Wood Pallets

catspjamas · #1 10/27/13, 08:19 PM

I'm getting wood pallets to use for raised garden beds next summer. In other threads about pallets, and online, it states to make sure to get heat-treated pallets, and that the pallets will be marked. None of mine have markings. I've only gotten 4 pallets so far, and I've checked all of them. One is old and the wood has grayed, but the other 3 are newer. Still nothing marked on any of them. So, how would I know if they are heat-treated or chemical treated?

Tabitha · #2 10/27/13, 09:50 PM

I did not realize pallets were treated. I think most are not. Why should they be? I use pallets for compost bins and quick emergency animal shelters. Good luck with your raised beds. I can't quite visualize them made of pallets.

starlady · #3 10/27/13, 10:15 PM

The pallets will be marked if they were treated in their manufacturing process. They will not be marked each time they are "fogged" with pesticides and/or fungicides in shipping. There's no way to know with what chemicals the shipments on the pallets (and therefore the pallets themselves) were treated. If they came from overseas they were almost certainly fogged with pesticides and fungicides before shipment in containers.

TnAndy · #4 10/28/13, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabitha

I did not realize pallets were treated. I think most are not. Why should they be?

Heat treatment ( kiln drying ) is used for a variety of reasons.

1. To kill bugs in the wood that you don't want to ship around the country, or overseas. Most international shipping requires it.

2. To reduce shipping weight. Dry pallets weigh a LOT less than green wood pallets, if weight is an issue for the end user of the pallet.

3. To prevent products ON the pallets from rusting. Local brake rotor and hub manufacturer requires DRY pallets because they found putting machined parts on a wet oak pallet causes the bottom couple layers of parts to rust all to pieces.

catspjamas · #5 10/28/13, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabitha

I did not realize pallets were treated. I think most are not. Why should they be? I use pallets for compost bins and quick emergency animal shelters. Good luck with your raised beds. I can't quite visualize them made of pallets.

I'm going to take the pallets apart and then use the slats for the sides of the raised beds. I got the idea from a DIY site, and there are videos on youtube on how to construct them. It's probably not the best material I could use, but it's what I can get for free.

arabian knight · #6 10/28/13, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catspjamas

I'm going to take the pallets apart and then use the slats for the sides of the raised beds. I got the idea from a DIY site, and there are videos on youtube on how to construct them. It's probably not the best material I could use, but it's what I can get for free.

You have a LOT of work ahead of you. Taking them apart is a HUGE job. Those nails are made in such a way as to NOT come out. They MAY pull right through the slats before the nail even begins to come out.

catspjamas · #7 10/28/13, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starlady

The pallets will be marked if they were treated in their manufacturing process. They will not be marked each time they are "fogged" with pesticides and/or fungicides in shipping. There's no way to know with what chemicals the shipments on the pallets (and therefore the pallets themselves) were treated. If they came from overseas they were almost certainly fogged with pesticides and fungicides before shipment in containers.

Don't know how often pallets get used in shipping before they get tossed. One pallet I found along side the road, it has black circles on it, like where cans may have been. I think it's from a construction site. The other 3 came from Norandex-Reynolds, the vinyl siding company. My brother works there and got them from me. So unless the pallets were used by another company before Norandex used them, I wouldn't think they would have been "fogged" with pesticides or fungicides.

catspjamas · #8 10/28/13, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arabian knight

You have a LOT of work ahead of you. Taking them apart is a HUGE job. Those nails are made in such a way as to NOT come out. They MAY pull right through the slats before the nail even begins to come out.

Yes, I realize that, which is why I'm not in a rush. It's something I'm going to work on over the winter. And I'm not planning on having all the beds that my garden will hold done by next spring. If I only get 3 beds made, I'll be happy. Right now, I don't have a vehicle to go and get a bunch of pallets at one time. My car will only hold one, maybe 2 if they're small. I think I have enough pallets right now for one bed.

Awnry Abe · #9 10/28/13, 01:19 PM

Salvaging free junk is sort of a pet hobby of mine. I can't wait to see what the raised beds end up looking like. I am building some right now for DW that are made of native white oak from a local sawmill. Working with pine construction lumber sort of makes a fellow soft and butter-muscled compared to the oak.

Depending on the pallet and how tight it is, a sawsall would be my first weapon of choice to free the slats from the nails. I would opt for cutting the nail vs. trying to pull it out of the oak. You'll have little flat-tire makers to deal with, so don't do it in your lawn. I wouldn't try it on one that is nailed together really tight, unless I felt like lopping off a finger instead.

