Easier to just reverse a fork truck over them. That's what the lads I work with do. I'd advise taking the goods off the pallet first though. That's what the lads I work with don't do.
I've been doing this for years and using them for anything from raised garden beds to bird houses chicken coops, there's really no end to the things you can make with the FREE wood. Blessings
Thank you Taff! That was very helpful. I'm in Spain so it may be difficult to find one of those very handy tools that you are using. I see pallets thrown out daily here but don't bother picking them up because of the hassle it is dismantling them! Gracias!
Fastest 4 minutes and 12 seconds ever! Well done! I’m going to invest in one of those board removers today as the other methods are just too painful to bear!!👍🏽😎
Having watched this video I bought myself one of these Roughneck pallet busters off eBay £26 with free postage. Arrived very quickly. Used it this morning to break up a large pallet and could not believe how well it worked. Really impressed!
Haha, I bought some pallet dismatling tools from FFX a few weeks back and I've been waiting to find the time to do a video on how to break them down since. I was gonna do it today but got sidetracked picking up a load of free hardwood. Nice video. Thanks.
I used to put them through a horizontal bandsaw that cuts all the ring shank nails in a minute. It depends what you need the wood for. We were rebuilding custom pallets so the nail bits in the wood did not matter.
You got another subscriber. Ever since a family member said that I'm useless at diy. I have to challenge myself now, as I decided to start on my pallets I found your video, and you are not American so I can say that your video is a good find. On a mission now to dismantle pallets and start making stuff for myself. The reason they say useless is because I'm in my early 60's. All I can say is.... I'm not dead yet and also....BRING IT ON !
There's a pneumatic de-nailer gun available on Amazon for under $60 that is designed expressly for removing nails from pallet boards. This will save you from joint pain in your elbow from the repetitive motion of removing thousands of nails. You're welcome.
Nail removal process 1) turn over in soft grass or dirt, nails are facing skyward, sledge down nails 2x at a time, let sledge weight do the work. 2) If I'm really lazy, nails face downward over concrete, heavy boot stomp next to each pair of nails. Companies in my area always post in free section of Craigslist, always an abundance.
OMG! I've taken apart many pallets, cursing each one. I've used various methods but not this one. I wondered why the nails were so tough to get out. While I don't have this tool, I'll fashion something to give it a try today. Thank you. What you're doing looks effortless compared to my usual method: pry bar, hammer, jig saw, cursing. :-)
Those pallets are basically an IKEA wood-deck. Yank of one side of boards, turn it around, add a framework of some structural planks, put pallets on top and use the loosened boards to fill in the gaps. Complete wood-deck!
Tore apart 100's of pallets about 17-18 years ago helping my Dad make 350 feet of picket fencing, I used a spade and a crow bar as a wedge and it just as fast as fast, fence is still standing btw :)
Thanks for you lovely comment 😀 in next Friday video I'm making a large laundry hamper out of the reclaimed pallets, with an extra compartment built in for my workshop clothes 😄
My dad used to call me a "lightning carpenter". "Never strikes twice in the same spot." Course now that we are all using nailers or screws it only counts when you are removing nails.
Thank you for your video, I didn't know these existed but I'm going to buy one immediately! Cannot wait to start using it and look forward to more of your videos :-)
Thanks for your comment dawn, they work really well on the slat style pallets like the ones in the video, these ones I tend to get free locally. I tend to stay away from the block style euro pallets as even with this tool they can be a nightmare to take apart. Thanks for watching.
looking forward to see you make something cool out of that pallet wood, good sir. thank you for the advice, I wasn't even aware of an invention such as a pallet breaker. take care 💕
I picked up 6 pallets and I will build this tool this week and make a video as well. I need to disassemble at least 50 pallets to line the inside of my man cave. I have 2 local business that told me I could take all the pallets needed. Nice tool for sure.
My daughter has collected 100s of used pallets for me to use to make stuff for her.... I told her that if I was charging her for my time, it would be cheaper to buy new materials. With this tool, plus the pneumatic denailer that other guy mentioned, I might be enthusiastic about it! Thanks friend!
For the really spindly nails that bend easily I use a small bolt cropper to cut them half way down, I find they pop through easier. Good video, I definitely need one of those tools
I’ve been doing this for 40 years, mostly with gorilla bars, but also by hand back in the early days. I also recycle the nails. Sometimes they need a couple of whacks to straighten them, but they are often perfect for outdoor projects. Thank you for sharing your method. I really need to get one of those bars.
