Red oak mower crates

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WiscWoody

Minister of Fire
Dec 24, 2011
2,078
Winter WI
I’ve been scrounging some nice red oak from riding mower crates lately when I make a shopping or a doctor trip in our rural area. I stop at a couple of Ace hardware stores and a L&M fleet Supply and I take my Li-ion cordless circular saw and cut up the crates and fill my trunk up on my little Toyota Echo. I like the wood for the shoulder seasons and to get my cord wood going. I figure it’s free wood and it all adds up. And I ask the stores for permission to make regular stops for the crate wood and they are always happy to get rid of their garbage for free.
 
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I never realized those pallets we're oak. Just assumed they were pine. So is a trip to Hayward considered a trip to the big city for you?
 
I know a lot of pallets have the bottom support rails as oak but the top boards are poplar or pine. Only problem for me would be the time it takes to get the hardware out of them in the dismanteling.
 
I know a lot of pallets have the bottom support rails as oak but the top boards are poplar or pine. Only problem for me would be the time it takes to get the hardware out of them in the dismanteling.
My stove is a advanced burn stove not a catalyst model so I The nails and staples go with the wood and I take my ash to the dump in a big bag twice in the winter.
 
I know a lot of pallets have the bottom support rails as oak but the top boards are poplar or pine. Only problem for me would be the time it takes to get the hardware out of them in the dismanteling.
Actually the crates are a combination of oak and pine. I take some of the pine but I concentrate on getting the oak Mostly. One store said that teens will often pick up the crates for party fires. They don’t care if they burn the pine that I leave.