Chevron Pallet Headboard Build

The first really large thing I built was a headboard. It was clunky, and heavy, but we did it without any real plans, just a tape measure, some 2x4's & 1x4's, and some 2.5 inch screws. That was a short 10 months ago, and I had zero clue what kind of Pandora's box I was opening. Since then, we have built a console, sideboard, a bed and desk for my son, board & batten in 3 rooms, and some other things I know I am forgetting.

the original headboard, or Gambill Headboard 1.0

We wanted an upgrade from the picture above. And be we, I mean my wife. And that's normal, right? But she had a plan. And she put that plan very concisely on paper for my brain to understand. 

it's "cuts" not "cats"

So off to Home Depot to load up Ye Olde Chariot. It's a newer model Dodge Durango, so my max dimensions are 8 feet long OR 3 feet wide. I can do 6x3 if I had to. But it's not really made for this. It hauls the kidlets around just fine. Fortunately, I only needed 6 2x4's at 8 feet (standard stud length). They fit just fine, after all the passenger-side seats are folded down. 

Cuts were fairly straight forward. I like to use my trusty speed square to make sure my miter saw is squared up at 90* and trim off the edge of one end before measuring for the length. I'm sure the mill is cutting straight, but it gives me a clean edge and ensures it's (closer) to being accurate. For this the cut list is: 

3 @ 4ft

2 @ 6ft

1 @ 81 inches

1 @ 74 inches

To assemble them, I used my Kreg Jig at the 1.5 inch setting for the jig & drill bit & 2.5 inch Kreg Jig screws. To make sure the edges were flush, I clamped each piece I was attaching so everything was squared up. Once I had the skeleton built, it was just a matter of pallet disassembly.  

We had some pallets of varying quality that have been acquired over the last few months. I spent a couple of hours in my garage taking them apart. 

The first time one attempts to take apart a pallet is a mix of emotions. It LOOKS like it should be easy, right? You should just be able to use the claw end of your hammer and pry them apart. But no. Remember, these are built to be abused; loaded with anything you can think of, tossed around by warehouse employees, loaded on to trucks and rail cars with forklifts... They are built to stay built. I read a lot of ways to do it, but the Gambill Method seems to be just as good: 

1) have a jig saw

2) use the jig saw 

      a) I cut each end off in one long cut. I will post a blog on this in the future

3) good old brute force - a.k.a Hammer Time (doing the dance is optional, but suggested) 

I get about 20 good long pieces this way. Some are better quality than others, but they're pallets, so ....   We did supplement with scrap 1x3s & 1x4s from previous projects to add to the mix of pieces. The non-pallet wood is stained in a 2 part tea/vinegar/steel wool stain that I'll post about in the future. 

The most time consuming part is cutting the angles. We had a lot. My wife cut the smaller pieces on our Ryobi 7.5 inch table miter saw. These are about 30* angles. For the bigger cuts at 30* I used by Ryobi 12.5 inch sliding miter. Any piece wider than 6 inches required the bigger saw. 

Attaching the wood to the frame is relatively easy. We used our Ryobi Airstrike cordless nail gun and a 1.75 inch nail. We did one row at a time using the same width of wood for each row to keep some sort of uniformity in the pattern. My wife did a very good job of varying the wood to keep a seemingly random pattern without loading up with too much of any one type of wood. 

This part is pretty repetitive: measure, cut, nail. Measure, cut nail. All the way to the bottom. Once we had it all nailed together, I took my Ryobi belt sander to the edges to straighten out some rouge cuts and overhanging ends. 

To trim out the edges required a return trip to my favorite store. I needed 4 1x3 furring strips at 8ft & one 1x4 "common board". You always have to dig through the furring strips to get good quality pieces (straight, not cracked). And check the common boards too. By paying more you assume they are in pretty good shape, but learn from my mistakes & take a good look to make sure they are flat, crack & break free, and dry. We ran a 1x3 down each front & side, then the 1x4 across the top. These were all stained with the tea/vinegar/steel wool mix & nailed with the Airstrike to the frame. 

At that point we were done. Start to finish, about an 8 day project. That is working on it around my work schedule, my wife chasing the kidlets around, and just regular life. I made two Home Depot trips, spending about $45 total in supplies. Most of this wood was in my garage already, so not a huge expense if you have this laying around (or you can acquire it from the curb or from somewhere giving pallets away). If you purchased the wood (1x3, 1x4, 1x6) you could spend in the $150 range on supplies. 

On to the next project!