[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.