How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

Hardwood or softwood?

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

What kind?

(Shameless family plug)

My nephew has just started his only YouTube channel for home DIY projects. He makes a lot of stuff from old pallets. He did a short video on taking them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOC6yf6Aulk

party_pants said:

(Shameless family plug)

My nephew has just started his only YouTube channel for home DIY projects. He makes a lot of stuff from old pallets. He did a short video on taking them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOC6yf6Aulk

own

party_pants said:

(Shameless family plug)

My nephew has just started his only YouTube channel for home DIY projects. He makes a lot of stuff from old pallets. He did a short video on taking them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOC6yf6Aulk

Party_pants & family to the rescue.

I thouoght it would be a matter of some good percusive persuasion with a hammer. I was wrong.

And no….. I don’t have a pallet-puller-apart-er-er.

Nor a metal/wood reciprocating saw.

Michael V said:

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

Hardwood or softwood?

Pine…… that is easily dented by a hammer.

party_pants said:

(Shameless family plug)

My nephew has just started his only YouTube channel for home DIY projects. He makes a lot of stuff from old pallets. He did a short video on taking them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOC6yf6Aulk

Hadn’t thought of wackin’ the crowbar in under the nail. Might give that a try.

Woodie said:

party_pants said:

(Shameless family plug)

My nephew has just started his only YouTube channel for home DIY projects. He makes a lot of stuff from old pallets. He did a short video on taking them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOC6yf6Aulk

Hadn’t thought of wackin’ the crowbar in under the nail. Might give that a try.

Wear some gloves, the hand holding the crowbar gets a bit sore otherwise.

Mind you, I have probably repaired and rebuilt many more pallets than I have ever taken apart.

If you have a sturdy workbench or similar, you could use my method.

1. Clamp the pallet down on the bench by using F-clamps or G-clamps, attached to the ‘rails’ of the pallet between the plank.

2. Get yourself a small scissors jack.

You can usually get these from an auto wrecker’s yard for $10-$15. A 750 kg – 1 tonne one will do. They’re usually small enough to fit ‘inside’ the pallet.

3. Insert the jack under one end of the plank, as close to the rail as possible. Start winding up the jack. As it contacts the plank, take it slowly and steadily. Pop! out comes the end of the plank with nails still in it 99% of the time.

4. Slide the jack over to the centre rail. Do the same again. Usually after this, you can use the plank itself to lever out the end still attached.

I also have a heavy flat steel bar which i sometimes put between the planks on the underside of the pallet, and sit the jack on that.

With a bit of practice, you can get q

quite speedy at it.

Generally a lot less effort and noise than crowbars and hammers and such. those nails are driven in by hydraulics, and crowbars are often not sufficient.

captain_spalding said:

quite speedy at it.

Generally a lot less effort and noise than crowbars and hammers and such. those nails are driven in by hydraulics, and crowbars are often not sufficient.

I use a ratchet tree puller. One side to a tree & the other near the rail end of the first plank.

Woodie said:

party_pants said:

(Shameless family plug)

My nephew has just started his only YouTube channel for home DIY projects. He makes a lot of stuff from old pallets. He did a short video on taking them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOC6yf6Aulk

Hadn’t thought of wackin’ the crowbar in under the nail. Might give that a try.

Wacking the claw crowbar under the nail then levering out seems to do the trick. Done 4 nails so far. But gunna take a while.

I don’t have to take the whole thing apart. It’s a single sided pallet. Just need to remove two two under-cross supports and replace them with one at the same distance as the hinges that are already on the fence posts. There’s some cross supports on the top that should come off as well.

captain_spalding said:

If you have a sturdy workbench or similar, you could use my method.

1. Clamp the pallet down on the bench by using F-clamps or G-clamps, attached to the ‘rails’ of the pallet between the plank.

2. Get yourself a small scissors jack.

You can usually get these from an auto wrecker’s yard for $10-$15. A 750 kg – 1 tonne one will do. They’re usually small enough to fit ‘inside’ the pallet.

