The New Pallet Book

This book is fantastic! It utilizes pallets for projects are both modern and practical. I love the step by step instructions, with easy to follow pictures, as well as time, difficulty level, and materials list. The book is concise, yet very informative, with many projects that would appeal to a wide variety of individuals! There are both small and large projects, as well and indoor and outdoor. While most of the projects are labeled as easy, I think this book would be great for both novice and more experienced builders too!

I was interested in this book because my husband is enjoys DIY and has created some useful items from pallets in the past. Instead of throwing away pallets that have been delivered with other products, reusing them to create something beautiful and useful is a much more environmentally friendly way to live.

Both of us read this book and found it to be interesting and useful. The book is divided into background on working with pallets (including pallet types, what tools are needed and deconstructing a pallet), outdoor eye catchers, storage ideas and other items that could be used inside the house.

A step-by-step guide is provided for each item, although I believe that you need to be a keen DIYer and not a novice to be able to construct these items. Of the outdoor eye catchers, my husband's favourite was the patio loveseat, simply because he has been thinking of making one for a while.

Other items that were of interest are the garden tool organiser, the potted plant tower and the ottoman.

The instructions provided are clear, with information on the tools needed for each item, materials required, time needed and the difficulty level. This book will definitely be of interest to anyone interested in carpentry and repurposing pallets that may have gone to the tip otherwise.

The New Pallet Book is a style and tutorial guide for building projects from reclaimed pallet wood written by Chris Peterson. First published in 2017, this reformat and re-release is due out 7th Sept 2021 from Quarto on their Cool Springs Press imprint. It's 144 pages and will be available in paperback format.

This is a very useful book and there's something truly fundamentally appealing about making attractive home and garden projects out of reclaimed/found materials. It feels both frugal and satisfying. The author gives a good overview on sourcing, evaluating (some pallets are treated with toxic chemicals and Peterson shows how they're labeled), sorting, and using reclaimed wood. The book includes multiple methods of deconstructing pallets and smoothing out the resultant wood in order to reclaim as much material as possible. There are also good tips for arranging the reclaimed wood into similar widths and qualities to make selecting project materials easy and painless. I really liked the safety minded tutorials on reclamation and deconstruction. There were a lot of good tips on sourcing pallets also, along with good and sensible advice on being responsible (don't steal, ask permission, etc).

The book is arranged in thematic chapters, starting with an introduction on sourcing and deconstruction, availability and safety. The following chapters have projects grouped roughly thematically: outdoor/garden, storage, and home projects. The projects each contain a description, tools and materials in a bullet style list sidebar (measurements in American standard units only), followed by step-by-step instructions. All of the tutorials contain multiple color photos, both process photos and finish photos.

The projects are very professional looking, attractive, and useful. Some of them are rugged and rustic looking, but in general, they definitely don't look like reclaimed pallet wood. There are some quick projects which would make wonderful gifts.

This would make a superlative choice for public or school library acquisition, maker's groups, activity groups, scouting, 4-H, community gardens, smallholders, DIY/woodworkers, and similar.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

We've been asked about pallet crafting a few times by customers and I wanted to do more research so I could help people better.
I didn't realise there were so many different kinds of pallet!

Whilst I didn't think that creating (or upcycling) with pallets was easy, it's nice to see the intricacies that can go in to projects. There's an excellent guide to managing expectations before you even get to the tools needed which I really appreciate. It's easy to get carried away with any crafting project, big or small, I know I'm guilty of giving up on projects when it doesn't happen as fast as I'd like.

There's small (and 100% attainable) projects like a gorgeous little bird house or a sturdy small planter box as well as bigger undertakings like a porch swing or chaise lounge. Even the bigger projects have really good and clear instructions that don't make it look so daunting.

A fascinating book for anyone into making things in such a beautiful medium. It provides hints and tips and gives some brilliant examples is what can be done with the humble pallet.

This pictures are interesting and informative and I found a lot of inspiration whilst reading this.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Cute idea… pinterest has a ton of ideas but sometimes you need to hold a book in your hands. The cover and title we’re eye catching but I love refurbishing old pallets.

What did I like? I loved the firewood holder! A few ideas captured my imagination and all I could think was I need a handyman! Surely the ideas were mapped out easily and the directions simple enough for anyone to build. I’m just old fashioned.:)

Would I recommend or buy? It’s about time someone put these ideas in a book. The book was simple and easy to follow with some great ideas. Five stars for great ideas.

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review!

Although you might have seen some online projects using pallet wood and might wonder why anyone would buy a book on the same subject, I can confirm this book offers value for money.

There are handy guides to types of pallet, deconstructing pallets, finishing the wood, and a metric converter for those of you who somehow manage to do woodwork using teeny centimetre/millimetre measurements.

If you're new to woodwork, you might pick up a few tips such as what to look for when buying tools.

The projects themselves are varied and useful. Some woodwork books read like a list of ways to demonstrate techniques, resulting in strange, useless objects disguised as toys or garden features. This book, however, structures projects into garden, storage and home-themed ideas. While you might not be attracted to the aesthetics of each design, they all have a clear purpose. Some are very sleek-looking while others are closer to the original pallet vibe, as you might expect. The difficulty levels are described and range from extremely simple, such as a label for a herb garden or a drinks coaster, to more complex designs such as a potting bench or craft storage shelf.

There is quite a bit of background information within each project such as where to put a bird house to attract certain birds. Very practically, when instructions are shared for a porch swing, safety tips are given so that it stays secured once installed.

Some ideas may be more suited to an American setting. I'm not sure what UK health visitors would make of the safety stairgate design for use with infants, but I'm considering it for my dog, who is less discerning.

Most designs are illustrated with full instructions although the 'quick three' ideas are a little more sparse. I would have liked pictures for all of these, honestly, as I'm a visual thinker. I imagine a lot of crafty folk share this quality.

I haven't yet tried the projects but I'm hoping to make a potting bench, a desk and a few planters. I have my pallets ready to go.

The guide works with the strengths of pallets and anything featured within is likely to be hard-wearing and practical. I can't wait to get started!

This book is full of wonderful ways to use up thrown away wood pallets! It offers small projects such as side tables, picture frames, plant stands, candle holders and a clock. Medium projects such as a shoe rack, pot racks, garden organizer and wall shelves are included. Larger projects are also offerred in this wonderful book. These include a large book shelf, wine or liquor bottle rack, a bed platform, a coffee table, and a desk.. There are also extras that include information on styling a bookshelf and easy indoor plans for a plant tower. So, if you are looking for some inexpensive ideas for your home this book is a great place to start.

This is such a creative book. It has wonderful ideas to upcycle pallets. I want to try the porch swing, craft center and chaise lounger. I like that the ideas are for use all over the home and outside. There are great step by step instructions, materials needed section and photos that are helpful. I definitely recommend this book if you are a DIYer and even if you're not.

We have 8 pallets sitting in the garden so I thought this would be interesting. And I’m not disappointed. I’ve already given hubby a wish list - the tool caddy and garden tool hanger. Impressed.

This book is absolutely excellent. It has tons of fantastic ideas for how to upcycle wooden pallets. I was very impressed most of the projects are authentically pleasing, take minimal tools to construct and can be easily done in a few hrs or a weekend. I highly recommend this book it's a treasure trove if ideas