Pallets - how to bust them up.

[pma1123]

I can say from experience, looking at pictures of completed projects on Pinterest is far more romantic than actually dismantling the pallets in a fashion that will render the pallet wood usable for another purpose. Those twisty nails REALLY hang on! Then the boards split as you pry with a flat bar. The fire and rescue sawzall blades seem to be the best approach I've found for salvaging.

Thanks for the tip on efficiently turning the pallets into firewood FFJ! I've been carefully using an old skil saw till now. Chainsaw is far more convenient, but was afraid of the inevitable with hitting nails.

 

[Got Wood]

I wait for a high stress day, take a sledge hammer and beat the snot out of them

 

[fossil]

I wouldn't burn wood containing snot in either of my wood stoves.

 

[Got Wood]

LOL thats why you need to beat it out

 

[NickDL]

I've used a sawzall or a crowbar to dismantle pallets. Either way is a real chore but I did manage to salvage some usable pieces.

 

[HDRock]

Easiest way
I use a 42 inch pry bar but you can also use a 4ft,2 by 4 to pop the top pieces off.
Lay a 2 by 4 across the Pallet, lever on that with your 2 by or pry bar, pop em off, moving the 2by that's laying on the Pallet, as you go, easy peasy, you get a lot of leverage with a 4ft 2x4 or 42 to 48in pry bar

 

[HDRock]

I have quite few pallets I want to bust up and have access to about as much as I want so I was thinking of buying this tool

The Deck Demon, or a cats paw deck wrecker will do the job easy for sure if you want to spend the money

 

[Stegman]

I just bought at "Pallet Paw" on eBay for about $65 delivered. Pretty good tool for busting up a pallet while keeping the wood reusable for projects. Takes about 5 minutes to break one down if you're being careful not to damage the wood.

If I were just using the wood to burn, I'd probably just use a skilsaw and some brute forece.

Here's the guy's website - but I think he sells them slightly cheaper on eBay.

http://palletpaw.com

 

[TomatoLover]

Go ahead and laugh, gentlemen, but I am a 48 year old mother of 2, and I bust pallets for kindling everyday with an ax as part of our "we don't need no stinkin' gym membership" routine. I figure if I can split oak all spring and summer, I can bust a few pallets in the fall. I am a newbie wood burner and I can't really figure out our wood stove, but it takes me 10 minutes to destroy a pallet and then I feel like at least I've accomplished something with regard to the stove. But you guys with your tools -- my husband uses a chainsaw, circular saw, blah blah blah...just hand the girl the ax and let her destroy the pallet.

 

[jillybeansisme]

@TomatoLover -- awesome inspiration! When I (finally) get to my wood pile (hey, the house isn't finished yet and the wood pile is there), I'll keep your technique in mind! It should work for me, although I'm a 57 year old Mother of one 8 y.o. (and you gave me a new good reason for still not having a gym membership )

 

[firefighterjake]

Go ahead and laugh, gentlemen, but I am a 48 year old mother of 2, and I bust pallets for kindling everyday with an ax as part of our "we don't need no stinkin' gym membership" routine. I figure if I can split oak all spring and summer, I can bust a few pallets in the fall. I am a newbie wood burner and I can't really figure out our wood stove, but it takes me 10 minutes to destroy a pallet and then I feel like at least I've accomplished something with regard to the stove. But you guys with your tools -- my husband uses a chainsaw, circular saw, blah blah blah...just hand the girl the ax and let her destroy the pallet.

HehHeh . . . just how far away from Fall River, MA are you? 40 whacks . . . and all those pallets are nothing but kindling, right?

 

[TomatoLover]

@TomatoLover -- awesome inspiration! When I (finally) get to my wood pile (hey, the house isn't finished yet and the wood pile is there), I'll keep your technique in mind! It should work for me, although I'm a 57 year old Mother of one 8 y.o. (and you gave me a new good reason for still not having a gym membership )

You go, girl! We are city slickers who ran from the city to the woods when we decided we didn't want to raise the kids around gangs and drive-by shootings. My 11 year old can bust a pallet pretty well now, and my 16 year old is a wood-chopping demon! I am a cautious, nervous idiot when it comes to running the wood stove, but give me an ax and watch me be productive! Combined, my husband and I have lost 50 pounds since moving to the woods 8 months ago. We burn a lot of calories taking down trees, splitting wood, and now, whacking apart pallets. We should have made this move years ago! Good luck in Oregon -- sounds wonderful!

 

[TomatoLover]

HehHeh . . . just how far away from Fall River, MA are you? 40 whacks . . . and all those pallets are nothing but kindling, right?