3. Insert the jack under one end of the plank, as close to the rail as possible. Start winding up the jack. As it contacts the plank, take it slowly and steadily. Pop! out comes the end of the plank with nails still in it 99% of the time.

4. Slide the jack over to the centre rail. Do the same again. Usually after this, you can use the plank itself to lever out the end still attached.

I also have a heavy flat steel bar which i sometimes put between the planks on the underside of the pallet, and sit the jack on that.

With a bit of practice, you can get q

I have a small hydraulic jack like that. Bit much muckin around for that one methinks. Then you’ve still got the get the nails out, and knowing my hammering skills, I’d just bend then when trying to wack them out from underneath.

captain_spalding said:

quite speedy at it.

Generally a lot less effort and noise than crowbars and hammers and such. those nails are driven in by hydraulics, and crowbars are often not sufficient.

I don’t want to get speedy at it after a while. Just the one pallet will suffice for the time being. 😁

Bloody bloody bloody WACK WACK WACK…………..

Why don’t these things just fall apart? You know, like wooden garden furniture the minute you first sit on it.

party_pants said:

(Shameless family plug)

My nephew has just started his only YouTube channel for home DIY projects. He makes a lot of stuff from old pallets. He did a short video on taking them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOC6yf6Aulk

I like option 3, hit it with a hammer.

Woodie said:

Bloody bloody bloody WACK WACK WACK…………..

Why don’t these things just fall apart? You know, like wooden garden furniture the minute you first sit on it.

Like i say, those are l-o-o-o-n-g nails, often spiral nails, fired into the timber hydraulically.

They weren’t put together by humans, and they’ll strongly resist efforts by humans to tale them apart.

Once you get the planks off, the nails can usually easily be driven out backwards, at least to the point where you can get a crowbar under the nail head and easily lever it out.

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

OK. My method worked well for me.

I have a tool that I call a “bashing chisel”, but it isn’t actually a chisel, it’s a large flat-bladed screwdriver with shaft about 1 cm square and length about 300 mm.

Use a club hammer to bash it into the crevices, then lever it by hand. That pops it open enough to insert a small crowbar. Crowbar that joint open and then move along to the next joint.

mollwollfumble said:

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

OK. My method worked well for me.

I have a tool that I call a “bashing chisel”, but it isn’t actually a chisel, it’s a large flat-bladed screwdriver with shaft about 1 cm square and length about 300 mm.

Use a club hammer to bash it into the crevices, then lever it by hand. That pops it open enough to insert a small crowbar. Crowbar that joint open and then move along to the next joint.

These three tools.
Took apart a palette in about 40 seconds. No fuss.

mollwollfumble said:

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

OK. My method worked well for me.

I have a tool that I call a “bashing chisel”, but it isn’t actually a chisel, it’s a large flat-bladed screwdriver with shaft about 1 cm square and length about 300 mm.

Use a club hammer to bash it into the crevices, then lever it by hand. That pops it open enough to insert a small crowbar. Crowbar that joint open and then move along to the next joint.

I have a set of “hacking chisels” which serve a similar purpose. Quite a different tool than my good woodworking chisels and serve an entirely different use. In my mind they are separate tools.

Crowbar and muscle works for me.

Spiny Norman said:

Crowbar and muscle works for me.

Effective in most cases, it’s true, but it lacks the degree of elegance that i desire.

captain_spalding said:

Spiny Norman said:

Crowbar and muscle works for me.

Effective in most cases, it’s true, but it lacks the degree of elegance that i desire.

wear a tux while you do it then.

ChrispenEvan said:

captain_spalding said:

Spiny Norman said:

Crowbar and muscle works for me.

Effective in most cases, it’s true, but it lacks the degree of elegance that i desire.

wear a tux while you do it then.

American ‘glitz’.

Just a tweed jacket, viyella graph-paper check shirt, knit tie.

And some pants, of course.

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

I rip them apart on a regular basis. The good ones need crowbar and effort, while the cheap on-time-use pallets need only a lump hammer.

