Copper, brass and pallet wood.

[Wild Brambles]

I'm looking for ideas so that I can start to collect items for my conversion next year. I'm taken with the idea of mixing copper, brass and pallet wood,and I've just watched this video


I quite like the overall concept, but it is a bit crowded for me, I think my van can handle the weight, so that isn't a consideration, but I might leave out the shower and fridge. I'm also wondering if the 3rd burner willbe worth the loss of space.

 

[Two on Tour]

Very pretty, but they were obviously were not considering the weight of the materials used in the build or they travel light on clothes and food etc.

Having seen a lot of these home builds on YouTube, I wonder how many of these built on a budget vans are over their weight limit with the materials they use in their conversions.

 

[Wild Brambles]

I'm not sure how you calculate the potential weight. I've got a permitted maximum for passengers and load of about 1 1/2 tonnes. I'm hoping that will give me a fair bit of leeway. Weight doesn't seem to be a factor in LDV fuel consumption.

 

[MisterB]

if you have the tools, you could easily reduce the thickness of the pallet wood by at least 50%, using a large bladed bench saw or even a bed mounted planer. With a large bladed bench saw you might be able to split the wood in half to make 2 pieces out of one. would need to be decent bench saw though, with the planer, you could prob reduce the thickness to around a third of the original, just creating a thin veneer.

I have seen a similar effect (though not on a motorhome) with interlocking plastic laminate flooring. if you get the same make but mix the types of wood effect and colour, you could get a wipe down surface though of course you would need to line the vehicle with ply first?

 

[Wild Brambles]

I planned to plane the wood, as the pallet wood is pretty rough, and I want to avoid splinters One's partner getting a splinter must be a big passion killer. I used to have a couple of electric planers, but I may have left them on the farm. I think turning one pallet strip into two slats is going to be beyond my skills. Pallet wood is fairly easy to acquire, and the shavings can go in the wood burner. Thinning the wood to reduce weight is a good idea though, and it shouldn't detract from the visual appeal.

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[eddie]

Why not do the washing up before you make a video?

 

[Wild Brambles]

Why not do the washing up before you make a video?

I'm flattered that you think that was me in the video, unfortunately, I don't have as much hair as that.

 

[eddie]

I'm flattered that you think that was me in the video, unfortunately, I don't have as much hair as that.

I understood that it wasn't you, I was asking a hypothetical question.

 

[Wild Brambles]

This is really quite interesting. I've just watched a guy add a surface pattern to copper sheet by hitting a steel scouring pad on the top. Another guy makes the patterns by hitting the back of the sheet. I could get quite creative about this. Maybe I could make some flame shapes for the panel behind the wood burner.

 

[MisterB]

I understood that it wasn't you, I was asking a hypothetical question.

And you got back a pathetical answer ...

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[chaser]

I planned to plane the wood, as the pallet wood is pretty rough, and I want to avoid splinters One's partner getting a splinter must be a big passion killer. I used to have a couple of electric planers, but I may have left them on the farm. I think turning one pallet strip into two slats is going to be beyond my skills. Pallet wood is fairly easy to acquire, and the shavings can go in the wood burner. Thinning the wood to reduce weight is a good idea though, and it shouldn't detract from the visual appeal.

Partner??? Two of you in the back of this van now then?

 

[jongood]

I'm not sure how you calculate the potential weight. I've got a permitted maximum for passengers and load of about 1 1/2 tonnes. I'm hoping that will give me a fair bit of leeway. Weight doesn't seem to be a factor in LDV fuel consumption.

Any timber merchant will be able to help you calculate the approx weight of timber as long as you know the cubic meterage and the type of timber.

You do need to know what it will weigh so that your chassis will cope with it but forget fuel consumption and worry about whether it will work and look OK.

 

[jockaneezer]

Some pallets are treated with a clear antifungal solution, with your aversion to medicines/vaccines/chemicals, you might not be keen having them in your van ? I don't know if they can leach back out, but it's something to consider, especially in a confined space ?

 

[Spriddler]

I collected a couple of pallets with the intention of making chicken nest boxes. It was a heck of a struggle disassembling them and the wood grain was so coarse, splitty and splintery it was dreadful to work with.

 

[chaser]

Some pallets are treated with a clear antifungal solution, with your aversion to medicines/vaccines/chemicals, you might not be keen having them in your van ? I don't know if they can leach back out, but it's something to consider, especially in a confined space ?

Yeah you aren't even supposed to burn it but we do

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[TheBig1]

pallet wood may be a design theme, but in reallity they are made from the cheap rough timber that is rejected for other things. It really is firewood, so I would if needed recreate pallet stile staves of semi rough timber. take a length of say 4x3 and pass it through the table saw set at about 10mm. this will give a consistent thickness and quality to line the van

 

[TheBig1]

oh and newly sawn wood should take stain better than pallet wood too

 

[DBK]

Some pallets are treated with a clear antifungal solution, with your aversion to medicines/vaccines/chemicals, you might not be keen having them in your van ? I don't know if they can leach back out, but it's something to consider, especially in a confined space ?

The carcinogens generated from the wood burner in a confined space will finish him off first.

But the LDV Convoy was famously underpowered. OK to use up all the payload if you only want to tour Norfolk but anywhere with hills will become a challenge.

 

[jongood]

The carcinogens generated from the wood burner in a confined space will finish him off first.

But the LDV Convoy was famously underpowered. OK to use up all the payload if you only want to tour Norfolk but anywhere with hills will become a challenge.

The turbo version was better, flat out with earplugs at 55mph

 

[jockaneezer]

It was a heck of a struggle disassembling them

I break up a few pallets from time to time, mostly for making small log stores or greenhouse staging. I made a breaker bar specifically for the job. The flat bars drop down between the boards and you rest the short length of rebar onto the stretchers and pull back. The flat bars pivot and so lift the boards up
parallel, reducing splitting. Any nails that get left behind, I pull out using the vee groove in the bottom (I reuse nails too !)

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[deleted-member02]

Breaker bar from toolstation makes light work of pallets

Roughneck Demolition & Lifting Bar

The Roughneck demolition and lifting bar lets you dismantle nailed-down material and hoist heavy objects with ease. Use the bar to lift up floorboards, break up pallets and take down doors or windows frames. It also lets you lift up heavy objects, such as paving slabs, without having to get your...

www.toolstation.com