Wooden
Pallets to bird homes
Free
wooden pallets and birdhouses add up to big country dollars
by Rick Brentlinger
If I could
show you how to manufacture a product anywhere in the country
and if I offered to find you the raw materials free, would you
be interested? If so, here is a business plan that works. Have
you seen those weathered wooden pallets stacked behind grocery
stores, piled beside feed stores or next to the dumpster in your
local lumber yard? Those pallets, your initiative, and the information
that follows could mean money in your pocket for years to come.
Pallets are
often available free for the asking. Businesses are glad to get
rid of them so they don’t have to pay to haul them away.
There are two kinds of pallets—reusable and throw away.
The reusable pallets are often made of oak, poplar, and occasionally
maple. If there is a big stack of them, some stores will give
these away free too. But the ones I like best are the throw away
pallets made of pine, oak, or poplar wood.
Birdhouses
and bird feeders made from wood scavenged for free
What you do
is locate a stack of pallets and ask if you can help the business
owner by hauling them off for free. Always get permission before
you take pallets. When you have a pickup load, stack them neatly
near your workshop and you’re ready to begin.
I use a circular
saw to dismantle the pallets, cutting the wood off the stringers
and stacking it in a dry place. The 2 x 4 stringers can be cut
in half and burned in your woodstove. The wood you’ve cut
off the stringers is where the real money is.
Pallet wood
is naturally weathered and looks like old barn siding. I use it
to make simple, rustic birdhouses and bird feeders which I then
sell at flea markets or wholesale to garden centers around town.
I get $10 to $20 a piece for these birdhouses. The retailer usually
resells them at double my price.
At this point,
you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, but I’m not
a woodworker” or “I don’t have any power equipment.”
The truth is that anyone can learn to make a nice birdhouse in
just a few days of experimenting. After all, a birdhouse is a
simple structure with seven basic parts—two sides, a front
and back, a bottom, and two pieces for the top. And you don’t
necessarily need power equipment to cut the wood. It can be done
with a handsaw if that’s all you have. Once you’ve
made some money selling your handmade rustic birdhouses, you can
think about buying some power equipment to make the work go faster.
I use a circular
saw to do the initial cutting and a Delta 12-inch bandsaw for
the rest of the work. I can cut up enough pallets in one morning
to make 40 or 50 birdhouses or feeders. Once the pallets are cut
up and I have the wood stacked in my shop, I can make 4 or 5 birdhouses
a day (less than 8 hours). That is a minimum of $40 a day for
pleasant work in the privacy of my own shop, with no boss breathing
down my neck.
Once you have
a bunch of birdhouses ready to sell, load them on the truck and
head for the local gardening center. Carry several of your creations
with you and offer them with a smile as you ask, “How many
do you need?” Some buyers will want you to put them in the
shop on consignment, something I always refuse to do. I prefer
payment up front since I know I have a good product that people
want.
Birdhouses
and bird feeders sell well at hardware stores, garden centers,
larger grocery stores, craft stores, feed stores, and, sometimes,
antique stores. The rustic pallet wood bird homes nicely complement
antiques.
Some people
do not want rustic birdhouses. For them, I make birdhouses or
feeders from number one pine and fir, maple, oak, and even mahogany
which I also get free. In most areas, there are cabinet shops
and wood working shops which throw away scrap wood in the dumpster.
You can locate woodworking shops, cabinet shops, and other sources
of free wood by using the Yellow Pages. I stop at these businesses
and find the owner or manager. I explain that I putter around
making birdhouses and ask permission to go through the dumpster
for wood. I have never had anyone say no. They have to pay to
have the dumpster emptied. If I carry off some of the wood, I’m
saving them money.
Small pieces
which the cabinet shop cannot use are perfect for birdhouses.
A birdhouse business recycles material that would otherwise clog
the landfill. And it provides income for us backwoods types who
prefer not to work for someone else. An entrepreneurial type could
make this a full-time business. Dumpster wood and pallet wood
is also suitable for making shadow boxes, chicken or rabbit nesting
boxes and book shelves.
If I want bigger
pieces of wood from the pallets for building wood fences and chicken
sheds, I use a Milwaukee Sawzall to cut the nails so the pieces
of wood are intact. By the way, I bought the Sawzall used, but
in like-new condition, at a pawn shop for $99. It makes short
work of pallets and I have larger pieces of wood for bigger projects.
I figure it this way: seven birdhouses at $15 each pays for the
Sawzall.
Rustic pallet wood bird houses sell well at hardware stores,
garden centers, craft and feed stores
For a few weeks of work gathering and taking apart pallets, you
can have enough wood for 100 birdhouses. At four a day for five
weeks, you can have 100 birdhouses ready to sell for $10 to $20
each. That is a minimum $1000 in six weeks or less. Enlist your
wife or children and make it a family endeavor. If you are lucky
enough to live in a tourist area, birdhouses are impulse buys
that create vacation memories for years to come. They can also
be sold at your roadside produce stand.
Here are some
tips for making a quality birdhouse that will catch a buyer’s
eyes and make them want your product.
(1) Sand saw
cuts so there are no splinters or rough edges.
(2) Use a Forstner
bit or spade bit to drill your entrance holes. Forstner bits make
the cleanest cut. It’s easier to drill the entrance hole
before you assemble the birdhouse. You can also make a rectangular
entrance hole using your bandsaw.
(3) Use paneling
nails for assembly since they hold better than finish nails.
(4) When using
oak, it’s best to pre-drill nail holes since oak is hard
to drive nails through.
(5) Cut a piece
of roofing tin with tin snips to form a rustic metal roof. Rust
only enhances the antique appearance. Old license tags also work
as roofs.