Those ribbed nails are the worst! I 'attempted' to break apart a pallet with those nails using a pallet breaker just like yours over the weekend. All I managed to do was pull the nails through the pallet boards causing massive tear-out on the back of the boards and splitting most of them. The nails just stayed put in the stretchers. If the nails aren't ribbed, the breaker works a treat. Those ribbed nails hang on so hard that I couldn't even extract them from the stretchers afterward without the heads pulling off the nails. I even tried to extract them with proper pincer-type nail pullers only to have the nails actually break off from the tensile force applied before they would let go of the timber!
Two points: - 1. Pallets are untreated wood and no good for anything outside. In NZ they will get invaded by an insect larva known as "Borer" even inside. 2. While a reasonably well-paid but cashless newly married in about 1976, I made a bed frame that sat on cast-iron rails connecting some nice antique bed ends we had, all from pallets. I can't have thought it was a difficult problem dismantling them, as I don't even remember how I did it, probably just crowbar and claw hammer, I do know I still have a jar of the recovered and straightened nails I kept because "just in case I needed them" and "you can't throw away perfectly good and still useful nails". Reduce, reuse, recycle; we had that then.
Thanks for your comment, what a wonderful part of the world you live in always wanted to go to NZ, the bed sounds awesome. We have a scrap man that comes round once a week now that will collect the nails for recycling 😁 thanks for watching 👍
DMWI Years ago I saw someone using a special bit in an air chisel to remove nails from trim boards and salvaged 2x4’s on a job site. The same type of air hammer/chisel used to separate metal panels, cut panels and take apart ball joints on vehicles. The bit had a hollow indentation that he placed over the sharp tip of the nail. With a squeeze of the trigger the nail was forced completely out of the board and into the waste bin beneath the board. The bin supported the board, same as your trailer. Safety Glasses Recommended.
I use a high speed hitachi grinder to remove the nails.....cuts them off and grinds them down smooth, no big chunks busted out from trying to retract the nails....also, leaves the nail heads in which can be a nice decorative touch when building rustic or farmhouse projects
Thanks, I I barrowed a tool similar to yours and was not sure how to use it. I have a lot of work to do and I'm sure this process will make it easier and more productive.
@@thewelshwoodman649 it was very easy and I got the hang of it rather quickly. I am going to make my own. Some of the boards broke out but got enough for what I needed. Thanks again.
I used pallets in my woodstove for years. I used a sawsall, with a metal cutting blade. I would stand the pallet on end, and run the saw down each side between the slats and the inner rails. The two outer rails then, would fall right out. I would then use my circular saw (carbide blade), and cut the slats (still nailed to the middle rail) into thirds, which means cutting about six inches either side of the middle rail. The remaining pieces of slat on the middle rail knock right off very quickly with a hammer. I never bothered pulling or removing any nails. I would just bend them over. They can be removed from the stove ash easily with a magnet. I could do about three of these pallets in this way, in the time it takes you to do one using the process you are doing. My wood stove was small and 12 inch long was fine. Your wood still has to be shortened in a standard US wood stove with a 17 to 18 wide firebox.
Thanks for your comment 😁 that sounds like a super efficient way of making fire wood. I tend to use the Pallets to make reclaimed furniture so try to keep the boards the entire length rather than cutting them to maximise the amount wood from each Pallet, I try to remove the nails/any metal as I tend to run the boards through my thickness plainer, so don't want to damage the blades. Thanks for watching 👍
@@thewelshwoodman649 I lived in eastern New Mexico USA, so, lack of hardwood trees here made used pallets the best alternative for a wood stove. Most of them were all hardwood, like white oak, and were not in good shape for re-using the wood. Many had been repaired a time or two.
In the past I've used my Stanley Fatmax Fubar 3 demolition tool. Prying at an angle is a little awkward with that thing, so I can see how your tool is much better suited.
I build pallet furniture and taking part a pallet could be easy, if you have the right tool. The power tool I use is the Sawzall with blades that cut through nails easily. Usually, with one 12" saw blade, I can cut up about 20 or more pallets before blade goes dull. Using a hammer and pry bar to pull boards loose will be hard to not to crack the boards! Good Luck.
I just cut along the 2x4s with a wood blade in my recipricating saw, then cut the 2x4s into 12" segments since the only thing pallet wood is good for is backyard firepits.
we had one of those forks where i work to aid in dismantaling pallets it lasted around three months before it broke and went back to using barrers and a post or any odd pieces of wood that would do the job.