Right then, crowbar, hammer and pants.

Peak Warming Man said:

Right then, crowbar, hammer and pants.

pants are always optional

party_pants said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Right then, crowbar, hammer and pants.

pants are always optional

They’re more of a suggestion than a rule.

What about wedges?

I once tried using timber wedges to drive between plank and rail. It was moderately successful (much whacking, much effort, little elegance), before i hit on my most excellent scissor-jack solution.

Dark Orange said:

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

I rip them apart on a regular basis. The good ones need crowbar and effort, while the cheap on-time-use pallets need only a lump hammer.

This one is at least 20+ years old. The address and previous owner is written in texta on it as a delivery address.

Got out most of the bits off so far using , was it Mr Panty Parts nephew’s video? Bashing the forked crowbar I have one of those) under the nail head and pull the nail out.

Gotta modify it a bit to fit between the fence posts. It’s too wide putting it one way and far to narrow turning it round the other way. It’s not a square pallet..

Woodie said:

Gotta modify it a bit to fit between the fence posts. It’s too wide putting it one way and far to narrow turning it round the other way. It’s not a square pallet..

Blimey, you don’t make it easy for yourself, do you?

ABC News:

‘‘It’d cripple livelihoods’: Farmers worried about foot-and-mouth disease — and government’s response
By Eric Tlozek
The federal government says it is doing enough to stop foot-and-mouth disease entering the country, but some farmers and travellers aren’t convinced, despite new control measures being introduced last week.’

The fact is that FMD has always been a threat to Australia.

Want to sabotage Australia’s economy?

All it takes is one handkerchief, contaminated with FMD, brought in undetectably in a suitcase packed full of clothes.

From that you can produce as much virus as you want, and traipse gaily about the countryside sowing it hither and yon.

The only reason that this hasn’t been done yet is that none of our neighbours/favoured trade partners has felt it to be necessary yet.

But, for some reason, everyone’s just now running about squawking about action plans and bans and vaccination and quarantine and what all.

Ah,shit, wrong thread again.

captain_spalding said:

Woodie said:

Gotta modify it a bit to fit between the fence posts. It’s too wide putting it one way and far to narrow turning it round the other way. It’s not a square pallet..

Blimey, you don’t make it easy for yourself, do you?

Woulda been better off just going to Bunnings.

Woodie said:

captain_spalding said:

Woodie said:

Gotta modify it a bit to fit between the fence posts. It’s too wide putting it one way and far to narrow turning it round the other way. It’s not a square pallet..

Blimey, you don’t make it easy for yourself, do you?

Woulda been better off just going to Bunnings.

It can get to that stage.

Woodie said:

Dark Orange said:

Woodie said:

How do you take a wooden pallet apart? Bustin’ a gut so far without much luck.

Need it in pieces so I can make a gate out of it.

Will also go hunting on youtube.

I rip them apart on a regular basis. The good ones need crowbar and effort, while the cheap on-time-use pallets need only a lump hammer.

This one is at least 20+ years old. The address and previous owner is written in texta on it as a delivery address.

Got out most of the bits off so far using , was it Mr Panty Parts nephew’s video? Bashing the forked crowbar I have one of those) under the nail head and pull the nail out.

Gotta modify it a bit to fit between the fence posts. It’s too wide putting it one way and far to narrow turning it round the other way. It’s not a square pallet..

Is it a gay pallet?

Kingy said:

Woodie said:

Dark Orange said:

I rip them apart on a regular basis. The good ones need crowbar and effort, while the cheap on-time-use pallets need only a lump hammer.

This one is at least 20+ years old. The address and previous owner is written in texta on it as a delivery address.

Got out most of the bits off so far using , was it Mr Panty Parts nephew’s video? Bashing the forked crowbar I have one of those) under the nail head and pull the nail out.

Gotta modify it a bit to fit between the fence posts. It’s too wide putting it one way and far to narrow turning it round the other way. It’s not a square pallet..

Is it a gay pallet?

