It was an unusually warm and sunny day with temps over 50 degrees F. The solar battery bank was charging nicely. I worked in my off grid wood shop while Melanie washed all our laundry and put them out to dry in the sun.

 

We have had a period of dark and cloudy days so the solar battery bank was getting a bit low. Finally today the sun was shining brightly and the battery bank was charging back up. This was a welcome change from the dark and cold we have had.

 

Melanie used the time to wash all our clothes and hang them outside in the sun and wind to dry naturally. We are on a 56 acre homestead and we are trying to become self sufficient. This means that we do as much as we can ourselves at home. Melanie uses a normal washing machine on a generator to wash our clothes. This uses maybe a gallon of gas to wash quite a few loads of laundry. In comparison the amount of laundry that she did today would have cost us about $30 at the laundromat.

 

 

 

Eventually I hope to run my generators off wood gas and then we will be running things totally free.

 

But for now we are at least saving a lot by doing things here at home ourselves. Melanie used about 200 gallons of rain water today to wash all our clothes. That is a lot of water but we had a lot of laundry to wash including all our bedding.

 

I finished building my mobile off grid wood shop work benches. I got some sales counters for free from a friend who was cleaning out a business. These were tall sales counters. I cut them down to 30 inches to fit my wood shop camper. I moved them in and cut the lengh to fit as well. One counter top is now 8 feet long and the other is 6 feet long.

 

Building Work Benches In My Off Grid Wood Shop

 

Then today I took some plywood and cut it to fit on top of the work bench. I used as much of the original wood and screws from the old sales counter as I could. This is recycling at its finest.

 

I did not take off the plywood from the front of the larger work bench for one reason. Many people have asked this question so here is my reason. The plywood gives the work bench strength and reduces sway and flex. This work bench is going to see the most work and stress. Here is where I will do the most pounding and hammering. So I want this work bench to be tough.

Many have also asked me why I did not just turn it around like I did the other so that I could access all the space underneath for storage. The reason for this is that I cut the one single leg on the open side to fit over the wheel well. It was one cut to make the work bench fit in place. If I had to cut out the closed side it would have been a whole lot of work and would have reduced the strength of the work bench a bit.

 

When I had my new work benches completed I then ran power cords and plugged in all my equipment. I worked on some recycled pallet wood products for a while. I am making pallet wood coffee coasters and shelves today in the wood shop. The shelves were a complete pallet just this very day. I took the pallet into the wood shop and cut it down to get the wood for use in my projects. Then I made a couple little shelves using the wood.

 

You can find our recycled pallet and barn wood products here: www.RecycledPalletProducts.com

 

After sanding the wood you can see the wood grain and colors. Most pallet wood is very beautiful for the very same reason that it was rejected by the lumber industry. The flaws that make it useless are the very same things that make it so beautiful for our projects.

 

Making Some Recycled Pallet Wood Wall Sconce Votive Candle Holders

 

I took the new shelves into the greenhouse to get their coat of varnish. I use the greenhouse to varnish our products because it is the least dusty place we have. When the wood stove is going, the humidity is lower which also speeds up the drying process of our work. The wall sconces I just finished are just amazing to look at. The sanding and varnish bring out the colors and patterns in the wood.

 

The two shelves are beautiful as well. The varnish really brings out the color in the wood. Each piece has its own unique colors and patterns.

 

Recycled Pallet Wood Wall Sconces, Shelves And Coffee Coasters

 

We are recycling what others have thrown away and turning it into beautiful works of art and useful products.

 

You can watch the video of todays work here: Warm Sunny Day Wood Working & Laundry At The Homestead

 

While you are there please subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow our daily videos as we strive to become self sufficient and off the grid on a budget.

About the Author

Troy Reid

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