[This is a follow-up to this post.]
Attempt 1: “Cut the nails with a Sawzall” method.
I started with a sexy lookin’ pallet that weighed just enough to jack up my back when I tossed it in the truck. Whoops.
After some exhausting work I got what looks like a good haul. But look closer. Damn near all of the “long” pieces have splits (not to mention they’re still riddled with nails). It’s pretty close to unusable.
The “crosspieces” stacked on the right, which are also riddled with nails, might be a different story. That wood is dense and strong and not split at all. But because I cut the nails, I have no idea how to use the wood. I don’t want to run my valuable saw blades into whatever unholy metal is embedded in there. I’m still pondering what to do about that.
For those few crosspieces, even the grain is promising. It’s more or less “quarter sawn” and pretty straight. I really want that wood to be useable!
I gave up on the long split pieces. I cut out all the nails and stashed the wood for camping. Then I chickened out on camping and just burned it in Betsy.
The nails I cut out look like this. I make sure to chuck that crap fast, before it finds a car tire.
Here’s where reality intrudes. I spent more on the new Sawzall blade than I “got back” in wood.
Attempt 2: “Balance the pallet upside down on scraps and bash it to death with a block of wood and a hand sledge” method.
This pallet looked a little better than the last one.
The “bash the shit out of it” method is a serious workout!
For my labors I got what looks like a pretty impressive haul. The long pieces are thin and some are split but a lot less. I think the difference is a better starter pallet and not the removal method.
Note those very desirable short “crosspieces” on the right. They’re fine wood. In this photo everything is riddled with nails (though the nails aren’t cut in half by a saw, so that’s good.)
On the long thin pieces I hammered the nails backwards and pulled them. That’s a bit of a workout, but it does work. Then I cut out any obviously shit wood (and tossed it into Betsy… including any remaining nail ridden crap because by then I was bushed).
The left side of the photo below is vaguely useable, low quality wood, with nails removed and not too many splits. Is that a success?
The short strong dense quartersawn pieces on the right are frustrating as hell. I tried to pull the nails and had about a 70% success rate. The rest I plain ripped the nail head off. (These pallets are built with weird spiral nails that were pneumatically “injected”. They were not hammered in. That’s probably why the head isn’t strong enough to pull the nail back out.)
Here’s some more nail-free firewood that would be awesome for camping but I already burned it in Betsy. (It was cold that day!) This is only some of the “haul”. I got a lot more than that but forgot to reach for my camera until I’d burned most of it.
This is some of the aftermath of my workout. The blue tinted board is a true 2″x4″ that had been part of my house before a renovation. At least 50 years old and rock hard. It wasn’t particularly valuable but it was very solid. Blasting away at the pallet was so out of control that I literally beat that strong plank to death. The other bits you see were in the woodstove faster than you can say “BTU”.
Conclusion:
I got a whole lotta’ exercise. I got some shitty wood that’s nail free. I spent more time than it’s worth. My pallet supply is mostly out for the season anyway.
The several very nice quartersawn hunks with good wood grain are almost like a ticking timebomb. They would explode my thickness plainer in a heartbeat. I don’t even want them near my new 10″ miter saw. I’d rather not even put my chainsaw chain through them. So now what? I could cut and hammer any nails to make a smooth enough surface but how could I cut them to length? Maybe look very carefully and make ginger cross cuts with the cheapest blade I can find? It might be wise to say “fuck it” and toss them (they’re not even firewood at that length).
I haven’t decided what to do next. Right now those desirable wood grain but metal impregnated hunks of deadly equipment damage are just sitting there. Actually, they’re mocking me.
Maybe I can design something that matches their nominal dimension? It would have to be something where I do nothing but drive Torx screws into them (on the logic that damaging a Torx screw isn’t that big of a deal… but no pilot holes because drill bits ain’t free). No surface treatment but a paintbrush? It’s possible. I may make a few attempts at a chainsaw crosscut to see what happens? Or I might come to my senses, get over the sunk cost fallacy, and take them to the dump?
