A woodworker from the Isle of Man has started a venture which looks to create gifts out of re-used pallets.

Rob New, from Douglas, took up woodworking when he was younger but didn’t properly start to craft his works until 2010, which led to his small business ‘CraftingRob’ being formed.

Just last year, Rob changed the name of the business to ‘From Pallets With Love’, to show that all of his creations are made out of re-claimed pallets picked up from local businesses.

Rob makes a variety of gifts, which includes garden planters, bird nesting boxes, Isle of Man shaped wall clocks, trinket trays and T-light holders, which he sells through his website and Facebook page.

Talking about how the venture started, Rob said: ‘Three years ago, at about the same time as I partially retired, my wife bought me a “woodwork for beginners” evening course at the Isle of Man college.

‘The instructor was brilliant and encouraged everyone regardless of their skill level, and my passion for woodworking was re-ignited. As soon as the course was over I was on Facebook marketplace looking for second hand tools, and slowly built up a collection that would enable me to get started.

‘The business happened almost by accident. I had intended to just mess about in my garage and tinker with little projects to keep myself busy.

‘I watched some Youtube videos and built some Christmas trees, and then my wife’s friends started asking if they could buy them. I realised that if I could sell some of my stuff, I could use the money to buy more tools and make better stuff, and hopefully it could become a self-funding hobby.’

‘From Pallets With Love’ stalls will be present at upcoming Christmas markets such as at the Laxey Working Men’s Institute on Saturday November 23, Scoill Vallajeelt on November 27, the MSPCA on November 30 and December 1 and also QEII High School on December 4.

Rob added: ‘Once Christmas is over, I plan to branch out into making console/entrance tables, coffee tables and patio furniture.

‘I’ve always been closely guided by the market. I make something, I try to sell it, if it sells I make more, if it doesn’t then I move in a different direction.’

As well as looking to raise money for more of his craft work, Rob also aims to help the environment through the re-use of wood that would otherwise be incinerated.

By picking up pallets that no one else wants, Rob effectively gives the wood ‘a second chance’.

He said: ‘I still burn the off-cuts, but I estimate that I use about 75% of the pallet, which makes me feel justified in burning the remaining 25%.

‘In the Isle of Man, because of the extra challenge that the Irish Sea provides, we don’t re-use pallets nearly as much as they do in England. As a result, businesses in the island are desperate to give their pallets away.

‘I believe that in certain parts of the world, people are charged for used pallets, so I am very grateful that I get mine for free.’

When asked if he thinks the Isle of Man could be doing more to help the environment, Rob said that we should, in theory, be in a ‘very enviable position’.

He said: ‘The Isle of Man is the windiest place I’ve ever lived, so we could be generating a lot of energy from wind turbines, and we are surrounded by sea that has amazing potential for wave generated power.

‘We should be able to generate more power than we could possibly need, but I do also appreciate that it is far more complicated, and expensive, than it appears on the surface.’

If you wish to find out more about Rob’s business, you can visit his website at www.FromPalletsWithLove.com and his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FromPalletsWithLove