Here is a great pallet to use – nice thick wood and untreated
As most of you know – we love to build with pallet wood. If you spend some time looking - it is usually pretty easy to find a source to get them for free – and if you find the right kind – the building potential is limitless. I thought for today’s DIY post I would show how we go about taking a pallet from its current state to great usable wood in just a few minutes
Working with pallets – the first thing we realized early on is it is nearly impossible and too time consuming to worry yourselves with pulling out the nails. It is too easy to damage the wood with the claw and hammer or pry bar.
You can get a corded or cordless sawzall – but they are the king of dismantling pallets.
Instead, we opt for our sawzall method – which can disassemble a pallet in less than two minutes into 10 or more pieces of great usable wood. Besides – the left over embedded nail fragments actually add a ton of character to pieces when either stained or painted.
So – 1st Tip – Invest in a sawzall. They are the key to quickly destructing a pallet – and without damaging or splintering the wood. Yes, it’s an expense – but the inexpensive ones will work just fine with pallets.
Throw out the little 5″ min blade and Invest in a 12″ Demo/Construction Blade. They last forever and can rip apart a pallet in a few minutes.
2nd Tip – forget about the little 5″ blade that comes with your sawzall. That will only frustrate you. Buy a couple of 12″ construction blades (trust me – the few bucks are worth it – and they last forever).
3rd Tip - How to disassemble. You can follow below with the pictorial below on how we do it – but in a nutshell – set it on its side and simply slice through the nails on each end. Then – head down the middle row doing the same thing and in no time you have a lot of pallet wood great for all of your crafts! You can also click here to see some of the items we have made from re-using pallets :
http://oldworldgardenfarms.com/category/recycling/
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First Step – take your sawzall and cut down through one side of the smaller boards all the way to the bottom
Next cut down the opposite side – followed by the middle if there is one – the boards simply fall off
Once you have the front side finished – repeat for the back side – which are usually the largest of the boards
This is what you are left with – great boards to get building with!