If it all sounds ridiculous that’s because ridiculous is what you get if you’ve gone too far on the cheap spectrum.
I’m hanging tight wondering if I’ll have a clever idea. Wish me luck.
A.C.
Make a square raised flower/vegetable bed for Mrs. Curmudgeon
Look online for pallet dismantling tool. There are DIY videos, last I checked. For table saw or circular handsaw, get a metal cutting blade. A bit more price, but they don’t even know there was a nail. Sawzall blades should be the metal cutting, or nail embedded demolition rated. Once the decking is off, use a nail set to drive the nail back, then pull it. Where the nail is embedded in the stringer, no nailhead, use the cermet blade to cut or rip it.
AC, I’m not sure about your area of operation, but I’d NEVER burn a pallet here in Australia. Ours are treated with insecticides and all sorts of hideously toxic timber preservatives (think Koppers logs) that will “harsh your mellow” >permanently< .
That said,, I pulled a stack of pallets apart with my wrecking bar, and used the timber to line my workshop. Looks great. Just never burn the stuff ! It's loaded with carcinogens etc.
In USA most pallets are only heat treated. There’s a mark “HT” on most of them. As far as I know Methyl bromide was phased out years ago in USA.
Where I live in Kentucky, a lot of amish sawmill, and then build pallets for a company i n town. The offcuts, or slabs are then almost given away. A dump trailer for $40. Lots of people heat their homes with this really cheap firewood. It’s got me considering a wood stove myself.
Why would you care if campfire wood had nails in it? I burned pallet wood for years in a campfire and just made sure to dispose of the ashes in a tire free area. Even in a wood stove, you can shovel out debris. It feels like you are needlessly limiting your BTU’s.
For state and national parks “nail free” is a rule. But also I think it’s just being courteous in any campsite that’s likely to be used by other people. I am on board with the “leave no trace” idea when I camp.
I did get lazy and run some nails through Betsy, that ash is trapped in the stove so no nails will get out.
Good luck. BTDT. There is a reason free pallets are all over the place.
The first and highest use for a pallet is as a pallet. So got anything that needs to be off ground level? Firewood stack? Cruel jest, I know. Sorry!
It is a scale problem- a couple little pieces of quartered oak make a nice little something. I know people with factories using high grade hardwoods- think mahogany, rosewood, birdseye maple, ebony, etc., who run the scrap to the dump.
Yes, good for pens, good for trinkets, knife handles,chess pieces etc- but way too costly to filter and organize and use. I hate the waste, but it does not pencil out to try to make use of it.
I’m learning that. The pallets I’ve messed with are pretty trashed.
Dismantling pallets? You’ll be wanting one of these, then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg43t_uzZt4&pp=ygUYZGlzbWFudGxlIHBhbGxldHMgZWFzaWx5
There are a few more similar designs on ye olde tube of you, pretty much variations on that theme. That one with the rounded pipe as the fulcrum is less likely to damage the cross pieces.
Just a tip if you do want good quality wood. Try to select returnable pallets. The one shot use ones are made out of the cheapest stuff that will just last long enough to do the job once. Hence they are made out of pine and explain the splits and weird grain.
The reusable ones are a bit better quality wood but, as has been pointed out, may have been treated with preservatives etc.
Phil B
If you have an air compressor you might want to check out a nail remover tool, like the one in this video. https://youtu.be/_GrKHVoH3Dg?si=fRlIuw0IoganCxW_
I’m going to hold off on buying any new tools for a bit. But maybe by Christmas I’ll get one.
Phil B beat me to it.
As for the boards you have with the cut off nails, get a long pin punch set from Amazon and drive them out with a hammer and punch. It’s a little work but I think you wiill find it works rather well.
I’ll check that out.
Birdhouses ? Contributing to helping birds find a new home is good for the soul.
I was thinking feeders, but I haven’t done much yet.
There are magnetic nail finders available – for dealing with reclaimed lumber. I can’t recommend any, I only know that there are good and bad versions. The good ones are not cheap… In the end I decided not to go with reclaimed lumber, and went to the lumber yard.