Pallet Wood Heart

Pallet wood project ideasA new year and lots of new exciting challenges for our international blogger’s group.  Our first challenge this year is the “Pallet parade”.  The challenge is to create something using pallets. More about IBC is at the bottom of this post. With Valentine’s day just around the corner, I wanted to create a pallet wood heart and I used the scraps to make some wooden robots to make a cute wall hanging.

Pallet wood project ideas

If you follow my blog you will know that I love doing Shou sugi ban (Japanese wood Burning). This is a process of burning deep into the wood and then sanding off the charred surface to create a beautifully textured surface. I have tried so many different methods over the years to find a way to make this process less time-consuming.  And thanks to Santa I got the best tool ever that will complete the sanding process in minutes rather than hours.

How to make a pallet wood heart

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Preparing the wood

I have done a few projects using pallet wood and know they can be a pain in the butt to take apart.  To save some time I used a jigsaw and cut the wood from the middle of the pallet. I was lucky with this pallet because it was good quality and did not need to be sanded much. If you are doing Shou sugi ban you don’t need to sand the surface because all the rough surfaces will be burnt away.

Pallet wood project ideas

There are a few ways that you can join the heart together.  You can have a piece of wood as a backing board and glue the heart shape onto the board.  Another method is to glue strips of wood to the back of your shape to hold the heart together.  For this project, I joined all the pieces together using a kreg pocket hole jig. If you are using the pocket hole method I would recommend cutting the sides of the pallet wood straight so they butt up against each other.

Pallet wood project ideas

Drilling the pocket holes

Place the pallet wood into the jig and drill two pockets one on either side. If you do not want to splash out the money on a big kreg pocket hole jig they do have a cheaper portable Kreg.

Pallet wood project ideas

Next, I added some glue and screwed the pieces of wood together.  Another downside to working with pallet wood is that it can be warped.  I had this issue, so while the glue was drying I clamped the wood down to a flat surface which did help with the slight warp in the wood.

Pallet wood project ideas

Making a heart template

I am a very creative person but I can not draw to save my life, not even a basic symmetrical heart. If you are the same, here is a way to make templates using a projector.  I found a heart shape I wanted and save the image to a memory card.  The memory card is put into a projector and projected onto the wall.  Next, I hung some kraft paper on the wall and traced around the image.

Pallet wood project ideas

Next, I cut out the heart and traced it onto the wood. I used a jigsaw to cut out the wooden heart.

Pallet wood project ideas

Burning the wood

Before you burn the wood make sure you have a surface that will not burn. I use a sheet of scrap metal on the surface of the table.

Pallet wood project ideas

You will need a blow torch with map gas to burn the surface.  I burnt the surface in stages to prevent the wood from warping with the heat.

Pallet wood project ideas

Sanding the surface

I was such a good girl, that Santa bought me a craftsman restorer for Christmas.  This machine is the absolute bomb and cut the sanding process down to minutes.  This project took me less than 5 minutes to sand.  If you don’t have a restorer you can find other sanding methods here. 

Pallet wood project ideas

You can buy a few different wheels with the restorer.  The first one in the image is the nylon brush wheel that I used to sand this project.  You can also buy a paint stripper (Middle) which removes old paint in minutes. I was honestly not a fan of the sanding wheel, I found the machine jumped around on the surface too much. There are other brushes available for sanding metal and other surfaces but I did not buy them.

Pallet wood project ideas

It took about 5 passes on each panel to remove all the charred surfaces and create this great texture.   You can not really see the texture in the photos but if you run your fingers over the surface there are lots of ridges.

Pallet wood project ideas

I was happy to keep this wooden heart’s natural wood colour, but if you want to add colour to yours here are some methods you can use. I used these methods to create this scrap wood wall art

Pallet wood project ideas

Making the wooden robots

I felt the heart looked a little plain so I used some wood scraps to make some wooden robots.  You need two squares of wood one for the head and a larger one for the body.

Pallet wood project ideas

I cut the mouth by cutting partly into the wood using a table saw, but you can draw it on as well.  To decorate the wooden robots I used bits and pieces from my workshop and craft room.

Pallet wood project ideas

I fitted the shelf by adding screws from the back. Finally, I added 2 coats of spray polyurethane to the surface of the heart. The back is a bit messy, but I will not be looking at it so all good.

Pallet wood project ideas

I added a small heart above the lovebirds which I made using a silicon mould and some hot glue.

Pallet wood project ideas

Here is a close-up of the robots so you can see the items I used to decorate them.

