how to process pallets for firewood

[firefighterjake]

I didn't cut up too many pallets this year . . . although last year I did quite a few. They are a pain . . . a lot of work, for not a lot of wood, but the advantage is wood that burns well.

I experimented a bit and for me simply using my chainsaw and being careful where I cut worked the best.

Yes . . . you can burn the nails . . . pulling all of those nails would try the patience of even the most patient Buddhist monk . . . but just be careful where you spread the ashes.

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An alternative . . . and true story . . . last year I picked up a load of pallets in my trailer and I dropped the trailer off at the Fire Department training facility since parking can sometimes be a bit tight at the firehouse where I work.

When I returned in the late afternoon to pick up my trailer I found that a fire academy was going on unbeknownst to me and coincidentally enough the class they were doing that day was on ventiliation which involves breaking a whole lot of pallets with axs . . . needless to say my pallets were reduced to small pallet pieces as they thought my trailer full of pallets was for the class (I never did find out where the trailer with the pallets intended for the class ended up) . . . not as neat as I normally cut them up, but a lot less work as the entire class had gone to town on my trailer full of pallets.

 

[Battenkiller]

Cast iron will burn through eventually if you get it hot enough long enough. The top baffle in my old stove was definitely cast, but after twenty years or so it got a hole burned right through it. The part is no longer made, so the stove got chucked.

Steel will develop a layer of oxide (called "fire scale") on it when you heat it that protects it from further oxidation. If you heat it hot enough this will get thicker and eventually crack and fall away. I experience this with every heat of a piece of steel in my forge. Of course, the oxide gets a little help cracking off from me and a 2# hammer. You can easily see it flake off (leaves fire scale on the anvil face), and with each heat, the piece gets slightly smaller. But if you get it too hot (white hot) it will oxidize so fast that sparks of hot steel will come flying off of it and you will have ruined the piece.

I'm not sure what this has to do with steel plate stoves since they seem to hold up fine, but I do know that the nails come out fairly intact. The stove walls are farther away from the fire than the nails are, so I'd guess they are somewhat protected from the worst of the heat.


Another thing that once came out of my stove intact. Turns out that even the foil wrappers from condoms (unbelievably) don't entirely disappear. I know this because my teenaged son used to sleep in the basement for "privacy" reasons. Turns out he and his underaged girlfriend were throwing the evidence of their adventures in the stove when they were done. I found the like metal squares when I cleaned out the stove.

One time we were upstairs watching TV and the distinct smell of burning rubber came wafting up the stairs. My wife went running for the door to go down, but I grabbed her and told her what I thought it was. Next day, I finally confronted him about it. Turns out his girlfriend was responsible because she was afraid of the intense heat of the stove when she opened it and just heaved the item at the opening... missing completely and hitting the stove top. Pretty gross. I'll never let him live it down.

 

[schwaggly]

I'm onto some heavy oak HT pallets. They weigh 70lbs each according to my bathroom scale. The outside stringers are 4x4 and the centers are beefy 2x4's. The slats
are over an inch thick. I'm using the stack method with a circular saw but my new carbide tip blade from harbor freight is having a hard time
getting through them. My saw is a 10amp craftsman about 20yrs old with a repaired cord. I'm wondering if I should get a fancy Diablo blade or a 15amp saw or
just keep chugging along. I'm also wondering if adjusting the blade depth will smooth out the slat cuts? I am soaping the blade and that is
helping a little. I do plan on processing as many as I can and as long as I can, the calorie to BTU ratio is outstanding.

 

[PA Fire Bug]

I've tried cutting them with a circular saw and with my old chainsaw without a whole lot of success. Right now, I'm using them to stack wood on and for burning in our outdoor fire pit. Here is my favorite YouTube video for processing pallets

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Here is another interesting approach that uses two circular saws to cut both top and bottom at the same time

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