(6) Cut and
trim a tree branch in one-inch lengths and nail three pieces to
the front porch of your birdhouse to make a woodpile. Takes just
a few minutes and customers love it.
(7) You can
utilize small pieces of wood by sanding one side lightly and painting
a hand-lettered, rustic sign: Coke, Burma Shave, Canoe Rental,
Park Ranger, For Wrent For a Song, Don’t Feed the Bears,
No Crows Allowed, etc. Tack these to the side, front, and back.
They’re real eye catchers and help sell birdhouses.
(8) Cut up
Coke, Pepsi, or beer cans and use the logos as signs. Tack them
onto your birdhouses with 1/2-inch brads. The aluminum lasts a
long time and looks great. In my area, red Coke signs are the
most popular. Metal bottle caps also make a colorful birdhouse
decoration. Specialty beer bottle caps are the most colorful.
(9) If you
have a resort, bed and breakfast, or other businesses in your
area, use their name on a birdhouse sign. They may buy several
to display or resell.
(10) Use your
imagination and experiment. If you have access to driftwood, utilize
that in your birdhouses and feeders.
(11) Exterior
house paint, in vibrant pink, red, yellow, green, and blue, gives
birdhomes an art deco look. Specially mixed colors that other
customers decided not to buy can be purchased for $3 to $5 a gallon.
Additional
sources of pallets and free wood
1. Motorcycle
dealers, (Crating around new bikes) 2. Snowmobile dealers, (Crating
around new machines) 3. Major appliance dealers, (Crating) 4.
Cabinet shops 5. Tool & die shops 6. Machine shops 7. Lumber
yards 8. Paint stores 9. Grocery stores 10. Garden centers 11.
Behind shopping centers 12. Brickyards 13. New home sites 14.
Custom window & door builders 15. Kitchen countertop makers
16. Electrical supply houses 17. Plumbing supply businesses 18.
Manufacturing plants 19. Hardware stores 20. Old barns, sheds,
and houses
Easy steps
to making a beautiful birdhouse
(1) Find and
prepare pallet wood as described above. Be sure to make the front
and back at the same time.
(2) Choose
two same size pieces and draw a 45 degree angle to form the gable.
(3) Nail these
two pieces lightly together with a smooth finish nail, leaving
enough to pull out the nail after you cut the wood.
(4) Now saw
the angle you drew. This forms the A gable for the roof and gives
you two pieces cut exactly the same. Remove the nail. (5) Drill
an entrance hole in one of the pieces you just cut. Sand any rough
edges.
Make the sides:
(6) Find two
pieces, approximately the same size and trim them to fit.
(7) Using one
inch paneling nails, nail the side pieces to the front and back
pieces. Pine and poplar usually do not require pre-drilling. If
the wood splits or if using hardwoods, pre-drilling is required,
with a 1/16-inch drill bit.
(8) Now you
have the basic shape of the birdhouse.
Making the
bottom:
(9) Choose
a piece of pallet wood wide enough to extend to the outer edge
of your side pieces. If you do not have a piece that wide, make
one by nailing two pieces together. Lay them side by side and
connect them with one-inch wood straps. Drive the nails clear
through and then bend them over or snip them off.
(10) Nail the
bottom to the sides, again pre-drilling if necessary. We should
note here that if you want your birdhouse to have a front porch,
you can make the bottom piece two or three inches longer than
the birdhouse. This gives the birds a place to perch outside the
nest.
(11) Before
roofing the birdhouse, nail a bottle cap or aluminum can sign
to the front. It’s easier to do now, while the roof is off.
If you want to add a small woodpile, now is the time. Three pieces,
two nailed to the porch floor and one nailed on top of the two,
makes a nice looking woodpile.
Making the
roof
(12) The roof
should be as long as the bottom piece, so your bird porch has
a roof, or just slightly longer so that it overhangs the entrance
hole to keep out the rain.
(13) Your roof
can be multiple slats that overlap to give a chalet look. Or you
can use just one piece on each side of the A gable. Pre-drill
before you nail, making sure the roof piece is straight. Nail
the second roof piece and your birdhouse is finished.
It’s
possible to make 4 or 5 birdhouses a day in less than 8 hours.
(14) I like
to make my birdhouses distinctive so I often cut a 1-inch thick
branch and trim off the limbs. Then I cut the trimmed branch and
use it to make two rustic porch columns. I pre-drill and attach
these with drywall screws, countersinking the hole. This makes
a good, solid fit and is strong enough to be used as a handle
when picking up the birdhouse.
(15) Now is
the time to make use of the signs we mentioned earlier. Using
½-inch brads. Nail bottlecaps or hand lettered signs, or
colorful logos cut from aluminum cans to the sides, front, back,
or top of your birdhouse.
(16) If you
used dumpster wood, you may wish to paint the birdhouse. Use bright,
vibrant colors for an art deco look or woodsy, subdued colors
to blend with the natural surroundings.
(17) Now you
are ready to make another birdhouse. The more you make, the better
they’ll look. Practice makes perfect. Soon, you’ll
be putting them together easily, almost on autopilot.
(18) Offer
them to your customers with a smile. You might offer wholesale
buyers a 10% price break if they buy five or more.
(19)
Remember, use you imagination. Look in books and decorator magazines
for birdhouse ideas. Try your hand at bookshelves, shadow boxes,
laying boxes for chickens, doghouses or what ever strikes your
fancy. The wood is free and about all you’ve got invested
is your time. You can make a nice profit using the tools you already
have. If you have to buy or borrow tools, you can still make enough
birdhouses in a month to pay for the tools. As you get more proficient
at woodworking, you might want to use your dumpster or pallet
wood to make other craft items. Now that you have an almost inexhaustible
supply of free wood, you can go as far as your enthusiasm and
entrepreneurial ability will take you.
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