Pallets

I have been collecting pallets for a while now not counting the ones I already cut up there are probably 40 in the back yard. Condition any where between broken and splintered to like new.
Obviously 1 thing you can do with them is cut them up into firewood.

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I also pile wood on top of pallets.
That keeps wood out of the dirt and keeps it from rotting. Even in NM it can rot when left on the ground. Had about a half cord of mostly demolition lumber at my house in the city, after 5 years the wood in contact with the dirt was gettin a little rotten.

Besides the endless stuff you can make from pallets I was thinking about taking the nicest pallets and reselling them for a few dollars each.
Or gently taking the hardwood ones apart, milling the lumber and selling the finished pallet planks individuality for a few dollars each.
So far I haven't had the time or patients to do more than collect some test samples.

What do you do with pallets?

 

I stack my split firewood on them. Helps airflow to dry the wood...

 

I have made Sling shots atlatl and knife handle out of pallet boards

 

Oak pallets can be made into chests, including round-top ones. (I never met a kid that didn't want a pirate chest!) And smaller keepsake boxes, too.

Humidors for quality tobacco. Cigars, etc.

They can also be made into custom signs, either painted or routed, or both, for small businesses.

Also custom sling-shot handles. And Thunderbird-style atlatls.

If you have any SCA activities in your area, you can make Viking chairs (two planks that plug together) and dragon-head cutouts for the ridgepoles of Viking tents. Waterproof camp chests.

Throw in a little artistic woodburning and you can make a nice chunk of change out of a few pallets and a little time.

Another thing you might consider is custom doors. The kind that scream RICH and can't be kicked in.

Never think in terms of "for a few dollars"--go where the money is and make the people that have it glad you did.

 

Years ago, I picked up a good bit of change rebuilding them for the local cannery, they would give me the broken pallets for free and buy back any acceptable pallets that I made. Started to pick them up at the mass distributors for free and sold the standardized ones. Got to be too much of a job for a part time thing so let a friend "take" it over. He made a good supplemental income out of it in his early retirement. The rejects were cut up for firewood, use a carbide blade to saw them, the rough sawn oak used here and the dirt and nails embedded in them does a real number on chainsaw blades. They work well to keep firewood, lumber, etc off the ground, but the critters like to live under them and that is the major problem I found.
It is funny in a sense, the best use I have found for them, with a tractor and forks, is to make pallets out of them. Hard to improve on their original purpose. I also found out that the plastic wrap that they use to bind and waterproof the sides is a real useful tool and that if you place a tarp over the wood and wrap over it on the sides, it will resist rain, wind, and you are able to move it. They really have made a better mousetrap.

 

The nail holes supposedly add character.

I made a pirate style oak chest years ago, but then determined that it wasn't secure enough to hold actual treasure.

I got the wood for bad ass door.
I have a whole pile, of free 18 to 20 beautiful rough cut 2x8 inch 6 foot long oak boards. They're too nice to just chop up and burn.

 

A friend of mine collected them, planed the boards and made a floor for his living room from them. It looks amazing and the small nail holes filled in with the floor finish, adding to the character. He also made a "cedar" chest for his daughter as a wedding gift and it is a thing of beauty! (Note: in my AO, a cedar chest was a common gift for a bride, usually 3' long, 18" wide, 18" deep, and used to store bed linens, and more often than not kept at the foot of the bed.)

 

Don't forget old wood doors. I have taken a few apart and there is some great seasoned lumber in them.

 

I used pallets in the garden and under the outdoor spigot. Thing kept getting muddy, so a pallets kept me off the ground and allowed draining.

Please make sure not to burn pallets that have MB stamped on them. Those are the ones that are toxic.

 

What does MB stand for... Mor Better?

Rancher

 

We've built a hay barn out of pallets, not a huge one but enough to put 15 bales in. Built chicken yard fencing, built decks, raised garden beds, and garage shelving.

 

methyl bromide, which is a pesticide.

 

My nephew got on you tube or pin-trest with a stack of pallets and made several adirondack chairs

 

Alright with pallets starting to take over my 1 acre fenced in back yard area and after I broke all the carbide teeth off all my slightly damaged skill saw blades I save for demo I had to find a saw blade that could take the punishment of sawing up nail filled pallets.
One slightly damaged standard carbide tooth blade would normally last 10 pallets or less before it was trashed.
I bought a $50 carbide tooth metal cutting blade.
So far after cutting up 20 or 30 pallets all the teeth are still there.
This is what you need for cutting up pallets.

 

My wife doesn't like all the pallets I bring home. I will just have to start a pallet pile, disassembly and wood stack out in the field. Out of site out of mind.

 

I made a tree fort out of pallets.
For some reason this dwarf apple tree hasn't been doing so well.
The intense sun, hail and wind have done a number on them.
So I make a sun shade, wind break, hail shield out of nothing but pallets.

 

Accent walls

Just a rough sand on the outside. First paint the wall a dark green or black prior to fitting the puzzle.

 

I got the best use ever for pallets, converting them straight to $.
I found some one to buy pallets.
They are paying $4.50 a pallet for their business.
I told them I don't know if I can supply all their pallet needs but I can put a dent in it and that I can undercut the other guy as much as possible.
Since I get the pallets for free and transport them with an electric vehicle that costs almost nothing to operate.

 

Same reason to use them to stack square hay bales. No rot or mold