Pallet timber tip

[Dog]

Apart from an excellent source of free timber to burn in the wood burning stove pallet timber can be used for any number of projects. The trouble though is extracting the ring nails from the timber without losing too much of the usuable timber in the process. I was using a reciprocating saw to cut through the nails holding the planks and then simply push out the remaining nail shank and head and fill the holes but it was all too easy to forget about the rest of the nails left behind in the other part of the pallet and then cutting into them with a circular saw etc and ending up with blunt saw blades. Now I use plug cutters to cut around the nails holding the planks and then simply fill the holes in the planks with plugs of the same type of timber. The remaining plugs surrounding the nails can be removed easily and the nails are much easier to extract with a good crowbar with nail puller. That's the way I do it but perhaps other members have an easier method, I'd love to hear it!

Cheers

 

[pren]

I'm always surprised by the quality of wood used to make some of the pallets we get at work.

All these were made from recclaimed pallets:

For my purposes, short sections of the pallets work just fine. I take my circular saw into work and cut the 'deck' planks between the nails, leaving the 3 box frames with nails and the ends of the 'deck' planks still attatched.

I've ammased quite a stash of timbers including Oak, Iroko (that I can identify) as well as some heavy, white woods that could be Maple or Birch maybe.

Cheers
Bryn
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[Dog]

Wow, great work there Pren and all out of pallets, just shows what can be achieved out of something that is mostly either buried or burnt in a field or worse still stacked and left to rot. I wonder if other members use pallets in their projects ?

Cheers

 

[Rich]

Most of the pallets at work are a mixed bag, but, I salvaged some decent lengths of beech for future use, I made the fence in my garden from pallets, I left the slats rough for the rustic look, it saved me money and someone else for having to travel and dispose of them. A lick of stained preserver and Bob, your uncle

Rich.

 

[Derek Willis.]

Very nice work from free timber, I especially like the signs.
Derek.

 

[Creampuff]

Its incredible what people and companies (especially companies)throw away.

A good friend of mine has a brother that works for a Demolition company.
Several weeks ago they were commissioned to pull down an old barn to make way for a new build. the main structure was all Oak, the barn was roughly 7,000sqft in size, and the whole lot was skipped and sent for chipping.

I found out a few days later and asked him why he didn't give me a call, as I would have gladly bought it all off of him, or the company.

He said It wasn't worth the extra time it would have taken to clear the site...

Several weeks later, and the site is still sitting empty!!!

It actually made my heart sink when he told me what the did with it all.

Shocking :shock:

Regards

Andy

 

[Mailman14]

I use mainly pallet wood - and I promise to get a photo of the stuff i picked up - but it's currently 23:11 and DARK!!!

This will be what I was told is "rosewood"... Don't slap my fingers till you;ve seen it!

BTW, is there anyone / anywhere I can find a guide to what wood looks like when it's chopped up?

Cheers!

 

[Dog]

I found this site useful for basic ID of wood types:
http://www.antiqueclockspriceguide.com/woodidguide.php

 

[Hitch]

We get a lot of dunnage, a good amount is timber like ash, oak.

Its a shame is normally been outside for ages and soaking wet.
Nor do i have means to convert into useable bits.

Usually ends up being cut into bits for firewood.

 

[Dog]

That is a shame!

A Jewson lorry delivered my order yesterday for a few things and I happened to mention at time of ordering that any unwated pallets would be most welcome... well he brought a few along, 26 all in, finding somewhere to stack them and keep the neighbours happy was another matter

 

[Shrubby]

Pallets are often dirty and hard work to get usable lengths - still worth it though. If you see any high rise constructions look out for the lifts and HVAC being delivered. Shipped in wooden boxes these yield some nice wood.
Matt

 

[big soft moose]

ive used quite a lot of pallet wood in the past - not least for turning as the blocks are often good for tealight holders etc.

that said i'm not limmited to pallets - all the MDF for my two most recent projects came out of a skip where a guy who neighbours our lock up at work was having his kitchen refitted (why they were using that much MDF in a bespoke kitchen build which is alledgely "solid wood" i dont know - but that not my problem)

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Pren,

I seem to have seen the 'J&C sign somewhere before. Now you have gotten me going, trying to recall where!
Nice work from pallet timber!

John

 

[pren]

hi.

I posted it in the projects section a few months back. I'd forgotten that I'd already posted about it, actually

cheers,
Bryn

 

[Benchwayze]

You know, I think I saw this in the Projects section a while back!
:lol:

Thanks Pren.

Nice job.
Cheers
John

 

[Chrisp]

We used to have a lot of pallets in the place I used to work but they were all soft wood and of no usable quality! I did find one in solid oak but that was so twisted it couldn't be used, as mentioned wooden crates and the wedges used to hold items can be great, I had some oak 30x4x2inch lengths 20 in number used to support/pack an item, and large wedges in beech (many spalted) kept coming in, now I've changed jobs I have to keep my eyes open for any other free timber!...

 

[Woolly]

HI all.

This is my 1st post so please be gentle with me ) .

Here are just a couple of projects I`ve made entirely from pallet wood. I live near a retired old guy who spends his days collecting, taking them apart and selling the timber for `sweeties` money. I agree the nails can be a pain to remove but if I can`t get them out easily then I`ll just work around them.
http://www.woollys06.pwp.blueyonder.co. ... 202008.JPG
http://www.woollys06.pwp.blueyonder.co. ... 0Stand.JPG

 

[Woodmagnet]

Hi Wooly, don't worry your pics have been
caught in the forums spam trap, after a few more posts
it goes away and you can show piccies( we like piccies)
as much as you like.
And welcome to the forum.

 

[Boz62]

HI all.

This is my 1st post so please be gentle with me ) .

Here are just a couple of projects I`ve made entirely from pallet wood. I live near a retired old guy who spends his days collecting, taking them apart and selling the timber for `sweeties` money. I agree the nails can be a pain to remove but if I can`t get them out easily then I`ll just work around them.
http://www.woollys06.pwp.blueyonder.co. ... 202008.JPG
http://www.woollys06.pwp.blueyonder.co. ... 0Stand.JPG

Welcome. Quoted so the links show. Two more posts and you'll be clear

Boz

 

[DaveL]

Hi Woolly,

Welcome to the forum.

And if you use the img tags the pictures will display in the post, like this: