Quality pallet wood

[TerryMcK]

The last two deliveries I've had from my lumber supplier came on hardwood pallets with a few hardwood stickers. Needless to say I got him to leave the wood and some of it is now part of a computer monitor riser.

Just a footnote though, I cleaned up the best bits with a hand held belt sander to clear any stones/grit that were embedded and run the metal detector over it but ended up with some usable stuff once the nail holes were cut out

[BigE]

By the way, if anyone is really interested in pulling apart pallets, here's a post I saved from 10-15 years ago:

http://woodworking.bigelowsite.com/palletbuster.htm

[Jasahan]

I've been using pallet wood exclusively for nearly 3 years. Yes, it is labor intensive, but it's also free. Yes, it's hard on planer blades, but not if you're thorough, and use a small handheld metal detector. Nails aren't the concern. Staples are. Also, inside the nail holes are tiny pieces of copper wire, i guess from the nail guns. Just inspect before you run it through the planer and as you remove material (some bits hide).

We get ours from a "tool and engineering" place (also called tool and die). They receive large coils of sheet metal and stamp out parts on multi-ton presses. So go to your industrial area and see who's RECEIVING big heavy stuff. Our pallets are untreated hardwoods, anywhere from 35-100+ pounds each. We'be gotten red and white oak, ash, maple, walnut, poplar, sycamore, and maybe birch and hickory (I'm not a professional). We've even gotten stuff with some impressive figure (bird's eye maple; spalted).

I would recommend a jointer if you don't have one. The stuff is generally not square. I would also recommend a rack to let it dry for a month or so. The wood can have a lot of moisture, and a good board can turn out not so good after a while. Also, you will likely end up keeping more of the thick boards (roughly 2.5x3.5), which can be resawn into thinner stock.

I love working with it. It's free. It's always exciting to see the grain emerge out the other side of the planer. I get to work with a variety of hardwoods. It has tons of character because it's not "clean" of knots, etc. it also causes me to get creative with designs, as it's limited to certain dimensions. But we've made everything from a 12'x16' pergola to small boxes to baseboard to chairs and tables.

[wdwerker]

We snagged (2) 3x3 x 36" African Mahogany shipping blocks at my hardwood lumber supplier the other day. I as picking up some plywood and wanted a block under my straps. Rough sawn reddish grey caught my eye. Only drawback is the deep groove for the metal banding. They dressed up to some nice looking wood. Hope they don't twist or crack.

[wdwerker]

If you do your initial cleanup with a osselating belt sander it is easier to find and remove any hidden metal or gravel. Much cheaper and faster to change a belt than planer/ joiner knives. 80 grit works fairly quick for me.

[jHop]

My work has two new printers (large capacity) sitting on two skids/ pallets each.  I've been waiting for them to be unbanded and opened so I can ask if the pallets are available.  (they've been there for a month so far.)

 

If your checking out tool and die shops for free pallet wood, don't forget to ask for the shipping cases from some of their machines.  Often, they make the crates out of plywood, but sometimes there's some decent stuff there.  Even if it's just scrap/practice wood, it's still low cost.

[JohnDi]

I work in a supermarket, and have used pallet wood for practice as well. Any time I can find a pallet with clear stock I try to grab it. I've even found some nice smaller pallets with clear 3 x 3 runners that I've used for practice turning. Managed to make my first tool (chisel) handle on the lathe from one of them .

[pghmyn]

I work with pallets all day, every day. It is unimaginable how many pallets I will touch in a day.

 

In the area where I work, I am receiving products all day. Some trailers come with items on pallets, some are floor loaded. Sometimes the palletized items are more than one item per pallet, and need to be further broken down, etc. When trailers are floor loaded, they need to be palletized. Sometimes up to 500 different items come on a single trailer. If there is enough of one item to fill at least 1/2 of a pallet, it must be palletized. So, of a 500 item trailer, we usually make 300 or so pallets.

 

Every time I take a new pallet, I look at it for good wood. I do not have the opportunity to take the wood for myself, but I just like to look for fun. Majority of pallets are red oak, or white oak - and extremely heavy. There is also a good number of maple, cherry, pine, and poplar. A few pallets here and there have what I think to be walnut, and some look like mahogany. Those numbers are much less, however.

 

If you know PECO or CHEP, they have decent quality wood, and quite thick for the most part. I think it's pine, but I could be wrong.

[ThomasMead]

pallet wood is more popular these day's.

[Llama]

I love pallet wood! I have made a few tables and I just completed a hand tool cabinet. If you get some gnarly stuff, it's good for prototypes.