Pallet Wood quality Question

[jansman]

The home-made palletbreaker doesn't bend the most of the nails too badly......

Home made pallet buster!!! Colour me impressed.
I'm only half impressed with my palletbuster because it splits so many planks. Did anyone ever s olve that?
I have a big box of salvaged nails. They seem the good ribbed sort and are worth a few seconds of straightening. Anyone know the cost per nail to buy new Some small block paving pallets yielded only straight nails, while some other pallets yielded only gnarled up ones and split planks

Glad it’s not just me dislikes slotted screws!
Working in the building industry I had access to nails and screws and to a degree timber too so breaking up pallets was never high on my list of priorities.. At one point a friend a friend who worked for an engineering firm had access to a lot of pallets and we tried making them into planters and the like to sell. We found a reciprocating saw , or a jigsaw with metal blades or even just a hacksaw would dismantle them with the minimum of damage to the wood although of course the nails were shot. Another way was to design the planters around the length of timber avoiding the nails as much as possible.
I don't know the cost per nail but I do have to buy fixings at times and it brings it home when previously I'd just pop in the stores for a bag of nails or box of screws. I built up a decent collection of left over fixings from jobs. I do have a decent amount of slotted steel screws which I frankly don't know what to do with. Practically no one uses such things nowadays as they are much slower to use and are more prone to rust so I suppose they'll sit in the shop for another twenty odd years...

[grenfell]

I don't actually dislike slotted screws at least not when they are used in the "correct" situation. Hinges and door handles for instance I think look better with slotted screws even if all the slots don't line up. They also seem easier to remove than pozi or torx or whatever even when damaged. But for everyday use so to speak they can be a pain. They can be awkward if not close to impossible to use with power tools and all the ones I have , well the steel ones , are just bare self colour steel which again seem to have fallen out of favour as bright zinc plated seem to be pretty much standard as now. Oh and one other thing is that a flat screwdriver can be reground and used to lever off paint tin lids. But saying all that I don'tuse them that often...

[Peter]

With old slotted screws you can clear the slot out easily (of old paint and putty) and if you put your screwdriver
in the slot tap it with a hammer it will often come out easier.

[grenfell]

With old slotted screws you can clear the slot out easily (of old paint and putty) and if you put your screwdriver
in the slot tap it with a hammer it will often come out easier.

Indeed. I've even got really old mangled , more like clutch screws slots out. What's left of the slot giving a starting point to get a punch onto.

[jennyjj01]

Had a generous half hour today pallet busting.today. Therapeutic, but really low yield. These pallets were just not worth the effort. Getting close to new shed base quantity. I still can't wait to see how MrJJ will lift the shed up and replace the base without dismantling it

[ForgeCorvus]

You've got to remember that not all pallets are created equal.

The best ones for 'project' wood are the single use ones used for industrial deliveries (at work we call them materials pallets). These tend to have a 'fresh wood' colour (and sometimes smell) to them and can be of non-standard sizes as they're made to carry a specific item, such as a washing machine or (as with my job) bags of bulk goods. Because they're supposed to be cheap and disposable they don't have loads of nails in them.

[grenfell]

You've got to remember that not all pallets are created equal.

The best ones for 'project' wood are the single use ones used for industrial deliveries (at work we call them materials pallets). These tend to have a 'fresh wood' colour (and sometimes smell) to them and can be of non-standard sizes as they're made to carry a specific item, such as a washing machine or (as with my job) bags of bulk goods. Because they're supposed to be cheap and disposable they don't have loads of nails in them.

That's certainly true . A little while ago a friend who works in engineering asked me about the pallets they have which carry imported goods from Japan I think it was. He said that he'd been told that they were oak and on inspection they were a mix of timbers some of it oak along with beech , maple , some sort of tropical hardwood and some softwood. To be fair a lot of it was quite shitty stuff full of knots , shakes , wany edge and so on but I still managed to salvage enough of the oak to make him a stool.
In the building industry there were a variety of single use pallets used. I'm not quite sure about bricks but certainly tiles came on pallets that were dumped afterwards. Only standard euro pallets seem to be the ones anyone will take back or buy.
The blue chep pallets are always deemed to be the property of chep and I have read of them prosecuting people for possesion so that might be something to keep in mind.
I also read somewhere that repaired pallets have an extra nail to donate that they have been reworked.

[Medusa]

You've got to remember that not all pallets are created equal.

The best ones for 'project' wood are the single use ones used for industrial deliveries (at work we call them materials pallets). These tend to have a 'fresh wood' colour (and sometimes smell) to them and can be of non-standard sizes as they're made to carry a specific item, such as a washing machine or (as with my job) bags of bulk goods. Because they're supposed to be cheap and disposable they don't have loads of nails in them.

Can confirm this. We get them for free as firewood. Some are very light, some extremely heavy, some have solid wood blocks and some are the nasty compact sawdust block type. Some have just a few nails and some have absolutely loads. They come in lots of different shapes and sizes too and you might need to get quite a few to make a reasonable base. We once got a delivery from our usual supplier, all was fine until we started to burn them and the house was filled with the smell of fish. No idea why but it was absolutely vile. During lockdown husband made several useful raised beds on legs from pallet wood. Still going strong after 4 years.

[jennyjj01]

You've got to remember that not all pallets are created equal.

...They come in lots of different shapes and sizes too and you might need to get quite a few to make a reasonable base.

We probably have enough quantity to make the base, but it will be a jigsaw of all different shapes sizes and thicknesses, so we'll gather some more.
The bright idea now ( Inspired or absurd) is to Raise the sides up on stilts, detach the floor and cut it away, then build the new floor in situ, fix the bottoms of the sides and then lower the sides down again. An awful faff, I'll believe it when I see it.
!!!

[ForgeCorvus]

If it was my shed I'd remove the roof, unscrew each of the wall frames from the floor and then each other. Then repair and rebuild (with upgrades)..... But then I'd be working on my own with just my dodgy back for company.

Jenny, take loads of pics. I'd love to see how MrJ does this trick