Non binary, I suppose. Preferred pronoun? It.

Woodie said:

Kingy said:

Woodie said:

This one is at least 20+ years old. The address and previous owner is written in texta on it as a delivery address.

Got out most of the bits off so far using , was it Mr Panty Parts nephew’s video? Bashing the forked crowbar I have one of those) under the nail head and pull the nail out.

Gotta modify it a bit to fit between the fence posts. It’s too wide putting it one way and far to narrow turning it round the other way. It’s not a square pallet..

Is it a gay pallet?

Non binary, I suppose. Preferred pronoun? It.

Slightly not square, like a sheet of dunny paper. 11 × 10.

Gay, but pretending to be square in order to fit in with the other pallets and the truck drivers that manhandle them.

captain_spalding said:

What about wedges?

I once tried using timber wedges to drive between plank and rail. It was moderately successful (much whacking, much effort, little elegance), before i hit on my most excellent scissor-jack solution.

That’s what the “bashing chisel” is. A wedge and lever in one tool.

I’ve wrecked pallets.. mainly using a chainsaw. I don’t think they make great building material.

How far did you get Woodie?

Pallet timber is generally better suited to small-scale projects.

This is a blanket box i made from pallet timber:

I’ve made several more since, including ones with curved ‘treasure chest’ type lids.

captain_spalding said:

Pallet timber is generally better suited to small-scale projects.

This is a blanket box i made from pallet timber:

I’ve made several more since, including ones with curved ‘treasure chest’ type lids.

Nice one!

:)

captain_spalding said:

Pallet timber is generally better suited to small-scale projects.

This is a blanket box i made from pallet timber:

I’ve made several more since, including ones with curved ‘treasure chest’ type lids.

Nice. Did you through heaps of sanding belts?

Michael V said:

captain_spalding said:

Pallet timber is generally better suited to small-scale projects.

This is a blanket box i made from pallet timber:

I’ve made several more since, including ones with curved ‘treasure chest’ type lids.

Nice one!

:)

You haven’t seen the abominations that i screwed up in the (ongoing) learning process.

Nor will you. They made great kindling.

Ian said:

captain_spalding said:

Pallet timber is generally better suited to small-scale projects.

This is a blanket box i made from pallet timber:

I’ve made several more since, including ones with curved ‘treasure chest’ type lids.

Nice. Did you through heaps of sanding belts?

No. When i made that particular one, i didn’t have a belt sander.

Used a sanding disc on the Makita power drill, and an orbital sander. Started off with coarser discs/papers on each, and worked through to finer ones. Didn’t consume much in the way of either discs or paper.

captain_spalding said:

Pallet timber is generally better suited to small-scale projects.

This is a blanket box i made from pallet timber:

I’ve made several more since, including ones with curved ‘treasure chest’ type lids.

The treasure chest ones would be for like personal security blankets and the like.

captain_spalding said:

Ian said:

captain_spalding said:

Pallet timber is generally better suited to small-scale projects.

This is a blanket box i made from pallet timber:

I’ve made several more since, including ones with curved ‘treasure chest’ type lids.

Nice. Did you through heaps of sanding belts?

No. When i made that particular one, i didn’t have a belt sander.

Used a sanding disc on the Makita power drill, and an orbital sander. Started off with coarser discs/papers on each, and worked through to finer ones. Didn’t consume much in the way of either discs or paper.

Good.

So they can be bludgeoned into a smallish gate shaped objects. What else?

Prefer my gates metal..

Ian said:

Good.

So they can be bludgeoned into a smallish gate shaped objects. What else?

Prefer my gates metal..

Someone at work wanted a small, slimline hallway type table, nothing flash they said.

So, i made this from pallet timber, and they seemed to like it.

Talking about making stuff – have a look at these art/craft examples. More art than craft most of them:

https://www.boredpanda.com/something-i-made-pics/

Look what I made out of my coffee table.

Woodie said:

Look what I made out of my coffee table.

Dear oh dear.

Woodie said:

Look what I made out of my coffee table.

:)