Using the trailer as your work-support means that the sides and base act as sounding boards and amplify the noise substantially. You can avoid that by resting the work on something solid and massive such as a number of breeze block made into 2 piles with a small gap between.
Good question John, I've used it on all sorts of Pallets and it works well for me, haven't used it on appliance shipping frames before, if you have an area you can leaver off to take the boards apart I couldn't see why it wouldn't work 👍I hope this helps 😁
I know this was uploaded years ago. But there is now a pneumatic tool you can get quite cheaply that slides over the shank of the old nail and drives it back out with one strike. That said great video and thank you.
Hi Alan I'll try my best to help, there are a few things you can try to make sure it runs true, first of all try and position the blade in the center of the wheels so the blade runs along the crown of the wheels, make sure the blade is tensioned correctly there is a tensioning knob at the top that is on a spring if you've got the owners manual there is a guide for this linked to differed blade widths and where the red tension line should be. There is also a tracking wheel adjustment at the back of the saw that will canter the top wheel back and forth which should help you adjust the tracking. It might be worth checking the top and bottom guide bearings are set up correctly making sure they are not Knockin the blade out of alignment when the saw is running (worth spinning the wheels by hand to test this with the saw unplugged) as well as checking your v belt from the motor isn't frayed. I hope this makes sense and helps you out 😁 all the best Tom
Pro tip: When hammering the nails out, they don’t need to be hammered all the way down, just a few touches and you can pry it on the other side. Saves time
Great work. Most places if you collect enough nails and scrap metal you can sell it. At very least it should be recycled and not binned if you're collecting as much as you are.
I found it's better to put a piece of wood under the claw hammer and lever the nail out as the pull action is more in line with the nail. A long nail gets pulled at an angle without the wood, requiring more effort. With lots of nails to remove, any reduction in effort is a good thing! Think I'll make one of those pry bars!
Over here in the US, the most common pallet is the 48” x 40”, this is about 80% of the wood pallet market. That is close to 1200 x 1000 mm. So those will be more difficult to get because they can be resold or exchanged. So if you want free pallets, try and find companies that might be getting imports, although these can be cheaply made and may have been treated with chemicals to make them resistant to insects. Some of them are heat treated to kill any wood boring insects as well. Some companies making construction materials use odd sized pallets, so look for these at commercial building supply stores.
Over here in America, a similar tool is 'The Gutster' which is a demolition tool, quite similar to yours, but a lot closer between the tines - designed to straddle a 2x4. Also, most pallets I have come across, use either 'Box Nails' or HD Staples. Both have an adhesive coating that makes them almost impossible to remove without ruining the wood.
Things that make you go huh. Several years ago I obtained about 100 pallets to use to make my wife a shed covered with pallet wood. I needed to take apart all the pallets and came up with a tool that is amazingly similar to the one shown. Made it out of some scrap steel that I had lying around. Hopefully someone is making money on this.
I am glad to use the pallet buster, and recently got an Air Locker deNailer. SO MUCH EASIER. I had to buy a (very) small air compressor ($69.99) and the hose and fittings ($19.99) to go with it. Most nails on thin boards pop out with few needing pulling frim the flip side. Thicker boards may need them pulled, but still easier to pry out than before. I'm planning to re build my fence, build a greenhouse and a chicken coop. Saving a pile of 'prettier' boards to make coasters to sell.
I find pallet board a little thin for the roughneck tool. The better way is to use wooden spacers off the ground and hammer the remaining pallet down, forcing the wood and nails out, without splitting and wasting wood. It destroys less wood and is nearly as quick. I also invested in a pneumatic denailer someone else mentioned. Once used you wont go back to manual denailing! great tool!
@@coopergaffney2012 I have a palm nailer and it doesnt have the power to push the nail out. A air operated denailer really hits the nail hard and it shoots out of the wood with some speed. You could try a palm nailer but you will find they are just not man enough for the job.
If you add a small block on the top of the hammer it will be twice as easy to remove the nails as you currently have to move the hammer 45 degrees before it starts to lock into the nailhead.
Paul’s ::::yes, a more efficient fulcrum you have devised ! I had to become aware of a ‘catapult’ effect from “bending torque” on the nail shank as the nail point emerged from the hole........(( tool & shop guys and gals are creative scientists and we have a real good time...lol... )......thanks, Paul.
I have split some pallet boards using this tool too, it tend to depend on how intact the boards are to begin with, I've found if the boards already have cracks and splits in the wood they tend to snap and sometimes the boards are weaker around the nail holes, so I don't always manage to rescue all the boards 🙂 I hope thus helps 👍