Pallet Key Holder

Everyone wants a place to hang their keys and we are no different here at Albany County Fasteners! We decided to make an easy and simple pallet key holder and take you along for the ride! After a couple of quick google searches and deciding on our own spin, it was time to go gather the tools and materials to get this project under way.

The Tools We Used

• Circular Saw with Wood Blade
• Cordless Drill
• Vega 32 Piece Quick Release Bit Set
• Contractors Pencil
• Protective Gloves
• Safety Glasses
• Tape Measure
• Brad Point Drill Bits For Wood
  
  • 1/8"
  • 3/16"

The Supplies

• Seven Pallet Planks cut down to 1 Foot in Length
• Eight 1-1/4″ #6 Stainless Steel Phillips Flat Head Wood Screws
• Four 1-1/4″ #6 Stainless Steel Slotted Oval Head Wood Screws
• Seven 1-1/4″ #12 Stainless Steel Screws

1. Slotted Oval Head Wood Screw
2. Phillips Pan Head Sheet Metal Screw
3. Torx Security Pan Head Sheet Metal Screw
4. Square Pan Head Sheet Metal Screw
5. Spanner Security Pan Head Sheet Metal Screw
6. Phillips Oval Head Sheet Metal Screw
7. Slotted Hex Head Sheet Metal Screws

• Forty-Two 3/4" #6 Stainless Steel Phillips Flat Head Wood Screws

Now that we have all of our materials together, we are ready to get started!

After our last project, we did a little bit of planning ahead and pulled some extra boards off pallets. So gathering the wood was simple. We took some quick measurements and came up with several pieces we would need to make this project.

• Two 3-1/2″ x 1 ft boards
• One 3: x 1 ft board
• Two 3-1/2" x 10" boards
• One 2" x 10" board
• Two 2" x 2-3/4" rectangle pieces

Then we lined up the two 3-1/2″ x 1 ft boards and 3″ x 1 ft board to form the back board of the key holder. We placed one of the 3-1/2" x 10" boards and across the top to hold the boards together. Once it is lined up carefully turn the boards over and use a 1-1/4″ long #6 Phillips Flat Head Wood Screw in each board. This will hold the three foot long boards to the 10" front.

Next we need to make a mail slot (or decorative planter in our case). We did this by taking the 2″ x 10″ board and connecting it to the remaining 3-1/2″ x 10″ board. On boards this thin you will definitely want to pre-drill your holes otherwise you will likely see splitting in the wood. We used a 3/16" drill bit to pre-drill holes for our 1-1/4″ #6 Stainless Steel Slotted Oval Head Wood Screws.

Once we had these two boards connected we took the two 2″ x 2-3/4″ Rectangles and connected them in the same way. Now we have our mail slot and the back board ready to be connected. On the base of the back board, line up the mail slot and pre-drill 5 holes around the edge using the 3/16" drill bit. Then drive five 1-1/4″ #6 Stainless Steel Phillips Flat Head Wood Screws into those holes to hold the mail slot to the back board.

Now we need a place to hang the keys from. We decided that, being a fastener business, a fun way to do this would be to pick several different screw head and drive styles to install into the front panel. We also wanted them to be slightly larger than the other screws we've used thus far.

To that end, we took our 1/8" drill bit for wood and pre-drilled seven holes into the wood* and then drove the fasteners into the wood using their specific drives.

*Pro Tip: To avoid drilling through the pallet plank you are drilling into, mark the stopping point on the drill bit using painter's tape.

Now that we have our pallet key holder together, we thought it looked a little bit bare. To combat this we drew out a word on a piece of paper and used it as a stencil to drill some 3/16" holes into the top board. Then we removed the stencil and drove 3/4″ #6 Stainless Steel Phillips Flat Head Wood Screws into them.

We still haven't decided on the best place to actually hang our key rack but in the mean time, we did hang some keys from it to make sure it worked. All in all this build is very simple and took us about 3 hours from start to finish. Let us know if you like it and please tell us all about your pallet key holder creations as well!