Very good video! I have also learned that it is important to look at the boards to see how straight they are. Most pallet boards are warped or twisted. That is the first thing I look for before dismantling.
Wow - such a great bloke who genuinely wishes to pass on helpful information to others. Details about chemical treatment of the wood and the unknown previous use of the pallets were aspects I hadn’t fully considered. Important details. Thank you for making this film. 🙂
I'm glad to see a nice alternative method. I've built a couple of different pallet busters but always seem to go back to using a crowbar. You're really lucky to be able to get those nice long boards. Thanks for the pallet codes!
Thank you for your insights. As you say, every pallet can be different. My main source are brand new pallets used for computer transports. Although their size is mostly standard (120x80cm), the top planks are much thinner (0.8cm) and tied with staples that bend at their ends into the stringers. Because the wood is brand new and far from dry (I often get sap runs), any hammering will split them longitudinally both sides of the staples, and the staples are not reachable with plyers, making them mostly unusable for most applications. Once you only have the top of the pallets (the cubes are usually easy to get rid of as the wood is new, the stringers and the bottom planks are much thicker), you get rid of the long staples pretty much the way you do with the nails (push them, get them with plyers or the crow bar, plyers work better because these staples are very long, cutting them with the grinder makes them harder to hammer them back). To separate the top planks from the stringers, I use a wood saw between the stringer ant the thin plank until you detect the staple and you cut it with a hack saw -- you can do it all with the hacksaw, but it's much harder to slide between the plank and the stringer, that's usually very tight, and any force applied to the staple destroys the plank if you tried to bend it. Once you have seperated all your planks, you get rid of the staples with a "flat nail" (you remove the sharp end of a nail with a file or cut it with the hacksaw) and you hammer out the staple nails from the contact surface (the face where the stringers and the planks were attached) until you can catch them with plyers from the other side: because ends are bent inside of the wood, that's the only side they are accessible on the stringers. That's a hell of a job, it's long, tedious, but the thin white pine wood is totally worth it: it's soft and easy to work with a hand plane and gives fantastic results at sanding and oiling, while being much lighter than the thick wood you get on standard pallets (up to 2cm thick).
Thank you- I love your gentle and humerous presentation. Great thought put into your life. May you and all with you prosper in peace and tranquil harmony.
I’ve tried that method with my first few pallets. It’s by far the most difficult and also the slowest. I bought a pallet breaker. I can break down 10-12 pallets in the time it was taking me to do one with your method. Get one and save your back. Good video tho.
When I refurbed pallets for a living and had to dismantle them as fast as possible, I used an axe the same as you, only using the cutting edge to chop down between the blocks and the slats attached to them. The axe would normally cut right through the nails but you had to do it HARD and focussed like karate The WORST pallets I refurbed were ones that came from a bacon factory, covered with meat scraps (and maggots)
I tried hammering a hammer and crowbars for like 10 minutes and said, "the hell with that". That's too much work. I made and welded my own pallet breaker. just put some ass in it and hardly any bending over is needed. If any.
i also get quite some with hard wood, some from poland or croatia, also from USA for exemple. it is good they are completly dry, and more patience needed to get them apart for sure! But no pallet will resist in the long run!
One thing that makes me cringe is to see nails pulled out with a claw hammer or nail bar without any protection from flicking into your eye. I know someone who lost an eye with a nail flicking out of the claw.
nice compliment leon! well not exactly mr bean, but my accent comes from south europe, the balkan area... where we like to RRRrrrrroll the "R". take care!
You need to removed the word “easy from the title and replace it with “slow and hard” You need proper tools for the job. You will wear yourself out doing this on a daily basis, you need a machine to take all the hard work out of it, save your time and increase your earnings.
Thanks for feedback. I think the choices depend on your priorities. I wouldn't do this on daily basis for years, but my goal was to build a straw and wood tiny house (30m2) among other projects. The budget was extreme minimal, but i had time. I dismantled something like 500 pallets that i got for free (left overs from a pallet factory). If think if the idea is to get efficient, with some investment, the best option is to go to the next wood sawmill and get fresh planks that i store for a year or two and use for building on...
You say 2 million pallets a day are transported and worth £6 each. Why are you disassembling them to a shack that will rot in 3 years? Pallet breaking is only wise to repair pallets. Lastly this is the second most awkward way I've ever seen to break pallets after my whole life in the industry. JMO
Well sorry if you don't like it... i can only say, i have in the last years dismantled around 500 pallets (that i get for free asking around) and use the planks for dozen projects, from shelves to flooring to ceiling, also roofing, outdoor terrasse, right now as wood structure for a little spa... wood kept in the right conditions doesn't collapse this fast, especially in soft climate... the one exposed to weather been painted regularly keeps of course not like oak would. i also find once in a while pallets made of larch wood of beech... Venice is built on Larch and chesnut tree fondation in the water for centuries, shower walls can be made of wood... I think there is a tendency to think that wood can not resist time, especially pine, but i believe is just matters how you take care of the wood... well, that's my opinion... take care!