Inspiration, motivation and pallets ...

I get pallets from the import motorcycle dealers. All kinds of cool lumber, not that I can identify most of it.

Most of them seem to be stapled together.

-- The only easy wood project is a fire

Oh, and rambling is good- gets the clutter out ;)

-- The only easy wood project is a fire

I’d planned to do the same thing. However, I reached the conclusion that it wasn’t worth the effort a bit faster. I just skipped the Google step :)

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

I have reused palets and crates many times I hasve found it easier just to grab the sawzall cut out the good wood and throw the rest in the firewood pile. Those nails can be a bugger to get out. Also when using scavanged wood the stray nail can put a hurtting on a saw blade. Be carefull.

-- Frank Auge---Nichols NY----"My opinion is neither copyrighted nor trademarked, but it is price competitive."

That would definitely be easier to do it that way. I thought about it but then I felt guilty about throwing any of the wood away :)

-- Teri, Kokomo, IN

I am familiar with the long nights of working on the shop by myself. Even with experience it is a lot of work. It is part of construction. It definitely is a luxury and a blessing to have help.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Yeah, I have lots of pallets…mostly to hold my other raw wood off the ground…and I did the same thing with a piano…I won’t tear apart old dried-out, busted-up pianos for the wood ever again…way too much work. Also it helps to have a metal detector…the one I bought at the suggestion of the company also goes deep into trees I’m thinking of cutting up for firewood or lumber. Nothing like a nail or a bullet to ruin one’s day…not to mention dull or destroy a good tool or saw chain.

-- /\/\/\ BarryW /\/\/\ http://thecreekviewwoodworker.blogspot.com

Ah bullets! I have a slab of maple with half a miniball in it, someday I will use it in a project, maybe a gun case.
Luckily old lead is not to hard on a saw blade.

-- Frank Auge---Nichols NY----"My opinion is neither copyrighted nor trademarked, but it is price competitive."

Teri, your absolutely right…..unless you have allot of extra time on your hands, or the pallet is new, and I mean brand new, the saws all is the way to go. I reuse allot of oak, some walnut from pallets I get off of new construction sites when I’m building. If you use the saws all…..think of small projects. If it is a new pallet, I have been able to use a cats paw to tear a pallet down and use the 2×4’s for glue ups after milling.

Hello Teri

I have used pallets in the past. I use a sawall to cut the nail and remove them in two parts. Most pallets are low quality common wood. I have found some really nice wood in pallet that have come from other countries. I am always looking where the product has come from.

-- Scott, Kentucky ----- "Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry" Mark Twain

Talk about memories: After the W.W.II my dad and I built two houses in the desert from a Marine base dump. We hauled pallets home. I took them apart. If you’re alert you can get good scrap wood from a glass or sign company. Companies in the southeast and northeast use long pieces of new wood for the crates. Worth the effort. Diesel engines from Japan come in full-sided crates. Some of the wood is useful – with a reciprocating saw and “Destruction blade”. Here in California you have to watch out for barbed wire embedded in tree trunks. Good hunting.

-- Bulldog

Hello Teri

I was born and raised in Des Moines. I left about 30 yrs. ago. I lived on the west side. Still have a sister there.
Small world.

-- Kip Northern Illinois ( If you don't know where your goin any road will take you there) George Harrison

Hello Teri:

I’m originally from Richmond. Last summer I built a 24’x28 workshop in the U.P. It has a gambrel roof which gives me loft space to dry wood. I also used OSB on the walls and ceiling and then filled in the seams with Elmers wood putty. This gave me a lot of tedious sanding to do. However, the hardest job was painting the OSB. It took three coats in order to finally get paint into all the small areas of this rough surface. Now that it is done it looks great. None-the-less, if I had it to do over I would have used plywood.

Tip: be sure to use the new type electronic ballast fluorescent lights in your new shop.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

I have used a variety of tools and techniques for recovering wood from pallets.
1) See http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZstrangers_with_candy. Yes, I paid and while the idea is obvious (D’OH) and OK for firewood, it does leave the nails in and busts op the slats.
2) Dead On Exhumer Nail Puller – returned for money back – the edge rolled instead of biting in.

My technique right now is:

On the side with the fewest slats I use a demolition blade on my sawz-all knock-off to cut the slats flush with the beams.

I remove the nails from that side.

I use a mallet to loosen the end beams.

I pry off the slats from the end beams where possible. Otherwise I use the saw as before.

I can then use leverage to loosen the slats from the remaining center beam. and remove the nails.

I’m going to have to photo document this.

-- Jerry "The Dinosaur" Mings

I have used a variety of tools and techniques for recovering wood from pallets.
1) See http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZstrangers_with_candy. Yes, I paid and while the idea is obvious (D’OH) and OK for firewood, it does leave the nails in and busts op the slats.
2) Dead On Exhumer Nail Puller – returned for money back – the edge rolled instead of biting in.

My technique right now is:

On the side with the fewest slats I use a demolition blade on my sawz-all knock-off to cut the slats flush with the beams.

I remove the nails from that side.

I use a mallet to loosen the end beams.

I pry off the slats from the end beams where possible. Otherwise I use the saw as before.

I can then use leverage to loosen the slats from the remaining center beam. and remove the nails.

I’m going to have to photo document this.

-- Jerry "The Dinosaur" Mings

I cut up an oak pallet sanded it and at the end of the day had 10 pencil holders that I sold for $10 each.