Regarding the past life of a pallet, I wouldn't let the unknowns keep me from growing veggies in it provided it passes a sniff test and visual check. But that's just how I roll. I can understand the concern. This is just my opinion, but I don't think pallets see a great deal of re-use as shipping pallets. When we ship something palletized, I don't send an expensive employee on a wild goose chase to find a suitable pallet, anymore than I would have them chase down a used box or used sheet of paper. We have a stack of new ones ready to use when needed. In fact, looking out the office window here at my office park neighbor, I see a huge stack of "brand new" looking pallets waiting to be carted off by the pack rats. I keep meaning to swing by and fill the truck with a load for the farm. We do have to buy special pallets for certain government shipments that are saturated with some sort of flame retardant. (Uncle does his best to make sure the $600 toilet seat really does cost $600). I wouldn't grow food in one of those, let alone touch them. But as noted earlier, they are marked as such. Plus, they wouldn't pass my sniff test anyway.

paradox · #10 10/28/13, 01:31 PM

I have seen lots of great looking projects using pallets. But I have never been able to get the pallets apart without shredding the wood. Finally gave up on that idea, which is a shame, because I have access to tons of free pallets...

arabian knight · #11 10/28/13, 01:36 PM

Most projects I have seen with using pallets is they are left whole and walls are made using them, sides of buildings sheds etc. But not taken apart and using just the slats which are made to Stay Put. Oak is a beast to pull out nails that are made like small screws with the metal that is twisted to Stay Put in the wood.
Fence lines made from them. I have even used pallets as Gates to keep horses in their stalls. They are that strong that even putting a gate hinge on them they do not sag. Also on the ground two wide and pile hay on top. But not taking them apart. OUCH.

||Downhome|| · #12 10/28/13, 01:48 PM

Really not that much work tearing down pallets...

I take a small sledge and knock off the slats. once you get a few off then you can loosen up the rest by "rocking" it. One corner to the ground and apply pressure to the opposite (kind of like a scissor jack) the rest will come off easier.

or lay it with the stringers up, and stand on the opposite side and use a big sledge to knock them off.

pry bars are handy to!

DEKE01 · #13 10/28/13, 02:08 PM

Sawzall will dispatch pallets in no time. Cut any problematic nails and then it will be relatively easy to punch them out from the inside.

Michael W. Smith · #14 10/28/13, 03:05 PM

I'm not sure where "heat treated pallets" are going to last any longer. The heat treating is more to kill any bugs so pests aren't shipped from state to state, plus dry wood is alot lighter than wet wood.

Pallets are NOT hard to come by. Stop by any local manufacturing company, and chances are they have piles of pallets free for the taking.

The company I work for gets alot more pallets shipped in of merchandise, than what gets shipped back out. From time to time, people come and get them for bonfires, or projects. But yeah, trying to break a pallet down is going to be alot more work than it's worth in my opinion.

catspjamas · #15 10/28/13, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awnry Abe

Regarding the past life of a pallet, I wouldn't let the unknowns keep me from growing veggies in it provided it passes a sniff test and visual check.

What are you sniffing for in the sniff test? The ones I have smell like wood.

||Downhome|| · #16 10/29/13, 06:07 AM

probably a chemical smell or off smell.

DamnearaFarm · #17 10/29/13, 09:00 AM

I made my raised beds out of pallets but didn't take them apart. I just cut them into thirds and used them. They work great and weather well.

Paquebot · #18 10/29/13, 02:32 PM

The nails used in most pallet manufacturing are screw nails. They are shot in with a nail gun and do not come out easy.

Martin

joebill · #19 10/29/13, 09:29 PM

I burned pallets all one winter in the shop stove, and finally figured out how to bust them up for stove wood easily.

Lay them with the face boards up and take a double jack or splitting maul and smack each facing board hard right beside the underlying 2x4. They will usually break if hit in just the right spot, and you can turn all the facing and backing boards into firewood, then cut up the 2x4's with any saw, avoiding the nails.

it took me about 15 minutes every morning to make a day's firewood. Wear safety glasses. That stuff flies around pretty bad.

As for raised beds, I'd consider used tire casings or low rock walls if you have rock handy. Both are free........Joe

o&itw · #20 10/30/13, 02:07 PM

Pallets vary in construction and lumber type from area to area. Most of them around here are oak or other hardwoods, and the actual decking has been made thinner over the years so that now much of it is 1/2". Many of these use twisted nails in assembly, and are almost impossible to get apart without tearing up the boards. I guess one could sawsall them but the work, electricity, and blades involved would counteract whatever gain would be otherwise obtained.

I have been able to make use of lumber out of (good) pine pallets that have 3/4 inch decking, but those are rather rare around here.

I have pretty much given up on using pallets for anything other than where they can be used whole.