George Vondriska

Working With Pallet Wood

George Vondriska
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Duration:   12  mins

Working with pallet wood is all the rage these days. It makes sense. Pallet wood is typically free, and can yield some great looking material. Couple that with the fact that you’re recycling (or upcycling) and it’s a win-win. The problem? Getting the pallets apart. We’ll help you out with that.

Tough as Nails

Think about the abuse a pallet takes. On and off trucks, handled by forklifts, dropped…. Companies that make pallets are thinking about that too, so they make pallets tough. They’re put together with long staples or spiral nails or some other fastener with crazy holding power. As a result, they’re not easy to disassemble. Working with pallet wood means figuring out how to get at the wood, without destroying it in the process.

Tools of the Trade

It takes a combination platter of tools to get a pallet apart, and it’s more art than science. We’ll show you how to use a flat bar, cat’s paw, jig saw, and metal detector, along with a specialized tool; The Extractor. If you’ve found a successful way to get pallet wood out of pallets, please let us know in the comments section of this video.

Reclaimed Wood

There’s a lot more than just pallet wood in the world of reclaimed wood. It can come out of old barns, warehouses, bridges… There are lots of amazing types of reclaimed wood available.

What should you build?

Now that you’ve increased your inventory of material, it’s time to decide what to build. Be sure to have a look at the huge inventory of wood working plans that WoodWorkers Guild of America offers.

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63 Responses to “Working With Pallet Wood”

  1. Rob Durkee

    Sometimes depending on the thickness of the pallet I would use two blocks and prop them under the pallet board, then hammer the cross-board to push the desired piece off. This increases the surface area of tension while still separating the top from side

  2. Michael Row

    I came across this Crecent 44 in. Indexing Head Wrecking Bar. It designed for breaking pallets apart...

  3. WILLIAM RESIDE

    When I started, trying to woodwork on the cheap I used a lot of pallet wood. This video kinda gives me flashbacks of the struggle. these days I weigh the benefits and handpick my pallets. The Sawzall method is the path of least resistance for me too. Most times the 2x4s are pretty rough and unuseable anyway. but if I find a good one, I will go to the trouble of digging out the nails. You really got to want the look or need cheap wood to do this kind of thing for long. I find construction scraps or lumber yard discards a better option at times.

  4. njs36

    I have been working with wood from pallets recently, huge pallets, some as long as 12ft. It is well worth the work it takes to get them apart. I have come across some beautiful wood. I have made work benches and tool cabinets and I now am working on building a chair. I just have to work around nail holes and cracks.I end up with about 50 percent firewood, but I am ok with that.

  5. Jackson Garlington

    in the past i've used a reciprocating saw or sawzall and cut the nails using a metal cutting blade so as not to damage my tools and the boards come right off. I then use a punch to get the nailheads out and tinted epoxy to fill the holes with some accent color.

  6. Moses

    Wast of time! Cut into main thick cross boards with saws -all cutting through the nails. Each slat will have a chunk of wood on it and nail holding it, then carefully cut through nail between both pieces of wood. Leave rest of nail and head in. Use lumber for rustic furnishings, shelfs, fences, etc. The nail heads can be carefully be painted black or other colors. You can also drill head off nail and leave the rest in. I have worked with pallets a lot and you will work your self to death just to get nails out, make them part of your finished project. I gave in and now work around the nails! If you insist buy used ones or let new one sit for a winter, sun, snow, rain, etc...Nails will be much easier to pull out then run boards through plainer for new look. No mater how you do it you will end up with more cracked boards and sore fingers then you want...good luck

  7. John Rynders

    I do the same as many have mentioned using a sawzall and driving out the nail head with a punch. Depending on the project (2 walls and 2 planting tables) I re-insert the nail after the board is cleaned up, just adds a bit more character to the work seeing the rusty nail head. If I don't use the rails I cut in between the nails and burn them in the fire pit or fireplace.

  8. Harold Smith

    Very few of the pallets I get have the overlap on the ends, like this one did. They are all flush with the outside rails. Most of the end wood is already split out. So, I just take my sawsall and cut the 1 1/2 inch of end off (both ends) and then pry the center rail loose as you did in the vid. I end up with 95% of the material salvaged. With the rails, I just pull nails, using pliers, nippers, pry bars, or whatever else I can find to get a bite on the remaining nail. So far, I'm about 90% successful. Lots of good material.

  9. Thomas j. zeuner

    If you only want the top and bottom boards and not the center rails. Cut the nails off with a sawsall between the boards and center rail then just tap whats left of the nails out with a nail set.

  10. Jeffery Moss

    I was breaking down a wood pallet today. I noticed all the nails holding the pallet together had a thin copper wire soldered to them about half the length of the nail. Does anyone know the purposely of the copper wire?

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