I cut up a pine pallet and made picture frames out of it. They were to be painted black so it didnt matter if it had holes in it, knots or anything else. I simply filled the holes with sawdust and titebond II and sanded…viola.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

FYI – Look behind big truck, GMC/Freightliner/ect, dealership and repair shops for pallets. Lots of their big parts, bell housings/engines/ect, come in large wooden boxes and on pallets. I worked for a GMC truck dealer at one time and built several things from wood found on site.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

I use pallets all the time. I get them at work, so I have the time to look them over carefully and only get the best ones. I have found some great looking oak, maple, walnut and just the other day I got four 6”x30”x1” pieces of beautiful cherry from 1 pallet in about 30 min. It can’t be beat for small projects.

-- IconBrian

I’ve done a lot of work using wood from pallets. Lots of red oak, maple, birch to be had for free. I agree with the guys above—forget trying to pull the twist or shank nails. It’s an exercise in frustration and you’ll often tear up the wood anyway. I just cut out useful pieces. Then it’s just a matter of being creative about resawing the pieces and getting busy. I also use small pieces of other species to inlay over nail holes and other imperfections.

Teri,

Congratulations on the wiring and on being a woman. Oh, and being 5 feet tall.

The easiest way I’ve found to tear down pallets is with a sledge hammer, crow bar and a saw. The first step is to cut threw the bottom of the pallet to release the runners (2X’s). Then flip it top down, stand on it and hit the center runner till it wiggles. stand it on end and bounce it up and down to loosen the outside runner. spin it to loosen the runner on the opposite side. You may want to use the sledge hammer for this, if you do hit tords the center of the pallet- not outward. Lay it down top up and the nail heads should have lifted enough to slip the claw of the crow bar under them. yes some of the wood will break but when you get good at it you can usually save 75% of it. I can process about ten in an hour. That’s the Godbacon way of doing it.

Good luck

As always Godbacon

Hi, Teri

A former co-worker would take home the oak pallets we received at the Ralphs mkt where we worked. He wasn’t on a mission and would take one home after dismantling the previous one. From there, the boards were stacked away in the garage.

He was taking a night class in woodworking just for the sake of using some of the tools he didn’t have and when he was ready, ran them all through the surface planer. I have a planer but might consider using the night school’s knives rather than my own :)

Anyway, he knocked out the most gorgeous dining room table you’d ever want to see. Rather than cut out or laminate the nail holes and flaws, he left them in it really made all the difference.

Isn’t it funny how we’ll go to any length to cover those damn rusted nail holes and pay the price for wormwood? We’ll take new wood and distress it and we’ll take a well worn hunk and try to make that silk purse out of it.

People with straight hair want it curly. People with curly want it straight. Mine’s straight on one side and curly on the other. Maybe that’s why…never mind :)

-- Ron, Bakersfield, CA. Measure twice, cut twice anyway.

Hey Teri,

I save the pallet lumber for the small projects, unless I do glue-ups with them. I usually don’t have the time to try and pull every nail, so I take a circular saw and just cut out the lumber between the runners. If the place where I get the pallet has a way of disposing the runners, then they’ll take care of it and I’ll use an 18v cordless circular saw and cut them there. If they can’t get rid of the runners, then I’ll burn them at home in the woodburner in the wintertime. I’ve made some nice looking stuff out of pallet lumber. You certainly shouldn’t be ashamed to use it. I like the whole “distressed board, nail hole look,” but I just don’t have time to pull out all those (what seem to be 18inchs long when you’re pulling them) ring-shanked nails.

—Steve

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

Teri,
We have some experiences in common, including a Dad who so influenced my life than I cannot imagine who I would have been without him.

I completely relate to your sense of “salvage rights is a penny saved”, but also to the sense that it may only be worth the experience, once!

I got permission several years back from the railroad company to salvage 18 railroad ties after a hurricane ripped up the local tracks. Just what I needed to build a retaining wall after said hurricane took out the back yard trees. Hey, how hard could it be? Except these were not like ties from Lowes, but 8 ft., drenched in creosote, 200lbers+. My 14 yr old son and husband were amenable though somewhat skeptical. Like you, I am a somewhat smallish person in stature. It took us a full day of dragging them 30 ft to the water, rafting them up in sets of twos so we could tow them, four at a time with a small Zodiac (oars – no motor), 300 meters down the coast, (we were not allowed to take a truck across the tracks) and then still had to haul them up hill to the vehicle. Our Subaru bottomed out with the weight of even two ties, (gravel road) so we rented a Uhaul but that made it twice the lift to get them onto the truck bed from the downside of a very steep boat slip. We wore out one of my son’s weight lifting buddies who quit before lunch (said it wasn’t what he expected). I did build the retaining wall mostly by myself, but to this day, my son will tease me with, “Hey mom, I saw a pile of railroad ties down by the water . . . ” which is everyone’s cue to moan dismissively.

I also built my own shop, and really relate to your wiring experience. I know it is not rocket science but it felt very empowering to be able to accomplish it (and the shop has been up for two years and is still standing!)

I have just joined and hope to put up pictures of my shop soon; it is functional, but as of yet, not finished. I hope you will post some of your stained glass here also. I have thought about incorporating glass into some of my boxes. My father will be visiting in July and hope to post pictures of him working in my shop.

Thanks for your stories.
SM

-- SM

Hi,
I use skids a lot hence the name. In my job i can get a lot of skids with real nice wood in them I regularly can find 6ft 1 X 3 oak boards. I developed a technique for removing nails froom the hardest wood. If you want to use the 1 X 3 runners from a skid just cut the slat boards off with a circular saw exposing the nail heads. Then take a small flat tack puller and put it upside down under the nail head. Then get the biggest crow bar you can find and slip that under the tack puller. This will pull the ring nail straight out without breaking the head off. The trick is to keep the nail head from being bent. Those skid nails are quite cheaply made so the heads are real thin. Once you bend the head it will pop off. I have done this on 100s of skids thus 1000s of nails.

-- skidiot northern illinois