# how do you cut up pallets?



## par0thead151 (Feb 8, 2011)

i have a almost endless source of wood pallets, and like to burn them when i am home as they burn hot, fast, and eat up any coals i have i the firebox from my day time burning wood.
the problem is i always find the nails with my saw and it makes my blade dull VERY fast.
i took my time to look for the nail heads this last batch, but then i ran into a new evil invention. STAPLES !
they use staples to hold the pallets together in some cases.

what is the best method of  breaking down pallets?
can i use a circular saw? i have a 28V cordless one that i think would fare better against the staples.

are pallets worth the hassle?


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## firefighterjake (Feb 8, 2011)

Random thoughts . . .

I just used my chainsaw and was careful . . . other folks have used a circular saw with a cheap or junk blade, Sawz-all or smash them up with a sledgehammer.

Are pallets worth the hassle? Only you can answer that question . . . to the guy who has no wood or the wood he has is semi-seasoned and doesn't burn worth a crap unless a few pallets are stuffed into the firebox, the work is worth it . . . to the guy who is two years ahead and has access to his own wood lot the answer would probably be no.


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## par0thead151 (Feb 8, 2011)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

> Random thoughts . . .
> 
> I just used my chainsaw and was careful . . . other folks have used a circular saw with a cheap or junk blade, Sawz-all or smash them up with a sledgehammer.
> 
> Are pallets worth the hassle? Only you can answer that question . . . to the guy who has no wood or the wood he has is semi-seasoned and doesn't burn worth a crap unless a few pallets are stuffed into the firebox, the work is worth it . . . to the guy who is two years ahead and has access to his own wood lot the answer would probably be no.


im beginning to think its not worth the wear on my blades.
i have 1 year of wood, but that year is still seasoning. 
i trained for a ironman triathlon so i didnt want to risk injury while cutting wood, so my pile for this winter was quite pathetic.
next season i will have plenty of wood, dry and ready


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## briv (Feb 8, 2011)

I use a circular saw when I cut up pallets and I find that it is quick work.  Although I have to hold the blade guard open so it is not the safest practice.  I don't bother pulling the nails, if you cut a few inches away from the nails they shouldn't be a problem and you will still have small enough pieces to put in the stove.


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## WoodPorn (Feb 8, 2011)

I also use a circ. saw, but I run it inches away fron the rails. short work for free BTU's. I also find doing it on a work table or sawhorses w/plywood makes for a more comfortable experience.


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## billb3 (Feb 8, 2011)

The Winter I burned a lot of pallets I found cutting the slats off at the stringers with a circ saw with a good blade seemed to be fastest and then between the slats where the slat stubs were still nailed on  was a good reference of where it was safer to cut the stringers . Made for a lot of odd ball sizes , but trying to cut to a specific length just kept hitting nails.
 Pulling the pallets apart was just too much work.


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## kettensÃ¤ge (Feb 8, 2011)

Sawzall with a demolition blade or circular saw with a carbide tipped blade.


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## bogydave (Feb 9, 2011)

Circ saw with cheap blades, you will hit a nail, hit the bad teeth with a file & move on.
saws-all Ok but slow
Sledge hammer works too.
No precision needed 
No nails if burning in a Catalytic, metal react with the cat.


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## raybonz (Feb 9, 2011)

bogydave said:
			
		

> Circ saw with cheap blades, you will hit a nail, hit the bad teeth with a file & move on.
> saws-all Ok but slow
> Sledge hammer works too.
> No precision needed
> No nails if burning in a Catalytic, metal react with the cat.



The 1st year I had this stove I heated the whole year with just pallets.. Those pallets produced many pounds of nails and my cat lasted 6 yrs.. One time a nail got caught in the door and I didn't realize and I had one serious inferno in that stove! LOL After that adventure I never used the front doors to load the stove again and it took a long time to get all those nails out of the stove! If you think about it my stove is cast iron and has steel bolts in it and they do not affect the cat.. Nowadays they use cement nails often driven in with a nail gun and the glue may be a problem over time.. Pallets while free sure are lots of work to cut and after that year I never bothered with them again..

