Free Standing Little Lending Library - From Recycled Wooden Pallets

My family wanted a Little Lending Library for the front of our property. There are lots of plans out there for mostly plywood designs, but I wanted something a little more rustic. I salvaged a couple seven foot pallets and one standard size wooden pallet for lumber and designed and built this gem.

1. Salvaged wooden pallets (typically pine, but I prefer oak)
2. Brad, staples, screws, or other wood fasteners. I used an air powered stapler with 2" staples
3. A sheet of 1/8" Acrylic or Plexiglass
4. Hinges and latch
5. Wood glue
6. Caulk
7. 24"x24" tin (I used an 8" round vent pipe)
8. Paint
9. A wooden post

Tools

1. Hammer
2. Crowbar
3. Nailer (air or electric)
4. Utility knife
5. Table Saw
6. Jig Saw or Scroll Saw
7. Chisels or Rotary Tool
8. Drill
9. Screwdrivers
10. Metal shears
11. Metal Break (or wood blocks and a hammer)
12. Caulk Gun
13. Paintbrush

Disclaimer: I am not a carpenter or woodworker, so there are likely things I could have done better. There are probably some rules I broke or woodworking techniques I don't know, don't have the tools for, or are not skilled enough to accomplish. Safety first, make sure you use tools appropriately and with proper safety equipment. Some of the leftover wood was used to build some pet stairs as well.

Disassemble the pallets with a Hammer and Crowbar, pulling all nails where possible. If they break off or can't be pulled, they can damage the saw blades when cutting the wood. Do your best to remove all nails. I found my locking pliers were not strong enough to hold all the nail heads, so I ended up clamping the tough nails into the bench vise and prying the wood away from the nail.

The flat planks measured roughly 1/2" x 5" (varied from 4.75 to 5.25"). I will use these planks for the 'lap siding' and roof, and use some of the support struts for the corners and other support areas.

A thorough, well thought out plan will help you complete any project. I planned about half of it, and the rest I just 'winged it'. Rough dimensions of the base are 16x20 inches, a 30 degree slope on the roof, no plan on the door or stand at this stage. Based on where all the nail holes were, I adjusted some dimensions to minimize the amount of externally visible nail holes.

The target area for placement is a landscaped garden around the local utilities, so digging a post there is not allowed. Moving the library if the utility company needs access is easy on a portable, free standing base.

Sometimes I overbuild. The thin plywood plans would obviously be much lighter than this build. Instead, I made it extra sturdy. The 1.5x3.5" pallet runners were used for the base. I used the table saw to rip a very poor tongue and groove to mate the boards together. Add a lot of glue and hold it all in place with some additional pieces of lumber and some small-headed furniture screws.

No cornerstone here, this is wood. I had some thicker pieces (2.5 x 3.5") from a sturdy, smaller pallet, and decided these would be the corner supports. This allowed me to notch them with 1" deep slots to allow the siding lap from both sides that touch a corner (see photos).

The two short sides were short enough to eliminate all nail holes. The back (or long side) did have some nail holes present, but I can fill those with glue, caulk, or wood putty. Five layers of lap, then cut off the whole side at once on a 30 degree slope for the roof.

I build a basic square frame and lapped 5 boards with enough overhang to give some weather coverage for the front where the door will be located. More adjustments coming later for this piece.

Another basic square frame. I ran them through the table saw to slot a groove for the window pane. I did not miter the corners as I should have. I could not find my wood chisels, so I used a simple routing tip on my rotary tool to groove out a notch for the hinges to be flush. I also added corner supports on the inside. A manual latch is used to keep the door closed.

There was some gap between the lapping and the roof frame, so I cut some pine wedges and fitted them into the roof frame. Lots of extra glue. I also added a lot of extra glue on the inside of the three walls to seal the lapped lumber. Using a a piece of tin, I bent it into a shallow pan that fit inside the roof frame. Then I set the roof on top and nailed it on. Since I did not want some exposed tin visible on the outside, I cut a few cover pieces to glue in the 'soffits'. For some goofy reason, I thought I could paint over caulk, and I caulked the lapping before I painted. You should probably paint first, then caulk afterwards. You can see the paint not sticking to the caulk in the finished photos.

The easiest stand to stabilize has three legs, a tripod. Since this will be placed on uneven ground, that is the best choice instead of four legs. I had just enough pallet scraps left over to make the three legs. I did not have a thick enough post with the pallet wood, so I actually bought a pressure treated pine post for this project.

I wanted some additional support for the tripod, so I used some 1x1inch oak scraps to make some supports. I rounded the ends and drilled holes in the legs and the post for the supports. This will add some pressure on the legs to separate from the base, so I used aluminum flat stock to make some supports to keep the legs in place. Everything bolted together with some galvanized lag bolts. The result made me write this rhyme:

A lag in pine, Works just fine.

A lag in oak, Ends up broke.

Lesson: Use a pilot hole of appropriate size if you put a lag into oak.

Once everything is mounted and working (library on post, door and latch), it is time to paint. I was going to use black on the roof to look like shingles, but just went with white instead. White corners for highlights, and a nice red for all the lapped sides. The interior is finished with stain and clear coated. All of the exterior was clear coated including the post and legs. I also added a 25 pound bench weight to the rear leg to keep it from falling forward if someone is leaning on the door. The red has a beautiful contrast with our blue house behind it.

The neighborhood loves the Little Library, and so do we!