Brilliant. I wonder how many got that.

Perhaps Lizzy Borden should be my avatar?

 

[firefighterjake]

Brilliant. I wonder how many got that.

Perhaps Lizzy Borden should be my avatar?

I thought you would get it when you mentioned going crazy with the ax . . . wasn't sure if you would get the whole Fall River mention . . . so I added in the 40 whacks for good measure.

And yeah . . . I think the Lizzy Borden avatar would be fantastic!

 

[Kelvin 506]

I have the pallets in the shed, right next to them is the x27. The thought has crossed my mind by I don't want to damage the axe if it goes through the the pallet and onto the cement flooring.
You need to understand that for some of us testosterone laden humans we crave any and all reason to fire up a power tool. It's like that show home improvement with Tim Allen, only without the vana White models walking around. .

 

[TomatoLover]

I have the pallets in the shed, right next to them is the x27. The thought has crossed my mind by I don't want to damage the axe if it goes through the the pallet and onto the cement flooring.
You need to understand that for some of us testosterone laden humans we crave any and all reason to fire up a power tool. It's like that show home improvement with Tim Allen, only without the vana White models walking around. .

I so get it. Tonight, my husband came home a bit early from work with a few pallets he picked up along the way. He ran outside to start busting up pallets while he still had some daylight. I was NOT surprised to hear the power tools running.

 

[Kelvin 506]

I was using a circ saw but then, based on comments about motor wear, I switched to a recip saw. It was way easier. I filled the "Manchvegas" stove for the first time. Too hot to handle. I've been doing 50% loads but it got a bit colder tonight and I wanted a quick heat up in the house. I even through a few pallet slices on a roaring flame (my stove takes a little extra hot to get warmed up).
Happy burning!

 

[Paulywalnut]

You must end up with a stove full of nails. Warning: don't use those ashes on your driveway for traction.
How about a pallet woodshed.

 

[zig]

You must end up with a stove full of nails. Warning: don't use those ashes on your driveway for traction.
How about a pallet woodshed.

That's what i did. 6x16, 2 pallets high, fiberglass roof made from garage door panels, and a couple of coats of red barn paint. Only lumber was 4x4 for posts and 2x4 for rafters. Wood stays dry and still gets air.

 

[WES999]

You must end up with a stove full of nails

Yes I do, I just shovel them out with the ash, let them sit outside for a week and put them out with the trash.

How about a pallet woodshed.

Well here is one, my wood shed is almost all recycled pallets, the base is standard shipping pallets'
all the 1x5 framing came from shipping crates (I stained them), the plywood roof decking came from..., you guessed it,
pallets from China. Used roll roofing over the decking. Holds about 4-5 cords.

 

[TomatoLover]

You must end up with a stove full of nails. Warning: don't use those ashes on your driveway for traction.
How about a pallet woodshed.

Super magnet grabs the nails before the ashes are spread in the garden area. I think I learned that trick from somewhere on this forum.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Yes I do, I just shovel them out with the ash, let them sit outside for a week and put them out with the trash.




Well here is one, my wood shed is almost all recycled pallets, the base is standard shipping pallets'
all the 1x5 framing came from shipping crates (I stained them), the plywood roof decking came from..., you guessed it,
pallets from China. Used roll roofing over the decking. Holds about 4-5 cords.

View attachment 142914

Nice. Plenty of ventilation...naturally.

 

[billb3]

My neighbor has a fairly fast system down,
He stacks three or four pallets down , stands the one he's going to cut upright /stringers vertical on an edge.
His wife or kid holds one end of the pallet while he rips the right and center stringers off with a small chainsaw which gives him short pieces of deck boards, and the last stringer lays down with the remaining deck boards straight up and he slices those off. Ends up with a pile of cut to length deck boards and stringers to cut in three in a sawhorse.
They'll do this all Winter long on the side of the driveway often after supper with a couple lights.

I've given him some heavy duty magnets for the nails in the ashes.

 

[Ski-Patroller]

A circular saw with a nail cutting blade is handy for cutting up pallets. If you hit a nail, its no big deal. You end up with a lot of nails in the ashes though. That may or may not be a problem, depending on what you do with the ashes.

Wear safety glasses, and be careful of kick back. A big Skill 77 worm drive saw is (IMHO) safer than a sidewinder.

 

[lectraplayer]

I usually use the ol' flailin' iron (a common Estwing) to seperate the boards of a common shipping palette. I am also bad to use my mawl to "break" the boards over two logs (but watch for the boards to fly), or use the saw.

...though I primarily like to use the palettes and tin as a base for my woodpiles.