Ray


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## formula_pilot (Feb 9, 2011)

For pallets, I use a worn out 30cc saw with a junk chain and look out for the nails as best I can.  We burn pallets in the fire pit , I gave up burning them in the stove.


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## rdust (Feb 9, 2011)

Not worth the hassle imo.  I cut up a few with my chainsaw last year and decided it wasn't worth the trouble for me.


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## Dune (Feb 9, 2011)

Stack up four or five pallets. Cut on both sides of the center stringer with a cheap carbide blade in a skillsaw. Chainsaws and sawsalls are not great for cutting pallets.
after you cut down the center, break each slat off by hand. Flip pallet over and repeat. Cut the stringers at the fork notch. There are no nails there.


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## darkbyrd (Feb 9, 2011)

6# maul


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## DonNC (Feb 9, 2011)

Dune said:
			
		

> Stack up four or five pallets. Cut on both sides of the center stringer with a cheap carbide blade in a skillsaw. Chainsaws and sawsalls are not great for cutting pallets.
> after you cut down the center, break each slat off by hand. Flip pallet over and repeat. Cut the stringers at the fork notch. There are no nails there.



Pretty much like he said

Cut on each side of the center 2x4 and then peel the slots outward and off from the outside 2x4s.  
After the slats are off it is reall easy not to cut into nails when u cut the 2x4s into stove size "logs"

I use a sawsall with a demo blade. That is a ugly blade with long teeth and you can use the cheep ones for wood or get the ones that cut metal.  

My brother stacks his 6 feet high and then takes the chainsaw down each side of the 2x4s.


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## btuser (Oct 28, 2011)

DonNC said:
			
		

> Dune said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I came here looking for the solution and I may already have it.  Nuts. 
Tried the chainsaw BAD, BAD idea.  I like using the maul but it takes longer than the skill saw.  If I had a longer sawzall blade and could stand it up vertical while cutting both sides at once it may work, but get rather unruly by the end.


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## fire_man (Oct 28, 2011)

raybonz said:
			
		

> bogydave said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Ray: I'm with you, pallets are WAY too much work. By the time you fight your way through cutting them up, destroy a bunch of blades/chains, fight with nails and staples, its just not worth it. I worry that some are made of PT wood. I think nails are ok for the Cat, unless they are galvanized. I decided I would never hack into another free pallet again, and I never plan to look back, just not worth the pain.


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## Battenkiller (Oct 28, 2011)

Chainsaw is fastest, sledgehammer is slowest.  Safest is with a sawzall.  Mostly I've used a circ saw with a cheap carbide blade.  I've gone right through nails with those $8 carbides from HD and never even knew it until later when I saw the cut nail in the wood.  Do that with a chain and it's off to the shop to get it ground.


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## Hass (Oct 28, 2011)

I cut them up about a hundred at a time with either a circular saw or sawzall.

I use bimetal blades for nail embedded wood. HD sells a very nice Milwaukee blade in a 5 pack... I think it's called the Ax. (Ax, not Axe) think it's about 22 bucks... one blade is good for at least a hundred pallets, I run them until they don't have anything left on them... So I get maybe 200-300 out of them. I'm actually going to try a local vendor for my blades next time that I buy all my air tools from (Dynabrade). Of course I avoid nails for the most part, I just go down the runners. Usually don't hit any. To cut the runners, I use a chop saw. usually cut them once in half then stack them separate for the shed stove. The runners still have little bits of 1x material on them that I cut off, but I don't really care since the nails are in it!

I used a circular saw at first. Works incredibly quick, you do have to hold the guard open to make it easy. I used an old demo blade that I had (demo demon from HD). Worked great, did a number on the blade but the blade still cuts great even though it's missing 1/4 of it's teeth and the others are chipped/dull. Definitely not as cost effective as the sawzall though. (1 blade that costs ~4 and cuts 300 pallets, versus a blade that's ~15 and cuts 100) It's a little bit slower, but still easy and safer.

