pallets for firewood

During an ice storm a few years back I kept the family warm by burning pallets in the fireplace. No problem. Most were some kinda hardwood.
 
Pallets have always worked well for me. Mostly made from pine or fir, so they burn up pretty quick. Be carefull, some places get opset if they catch you taking them. It costs money to build new pallets, so they reuse the old ones. One store owner accused me of stealing, and made me put all the pallets back before he called the cops.
 
If you keep your eyes open when driving around town, you'll notice that some businesses will have two stacks of pallets: the good ones and the ones with a few broken slats. All you have to do is ask the business. In my town, the newspaper stacks their pallets in a certain spot, and they want people to take them.
 
I know somebody who made a real nice decking out of pallets. Once they were all fastened together he sanded them all down and stained them. It looked a real professional job believe it or not !!!
Maybe not the answer you were looking for eh !!!
 
The nails are kind of a pain even if the wood is good. At some point you end up having to pick them out of your fireplace or pit. If you are staying at a campground I wouldn't think it very courteous to leave a pile of nails in the pit.

Then again there are always those people who love to throw their cigarette butts in the park BBQ's. What's with that? Do they not realize that someone has to pick them before the BBQ can be used ? Nobody likes roasted filter taste on their dog :(
 
i like to use the slats for lumber, what with it being so expensive. nothing really major, but i have put a top on a stump to use for a table to set my tools on next to my chopping block. i have also cut 4" peices and split them up along the grain into 3/8 x 3/8 inch pegs to use in back yard construction projects, what with nails being expensive and requiring a trip to the store (not always the most feasible thing when i am in the woods mending a travois or other things)

i try to do any wood working with as few "modern" stuff as possible, including no power tools and using square pegs in round holes to hold things together.

i also have burned apparently pine pallet scraps in the fire with no problems, but i would avoid anything that smells funky or is painted or looks stained.
 
i was doin a job one winter where a sealy warehouse had damaged pallets that were made of oak.those damaged pallets kept my fireplace goin that winter.
 
I just remembered something that I was originally going to post as a new thread, but thought it would be appropriate here. A couple of weeks ago I got a nice little pile of fatwood from a pine pallet at work. I took the last carton off of a pallet and saw that a couple of the slats had big holes in them that were edged with dark, kind of shiny wood. I thought, "No way, that can't be. . . " But I took a closer look and pried some loose with my Delica and it left a bit of sticky stuff on the blade, even though it pretty much felt dry to the touch. I collected all of it and wrapped it up in some plastic wrap and stuffed it in my cargo pocket. When i got home I gave it the final test (I'd never seen any before, just read about it on the forums) by taking a bit out to the patio and lighting it on fire. It lit easily and burned really bright and hot, and the sliver I lit kept burning for a surprisingly long time all by its self. The pallets we use come to us new and they're made of rough untreated pine, so I feel pretty confident that this stuff is safe to add to my fire starting kit. Keep a close eye on those pallets, you never know what you might find.
 
Lots are made of both Oak and Maple , leave the pine for bon fires , the hardwoods burn very hot and clean. Carefull cutting them up because of the nails and also the ashes , all the nails ;) . Learn to tell the differance and enjoy the warmth.

Phil
 
Painted pallets that have a name on them often have a deposit on them. if they are especially well made they might be cement Company pallets, they are the ones i see most often better lumber, better made, reused over and over, the deposit can be up to ten bucks per...

Pallet material is sawn out of what is called "shorts and ties" in the lumber business. it is lumber that is less than good for 8 feet and thus is not "retail quality.

I once called a sawmill and was looking to buy #1 select and better, and #1 common red and white oak and the guy offered me some "S&T" for much less that he said would cut out to better than #1 select and better. I paid I think 90 cents a BF for it and what I got was amazing. nothing longer than 6 foot, but some great lumber for the price.

The first parameter in the sorting job is length, if you can not get 8 good feet in length, then it is tossed aside in to the S&T pile, big logs can be cut to rail road ties, and smaller chunks get turned to pallets, I have seen big crates and pallets from overseas that are just flat amazing.

One big plant got a new Toshiba mill and it was encased in a crate made up of teak., 6 x6 bottoms and 4x6 corners, with full 1.25 inch thick planks making up the side walls. I just about killed my old little truck getting that stuff home, I think it was close to a ton of wood.
 
Funny, I use pallets for firewood also.

I don't burn the pallet, I store the firewood on top of the pallet to keep in off the wet ground.
 
Diamond Dog said:
Hey all I was wondering if pallet wood is okay to burn? I mean is it treated with any chemicals that may smell or is it just plain old plywood? If so I always come across wood pallets and never know what to do with them. There are these real hefty pallets with some blue painting on them, maybe the maker or something but to me they seem like they wood be an excellent source of firewood. Good to keep around or take on camping trip in the winter or if there is alot of wet wood around. What are your thoughts about this.
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Those hefty blue ones are probably CHEP pallets and if you turn them back in to the company I believe they're worth some dough.
 
Yeah those are chep pallets! They are heavy as sin I remember having to stack pallets and dreaded those. What kind of wood you think they use oak?
 
I have a friend who works as an electrician at a wind farm, and the pallet wood he gave me was the best firewood I've ever used. Apparently the generator heads on those windmills are the size and weight of a school bus, so the pallets are made of huge timbers of kiln dried hardwood.

What he gave me were the scraps from the deck he built from those pallets.
 
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