Even more ideas for old pallets

lemonthyme7 · #1 07/11/13, 01:24 PM

Found this site and there are some really cute ideas for using old pallets. No instructions but I think most of them you could figure out by looking at them. Some are really creative.

http://www.architectureartdesigns.co...r-old-pallets/

E.T.A. Also at the bottom of that page there is a link to "38 Creative Ways to Recycle Wooden Pallets" with even more ideas. Here's a quick link: http://www.architectureartdesigns.co...ooden-pallets/

It's giving me lots of ideas for what to do with the extra pallets DH brought home!

Barefoothaven · #2 07/11/13, 04:47 PM

Are the majority of pallets in the US treated?
They don't treat the pallets here in NEW Zealand, so they don't last very long.

"Regret is a dull and rusted blade"

Country Lady · #3 07/11/13, 05:31 PM

We use pallets, placed on old bricks to keep them up off the ground, to hold our split wood for burning in the fireplace. We cover the wood with old peices of tin. However, after a couple of years, the pallets start to deteriorate and we're out looking for more pallets.

Rustaholic · #4 07/11/13, 08:14 PM

We use pallets for our firewood too.
Wait a minute,,,,, pallets are our firewood.
No they are not usually treated here.
Lots of them are one use pallets.
There are companies that pick up used pallets, fix what needs fixin' and resell them. After that next use I cut them up too.

lemonthyme7 · #5 07/11/13, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barefoothaven

Are the majority of pallets in the US treated?
They don't treat the pallets here in NEW Zealand, so they don't last very long.

"Regret is a dull and rusted blade"

No, not treated or at least not the ones we get. The companies that I know of in this area that make them just use rough cut lumber. If used for outside projects you have to expect to replace them every couple of years I would think. I guess if they were painted they would hold up longer.

Work horse · #6 07/12/13, 06:48 AM

We just tried using some pallets for building our new chicken coop, but they were next to impossible to take apart! Prying off the slats broke most of the slats; the nails remained in the frame and the nails broke trying to remove them. It was a ridiculous amount of wasted effort for a few pieces of wood.

willow_girl · #7 07/12/13, 07:35 AM

Quote:

We use pallets for our firewood too.
Wait a minute,,,,, pallets are our firewood.

Ours too.

Even more ideas for old pallets - Homesteading Questions

frogmammy · #8 07/12/13, 07:55 AM

My SIL used pallet wood to make kitchen cabinets. They were EXCELLENT!!! Well made and a beautiful finish to the wood.

Mon

DamnearaFarm · #9 07/12/13, 02:33 PM

I ADORE pallets. I have a stack set aside for pretty things and my usin' stack that I am currently using to make raised beds. The pretty things stack will go for things like headboards and furniture and such.

Cash · #10 07/13/13, 05:38 PM

I've been told that the pallets used to transport motorcycles from Japan are made of some exotic (to us) hardwoods that clean up really nicely with a sander and some stain. Never tried it myself.

Riverdale · #11 07/14/13, 07:32 AM

Some of the pallets we get in are 5/4" thick x 4" wide x 48" long oak.
There is a rotating waiting list.

Built some good stuff out of them

Country Lady · #12 07/14/13, 08:19 AM

We're finding them hard to get now. We were able to get them from a Sears Hardware Store, but now all they have is some broken wood frames their stuff is shipped in. They no longer have the standard pallets. Other places send their pallets back.

Horseyrider · #13 07/14/13, 03:10 PM

Country Lady, try the feed store. We get them under deliveries of bagged bedding.

I'd rather not have them. I bet there are others like me who have no earthly use. We too have had ridiculous difficulty getting them apart without breaking. They stack up here until we can get someone to take them off our hands.

Minelson · #14 07/14/13, 03:44 PM

Very cool ideas!!! Thanks for posting the links I shared them on FB.

Esprit · #15 07/14/13, 04:00 PM

Thanks for the links! I found the motherlode of pallets at a grain elevator about 2 minutes from my house. I'm going to stop in tomorrow to see if I can take some of them off their hands. There has to be 2-300 of them!

COWS · #16 07/14/13, 04:27 PM

I agree with work horse. Pallets are too time consuming to take apart, assuming they are good hardwood pallets. The only way I have found to get the screw nails that pallets are assembled with out, after breaking the slats up trying to disassemble the pallet and leaving the nails in, is to clamp the nails in a good vise on a heavy table and use a large hammer to drive the wood off the nail. Too much time involved. That doesn't mean I don't use pallets, I just use them as found.

COWS

Rustaholic · #17 07/14/13, 05:11 PM

WOW, all that trouble about getting them apart?
Get a good saw-z-all with a long metal cutting blade and cut down both sides between the slats and the stringers only cutting the nails.
Then with a wood blade cut the center stringer between each slat so you then can switch back to a metal blade and cut the nails to remove the stringer pieces from the slats.
Some large pallets are very easy to get apart.
I just made a garden bed from a couple 12 ' 1X6s from one of those large pallets. I cut the two 3' end boards from another one.

Rustaholic · #18 07/14/13, 05:21 PM

Willow Girl, We bring ours into the basement whole and I cut down along the stringers with a circular saw then I cut the stringers in half with a power miter saw. Taking them apart like that is way too much work.
Over 30 years now burning pallets to heat my Northern Lower Michigan house.

willow_girl · #19 07/14/13, 06:18 PM

DBF showed me how to use a long pry bar (a 2x4 will work) and a board (for leverage) to pry them apart. Like this:

Sometimes I stand on one end while he pops off the slats! It's really not that difficult. When we're ready to use them, we'll bring a day's supply up on the patio and run them through the circular saw to cut them to stove length.

We also burn hardwood slab strips from a mill near my farm. I got all this wood for $21 (paid $7 a truckload for 3 loads, and the owner threw in one for free).

Nice to hear from another Michigander ... I spent 20 years kicking around Clare, Gladwin and Missaukee counties before moving here to SWPA in 2007.

Rustaholic · #20 07/14/13, 07:49 PM

Still a lot of work for the pallet wood but a great deal on the hardwood strips.
Stacking them taken apart like that here they would all be wet slabs of wood when I brought them in.
Whole pallets dry very fast anywhere near our wood stove downstairs.
I could probably cut up two while you were taking one apart.
Grand Traverse county here but over the next hill is Kalkaska county.