I think pallets are worth it if you need dry wood and don't value your time that much. For me, I get them from my work. So I take the truck and trailer, load it up with pallets and take it home. It does cost me more gas taking the truck (~30 miles one way, probably 13-14mpg with trailer versus 30mpg with car). So it'll double my gas cost... But I haul about 3500lbs of pallets per trip, maybe 2500 of that makes it to my stove and the rest goes to the shed stove. I cut them in my spare time, when I'd be browsing hearth or something else... Which doesn't profit me any.


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## Battenkiller (Oct 28, 2011)

Hass said:
			
		

> HD sells a very nice Milwaukee blade in a 5 pack... I think it's called the Ax. (Ax, not Axe) think it's about 22 bucks... one blade is good for at least a hundred pallets, I run them until they don't have anything left on them.



Those things work great.  I was trying to cut some small root stubs below ground level after I cleared the property perimeter of saplings with a chainsaw.  There was on particularly stubborn stub about 1/2" thick that was taking a lot longer than the others.  After I finished the cut I grabbed the cutoff to toss it off to the side.  Not a sapling stub at all.  It was a 4" long piece of rebar.  The blade was fine and I finished the job... and about a dozen other nail-infested projects.

FYI I got a 20 blade sampler of Milwaukee blades on Amazon for less than $20.  They also have a metal-cutting blade they call the "Torch".  I rips through 1/8" sheet steel so fast I'll never fire up the oxy-fuel torch again for that thickness.


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## firefighterjake (Oct 29, 2011)

Granted I only cut up a bunch in my first year . . . but I never messed up a chain . . . but I was very careful where I cut and careful as to what pallets I took home.


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## Singed Eyebrows (Oct 29, 2011)

I heated with pallets for about 7 years with my old boiler. I used a saw with a 36" bar & a full chisel chain. I'm 6'2" & could just stand upright & cut away, Randy


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## CodyWayne718 (Oct 29, 2011)

kettensÃ¤ge said:
			
		

> Sawzall with a demolition blade or circular saw with a carbide tipped blade.



+ 1 sawzall with a wood blade


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## raybonz (Oct 29, 2011)

I have done pallets with a circular saw with a cheap carbide blade.. It is a lot of work! Be careful though as the blade will bind and it kicks the saw back with some force.. I wouldn't bother with pallets unless I had to as they are a real hassle.. Some pallets have 4x4 of red oak and they would be worth doing but most aren't that big..

Ray


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## iskiatomic (Oct 29, 2011)

> I used a saw with a 36â€ bar & a full chisel chain.



I'm thinking just out of fear with that saw the pallets would just fall apart on there own.


KC


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## billjustbill (Oct 29, 2011)

Until I get my wood storage building completed, I use pallets to keep my splits up off the ground.  I don't like to use them as it offers lots of space for varimants to live... so, as I get to a point where they've served their purpose and the pallets are in the way, I cut them up and burn them.  Just got to remember where you toss your cold ashes, for they will be full of staples, ringed and spiral pallet nails.

When I was building an addition to my workshop with R-panel, a friend of mind that goes to garages sales got me a great, but old Craftsman circular saw for $10.  It's  back in the better days of Sears and is heavy, but with a 40 tooth carbide blade, it let me cut my outside wall R-panels to fit the pitch of the roof.  Just had to use eye protection and a long sleeve shirt for the hot pieces of steel panel....

Here's a flooring blade made specifically for cutting through wood with nails....

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=QE2sTtuULq_IsQLrpMH6Dg&ved=0CFgQ8wIwBQ#


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## ecc_33 (Nov 4, 2011)

i know this might sound like a stupid question but do you guys just burn the nails? i wonder if they would melt in a gassifier?


