Pallet wood

[NextEndeavor]

Our local lumberyard is always giving away pallets, some of which I've stacked wood off the ground on. Today I cut up some newer pallets into enough kindling to nearly fill a garbage can with 8 inch long splits. I assume they make pallets out of junk wood no good for anything else because it's full of knots sometimes making it difficult to split. The wood feels pretty light possibly even cotton wood. Oh well, should make good starter kindling with about 30 seconds of propane torch action during cold starts. Anyone else use pallets? I'd advice against using anything that is treated. I doubt they spent any money/time on kiln drying it either.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I don't use pallets at all but can tell you that pallets are made from many different types of wood. A pallet maker receives orders for pallets and depending upon what will be stacked on them will determine what type of wood to use. Light use, may be poplar or cottonwood as you state. Something very heavy and needing something very sturdy may require oak. Yes, even some pine might be used but I don't think you'll find much of that. I do recall one time when I was sawing we received an order for pallet material and it was specified that it was to be all cottonwood. Then they also ordered some they wanted cedar (I have no idea what for), etc.

 

[WES999]

I burn lots of pallets, the OPE store around the corner gets lawn equipment on these nice oak pallets.
Not too hard to take apart. I take them apart then cut them up with a radial arm saw, goes pretty quick.

I like to keep a good supply on hand in the basement. I use them for kindling and getting the stove up to temp quickly.

 

[RNLA]

I have used pallets several times to fill in for a weak wood supply. The only issue I have is nails, I have tried to pull them but they always break off. There is nothing wrong with burning them but it is a pain to pull them from the ashes....

 

[hosspuller]

I have used pallets several times to fill in for a weak wood supply. The only issue I have is nails, I have tried to pull them but they always break off. There is nothing wrong with burning them but it is a pain to pull them from the ashes....

I've a magnet in a can. All the iron sticks to the bottom, pull the handle and the iron falls off. Great for pallet wood ashes. Even recycle the iron with the food cans.

 

[Dix]

Burned pallets last year, in the winter from hell.

Got 2 8' truck beds from a swimming pool company last year. This years wood is stacked (getting stacked) on that. The older pallets are going for kindling this year. New ones are PT, old ones are not.

 

[madrone]

I always scrounge the dead oak pallets at work. Great for getting the stove up to temp, since I'm not a 24hr burner. I don't mind the nails at all. They just sit in the stove until I empty the ash. Never had any problem related to nails, even when composting ash into the garden.

 

[firefighterjake]

Our local lumberyard is always giving away pallets, some of which I've stacked wood off the ground on. Today I cut up some newer pallets into enough kindling to nearly fill a garbage can with 8 inch long splits. I assume they make pallets out of junk wood no good for anything else because it's full of knots sometimes making it difficult to split. The wood feels pretty light possibly even cotton wood. Oh well, should make good starter kindling with about 30 seconds of propane torch action during cold starts. Anyone else use pallets? I'd advice against using anything that is treated. I doubt they spent any money/time on kiln drying it either.

I burned pallets in the first year when I had wood that was only partly seasoned . . . I don't bother any more since it's easier for me to use and process regular, old trees in their original form . . . and not have to worry about nails in the ash.

That said, as Dennis mentioned . . . different pallets may have different wood . . . sometimes you can even find pallets with some exotic woods. I had a very, very dense wood that was purple in color in that first year.

 

[ruserious2008]

Burned a lot of pallet material last year myself after deciding to burn wood late and the "seasoned" wood I bought hissed like an angry banshee! I've found most pallets are either pine or oak. I got a great source last year for red oak pallets (you can tell real fast - they are freaking HEAVY and when you cut them up up the wood looks red) and besides kindling I took the slats, cut them into 16" pieces or so and stack 4 or 5 pieces and shot them with a nail gun to make my own logs. Even got tricky and put one piece of pine slat on the bottom and that helped the fire get going quickly. Later I came up with drilling a small 1/4 hole in them and then driving a wooden dowel into the hole to hold them together to avoid having the nails in my ash. I'm planning on burning about 4 cords this year and bet 1 or more will be pallets. Great also for shoulder seasons when you need a quick blast of heat but not a long burning fire.
Also fyi I've found the oak pallets are best found at places that put some serious weight on them- such as heavy machinery or a mason/stone type company. Places like "The Scooter Store" usually have lots of pallets but they'll be pine.
I've found with my set up for standing up and cutting pallets I can whip thru them pretty fast with a chain saw or even a recip saw and think I can create a "cord" of wood faster with pallets than I can cutting down and hauling and splitting trees. And of course usually its dry so no seasoning needed.
To deal with nails in the ash after burning get one of those big magnets on a handle at Home Cheapo that that sell for roofers to pick up with....easy easy
Enjoy

 

[NordicSplitter]

30 pallets in weight is roughly 1 face cord of wood. Pallets are free. manageable, burn hot, and plenty of them around me. I can breakdown 10 pallets in about an 1 an 1/2 hours once I get going. Oh ya.. and a minivan with no seats can hold about 8-10. Happy burning.

 

[madrone]

Why are people concerned about nails? I've ignored them and never encountered any problems.

 

[Ratman]

I never burn pallets because I don't trust myself deciding if there are chemicals in the wood.
I'll stick to burning firewood from actual trees.

 

[madrone]

I never burn pallets because I don't trust myself deciding if there are chemicals in the wood.
I'll stick to burning firewood from actual trees.

It's not too hard to figure out. They outlawed the nasty chemicals awhile ago. Most pallets are stamped "HT", for heat-treated. Those are always safe. If you did manage to find an old one labeled "MB" for Methyl Bromide, don't burn it. I haven't seen anything but HT on a pallet for a looong time.

 

[fishingpol]

It is not just about what chemicals the pallets are treated with, but what was shipped on them. Pallets are re-used all the time, you just don't know from where they were from or what was on them during their last usage.

Like mentioned above, if you can find a "clean" supplier that discards them, even better.