down.

all they need is 3 - 4" x 3" x 3'? and 6 - 4" x 1" x 3'?.
there would have to be limitations to stop them using top quality timber.

maby it has to be rough sawn generic hardwood or radiata pine?

if they constructed it into a pallet then tey would be in the same staring position as the rest nail hols and all.

Would you need to be so specific as to define a particular pallet or volume?
Why not jsut leave it up to the woodworker to find a pallet/crate or even use more than one.
Then just ask that a photo of before and after be included so we can compare.
Its all jsut for fun anyway, not as if sheep stations are at risk.
Could even ask that any "branded" pallets be accompanied by a statement that it was officially sanctioned in some way be the brand owner.(paid for or jsut requested)

a standard size pallet is 46" square

a hardwood pallet contains approximately 0.0025 cubic metres of timber maybe you could use any recycled timber to that volume but have to include photos of its pre recyled state and a creative story of what it was first.

that works out to 1 super ft, have you got the decimal point in the wrong place?

While the pallet idea is a good starting point why limit the comp to secondhand.
Pallet timber is currently very likely to be nice and wet and therefore unworkable.
Use a pallet or the equivalent quantity of timber
(I have some dry stuff in my timber rack which beats messing around with wet stuff.)

Some good ideas coming out here.

There are lots of disposable pallets but the timber is usually very poor quality.

Some importers get equipment like Auto Teller Machines delivered in packing crates & again, the quality is poor but I have now got some interesting timber from other parts of the world that way.

I also like the fence post Idea, I currently have 5 old fence posts that I'm saving for something. (Not sure what yet but they are far too big for pens.)

isnt using a small quantity of poor quality second hand timber the whole point. if ya can make somthing beautifull outa a heap of kindling like that then you can do anything.

fenceposts are another option but then there is a lot of people in town that dont have acces to old fenceposts and they are not a versatile as things like pallets unless you resaw them even then you would need a lot of fencposts and plenty of blades to make anything decent.

i can pick up all the pallets i can find in the council pickup 10+ more to supply brisbane residents if need be. but they wont be there mutch longer.

I don't doubt I can find some free pallets despite being out in the sticks but I do know they'll be too wet to use. I don't see any difference between using pallets and the equivalent volume of timber out of my shed. (a lot cheaper too as I won't have to do an 80 odd km trip to town just to get a pallet.)

i dont see any reason people cant use there own timber so long it is not a specialty timber. i havent seen to many red cedar or silky oak pallets around. and it must be the same dimantions to keep it fair so 3 x 4s and 4 x 1s.

just my opinion but you cant beat an old pallet.