Pallets part 1

Pallets are a gift to anyone with a little patience.

If you go to your local builders merchants and ask the blokes in the yard they will load you up and send you on your way. Because of the current waste regulations they are not supposed to throw them away, they have to pay an authorised waste company to take them, no wonder they are grateful to get rid of a car load for free.

If you're lucky they'll usually just point you to the heap in the corner and say help yourself. That way you can be a little selective and pick out the better wood. Now the great thing about builders merchants is that not only do you get the standard 'square' type but you'll also get the 8 foot by 4 foot type that sheets of plaster board come on.

It goes without saying be reasonably quick, leave the area tidier than when you arrived and make sure the yard foreman knows you've tidied up for him and that you've gone. It's a good thing to get a relationship going.

So, you've got a pile of pallets.

If you're after firewood them just chop them up and use a strong magnet wrapped in a plastic bag to pull the nails out of the ash when you spread it on the garden. Turn the bag inside out catching the old nails so your magnet doesn't get covered in sharp metal filings.

You don't always need to break them apart. Compost heaps and fences can be made from whole pallets. I once made a false floor in a barn with whole pallets nailed together and supported on bricks with a bit of old plastic in between as a damp proof course. Covered with sheets of hardboard, 12 years on I believe it is still there.

But if you do need to break them up here are some tips.

1) Bone dry ones come apart easier than ones that have been stood out in the rain so if you can get them under cover to dry out you'll save yourself some effort.

2) If you are going for the quick route of breaking them up then there is a best sequence. Don't use a hammer but use another plank from a pallet wedged between the slats as a lever. This spreads the load, gives you more leverage and splits less of the planks. Start with the slats that are not nailed into one of the blocks of wood. Start at one end. Even though the nails will be bent over they are so poor quality they will straighten out as you lever. Then the middle. Then just hold the free end of the slat you are removing and lift it up to finish the job. It's not fool proof and sometimes the twisting on the slat will split it.
Flip the pallet over so the tatty slats that were underneath are now on top. Lever these off, they will most likely split but having been underneath they're probably only firewood anyway.
Now either with the pallet flat or stood on an edge use a hammer and knock the blocks of wood so they begin to lift up. Sometimes they'll just knock right off, other times once you have a gap you'll need to lay the pallet flat again and wedge a nail bar under to prise them up.

3) The long route. If the top slats are in good condition and nice and square and thick it may be worth going the extra mile to get them all off in good condition without the risk of splitting them. BUT IT TAKES TIME.
Use a hand or power saw to cut the pallet up so you end up with all the good slats with bits of wood still nailed onto them. Now use a mallet and an old cold chisel to split apart the scraps of wood and blocks leaving the good slats with the nails in. Cut the nails off with a small bolt cutter to about an inch, they are so poor quality that they'll mostly just bend if you try to knock them back and/or the heads will pull off and most of the nails are the annular type to stop them pulling out anyway. Now knock them through and pull them out with a hammer, having got them moving the heads don't usually pull off.

You'll now have a pile of useful pieces of wood and a pile of firewood.

Part 2 will have some ideas for using the wood you saved.