Pallet wood project ideas

More about IBC

If you follow my blog you will know I am part of IBC (International Bloggers Club) which is a group of talented bloggers from around the world. We have members from Spain, South Africa, Australia, the United States, and Canada. Each month we come together and create a project with a common theme.

The “Pallet parade ” contributions from my fellow bloggers joining us this month are listed below, please feel free to jump over and give them some love.

  1. Song Bird Blog| Easy DIY Compost Bin
  2. Me
  3. Saved from Salvage| Pallet photo holder DIY
  4. Birdz of a feather | Pallet Shelves DIY
  5. A Crafty Mix|Reverse Canvas magical fairy forest
  6. Fifth Sparrow No More |Upcycle old hymnals on this creative pallet project
  7. Tea and Forget Me Nots|How to make an easy rustic pallet DIY shelf

Wooden heart made from pallets with a shou sugi ban surface. With some wooden robots to make the perfect valentines gift.

If you are looking for any of the items used in this project, please consider using our links. By clicking on the links we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Which helps us come up with new and exciting ideas to share with you. Please feel free to share or leave a comment we would love to hear your thoughts.

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22 Comments

  • Reply
    Michelle Leslie
    January 24, 2023 at 12:27 am

    Awwwwwww, man, those little robots are the cutest things ever. I want a whole family, and don’t even get me started on the large pallet heart. That would look so good in our holiday cottage.
    P.S. You’re going to have to share what you did for Santa to give you that crazy new power tool 😉

    • Reply
      Anita Holland
      January 24, 2023 at 3:28 pm

      Thank Michelle. I can’t tell you what I did for Santa that is a secret. lol

  • Reply
    sara allen
    January 24, 2023 at 12:43 am

    Fantastic project Anita and your robots are adorable! I’m glad I held off trying shou sugi ban; maybe Santa will be good to me too this year?

    • Reply
      Anita Holland
      January 24, 2023 at 3:29 pm

      Thanks Sara, the robots were a last minute addition. The restorer would be great for you because you do so much DIY. It is a brilliant machine.

  • Reply
    Rachel
    January 24, 2023 at 6:13 am

    Absolutely love this project. I didn’t know the process of shou sugi ban but it looks a lot of fun to try. I know where to come when I want to have a. Go myself!

    • Reply
      Anita Holland
      January 24, 2023 at 3:30 pm

      Thanks Rachel, I love doing shou sugi ban but the process is very time-consuming. But with this restorer, I will be doing more.

  • Reply
    Kristin salazar
    January 24, 2023 at 7:45 am

    WOW this turned out so beautiful! Thank you for sharing the process with us!

  • Reply
    Regina Jenkins
    January 24, 2023 at 12:07 pm

    Anita – nice to meet you! You truly elevated the look of pallet wood with that method. What a great tutorial. I have never heard of that tool, I’m all about speeding things up in the DIY world. Those robots are the cutest, very creative.

    • Reply
      Anita Holland
      January 24, 2023 at 3:32 pm

      Thanks so much Regina, I believe this is a fairly new tool on the market. I want to start sell the shou sugi ban projects but they are not worth selling if the take so long to make.

  • Reply
    Kimberly Snyder
    January 25, 2023 at 2:00 am

    Wow! What a great project! I love this! Great use of an old pallet! Thanks for sharing how to make it!

  • Reply
    Ann
    January 26, 2023 at 4:18 am

    Adorable…and you know I love pallet wood projects!

  • Reply
    How to make an easy rustic pallet DIY shelf – Tea and Forget-me-nots
    January 26, 2023 at 8:48 am

    […] Pallet Wood Heart – Unique Creations By Anita […]

  • Reply
    Kristin Sullivan
    January 26, 2023 at 9:33 am

    This is adorable! The robots are my favorite!

  • Reply
    Beth
    January 28, 2023 at 4:18 am

    FABULOUS upcycle, Anita!
    I’d love for you to join us over at the Creative Crafts Linky Party every Wednesday through Sunday
    https://creativelybeth.com/creative-crafts-linky-party/
    Followed and Pinned!
    Creatively, Beth

  • Reply
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  • Reply
    Kippi at Home
    January 31, 2023 at 3:34 am

    The cute couple sitting on your heart is so adorable. Great project!

  • Reply
    Marie B
    February 2, 2023 at 5:04 am

    What fun and creative ways to use up scrap wood. I love your signature Shou sugi ban patina on the pallet wood heart and the scrap wood robots are stink’n ADORABLE!

    • Reply
      Anita Holland
      February 18, 2023 at 10:17 am

      Thanks so much Marie, I think I may be addicted to shou sugi ban. lol

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