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## firefighterjake (Nov 4, 2011)

ecc_33 said:
			
		

> i know this might sound like a stupid question but do you guys just burn the nails? i wonder if they would melt in a gassifier?



Not sure how they would do in a wood burning gassifier . . . but in a stove with secondary burn that still gets mighty hot the nails just drop down into the ash pan or are scooped out with the ash . . . which is why it's generally not a good idea to throw this ash on to the driveway . . . some folks screen out the metal . . . I always just made sure I dumped it into the woods away from any place tires might travel.


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## Hass (Nov 4, 2011)

ecc_33 said:
			
		

> i know this might sound like a stupid question but do you guys just burn the nails? i wonder if they would melt in a gassifier?



Nails are ok to burn as long as you don't have a catalyst afaik


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## HJsimpson (Nov 4, 2011)

I bring them home from work because ours are 36" X 96" or 120" that we recieve our sheet meatl on. The runners are 4 X 4 oak and the slats are 1" by 8" and all oak which is the only oak i have. I use a sawzall to cut between the slats and runners usually only 3 nails per end then chop saw to cut to length with a junk blade and a lot of smoke lol. Takes a little time but sure makes some nice small hot fires.


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## g1mb (Nov 5, 2011)

I use a Sawzall with blades designed to cut metal.  A short (4") blade to start with, and a long (10") blade to finish the center of the pallet.

Start by cutting "between" the slats and the stringers on the outer sides of the pallet, on both the top and bottom of the pallet.  What you are doing is sawing through the nails that hold the slats to the outer stringers.  Do not disassemble the pallet yet.  Next cut the slats into three pieces.  This will be one cut to the left of the center stringer, and one cut to the right of the center stringer.  You should end up with 3 pieces of equal length.  Now you can pull out the end stringers and remove all of the outer cut slats.  Flip the pallet over at this point, and cut the remaining slats from the other side into thirds.

You will be left with the center stringer with short pieces of what is left of the slats attached, kind of like a fish spine.  Using a 10" long blade, cut the slats free from the center stringer by cutting "between" the slat and the stringer (cutting the nails themselves).  What you will have at this point is a pile of foot long slats, three full length stringers that need to be cut into thirds, and NO nails sticking out of anywhere.

I burn pallets in a chimnea.  Cutting up the pallets in this manner allows me to pack storage bins so full of pallet wood that they are too heavy to lift.

Hope this helps.

-Gary


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## Hass (Nov 5, 2011)

HJsimpson said:
			
		

> I bring them home from work because ours are 36" X 96" or 120" that we recieve our sheet meatl on. The runners are 4 X 4 oak and the slats are 1" by 8" and all oak which is the only oak i have. I use a sawzall to cut between the slats and runners usually only 3 nails per end then chop saw to cut to length with a junk blade and a lot of smoke lol. Takes a little time but sure makes some nice small hot fires.



I used to use those too!
I used to work at a place that would get usually about 4-5 pallets a week like that. they are AMAZING. sometimes there's 4x4 sides on it too.
They would order whatever they needed to complete the customers order in a single shipment (so for every 1 customer order, there would be 1 shipment incl pallet)

Now I work at a place that manufactures heat exchangers, so they get these big long 20' crates that vary in size from 1'x1' to 4'x4', usually all 1"x6x8" hardwood plus some other random wood holding it together.
I definitely prefer the sheet metal pallets though. Those things are excellent. Ours were usually 4' wide though, not 3'.

I also like pipe shipments, because the companies that load the truckers usually use 4x4s to hold the pipe in place. Then the truckers don't want the wood, so they toss it off the truck before they leave. I scoop those right up 

starting next week I'll be loading up the truck + trailer with wood and taking it home. Probably somewhere around 5-10 loads it will take. Obviously many pictures will be taken, and a thread will follow


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## greythorn3 (Dec 20, 2011)

well im swapping out my non cat blaze king for a cat blaze king princess, so will be burning pallet wood in it, guess we will have to see if the cat will be ruined or not, looks decent now, but it is used so who knows.


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