wood pallets?

[Mrs. Krabappel]

So my wood situation is not as I would have hoped going in to winter. I've seen a lot of CL ads for free pallets for "firewood." Are we talking campfire wood, or is this really a viable source of wood?

 

[Vincent]

They burn good but a lot of work. Also, you got to watch to not over fire your stove, because they burn hot. If I was out of wood they would work. Have you looked into slab wood?

 

[Joey]

Tons of info here about pallets. I have a small piece of property and can only store about 3 cords of wood at a time. I do have unlimited access to pallets. I use pallets to supplement my supply or use them for starting a fire....very dry..and do burn very very hot. If ya have room to store them,,they do work. I agree they are a lot of work. I use a circular saw to cut mine up. If ya have a lot of room,,,they would work. I dont think you would be gettin any 8-10 hour burns out of a stove full of pallets. But i'm sure they would clean your chimney out.

 

[ANeat]

If I had a free supply handy I would consider it. Ive picked up a few pallets here and there for free (to stack wood on) but trying to get enough to burn would be a lot of scrounging. Probably cheaper in the long run to have wood delivered

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If you do burn them, remember there are nails in there. So, do you remove the nails before the fire or after? Mostly after but then you have to be careful where you dump the ashes.

The pallets will work as a supplement and can assist if the wood is marginal.

 

[spirilis]

I supplement with pallets, I find they're very good for getting the stove up to temp quickly. The stuff I burn (woodbrickfuel, tightly compressed sawdust bricks) burns kinda slow so having that extra "kick" does the trick for me.

I've burned 100% pallet wood in the downstairs stove plenty of times, all I have to say is that they are *dry*. Some say you can't have wood that's too dry, some say you can, I say pallet wood is definitely "too dry" to burn alone all the time. Whenever I burn a load of pallets in my downstairs stove the glass becomes completely black from soot/creosote, eventually burning away once a bed of coals is established. They generate *tons* of smoke out the stack. I'm betting most pieces of lumber burn this way because of how dry they are.

Great for kindling IMO or a quick "kick" to freshen up the fire if it's not doing so well or the stove isn't up to temperature yet. Wouldn't burn them 100%.

I use a sawzall (milwaukee, 12-amp) to chop them apart and then wrestle the pieces apart by hand (w/ gloves on). Be sure to use some kind of anti-vibration gloves when operating the sawzall as I definitely hurt my wrists/started some minor carpal tunnel pain after ripping through 10 of them with the sawzall in a weekend (was just wearing leather gloves... the next weekend I tried chainsaw gloves, felt much better).
I burn them with the nails inside. The nails will pose a problem if you intend to save the ashes for your garden or whatnot. Might be able to sift through it with a strong magnet to pick up the nails before scooping the ash though.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Thanks for the input. It would be to supplement the seasoned wood I have while the rest seasons. I had not heard about slab wood. There's a sawmill up the road I bit I should check into.

 

[vvvv]

Thanks for the input. It would be to supplement the seasoned wood I have while the rest seasons. I had not heard about slab wood. There's a sawmill up the road I bit I should check into.

i saw your new stove steup & its lovely. i couldnt see up to the ceiling but am assuming that its bric or rock thru the roof & exposed to the outdoor. if so the stove will heat the hearth's mass & conduct upwrds to the cold exterior of the monolith. rock aint insulative so i see a heat waste conductor. i'd consider foil surrounding the stove & even a fan to push heat out from the hearth. i'd try keep the hearth enclosure cool as possible to avert the heat conduction thru the roofline. pallets burn hot, mix them with wetter or bigger wood

 

[4acrefarm]

pain in the a**. I burned them exclusively for years, lots of work, lots of heat, lots of leftover nails.

 

[ANeat]

Thanks for the input. It would be to supplement the seasoned wood I have while the rest seasons. I had not heard about slab wood. There's a sawmill up the road I bit I should check into.

Certainly check on the slab wood. I have a mill near me that makes pallets and they have the greatest slab wood. Its actually 4x6 inch blocks anywhere from 2" to 2 feet long. Most are probably 10" or so. Its a little green but it dries fast, probably 80% oak; no bark. Cant really stack it though.

For $30.00 a load its tough to beat

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That is not slab wood but darned good stuff, especially for the price.

 

[Shipper50]

My vote is for slab wood till you get some wood cut or bought and seasoned. Pallets are a pain if your going to try and cut them up to get them in your stove.

Ps,

Anyone ever tell you, you look like Jillian Michaels from Biggest Loser?

Shipper

I added a pic of Jillian, anyone think I am nuts thinking Kathleen looks like her?

 

[Todd]

Maybe you know someone that would be willing to trade some of your wet stuff for dry?

 

[Battenkiller]

If you do burn them, remember there are nails in there. So, do you remove the nails before the fire or after? Mostly after but then you have to be careful where you dump the ashes.

The pallets will work as a supplement and can assist if the wood is marginal.

You betcha! My wife used to sneak the ashes onto the driveway after an ice storm. I'd holler and scream, but in the end it was easier and cheaper (no more blown out tires) to just let her do her thing and stop burning the dang pallets.

I agree with Dennis that pallets can help with marginal wood, but a steady diet of them is just not the way most stoves are designed to burn. And they are a PITA to process for what you end up getting out of them. I used to get truck loads of free pallet wood (no nails, just boards with flaws and such) delivered to my door. I stopped burning them because, to me, they were just an inferior way to heat my home. Good luck to you if you decide to go with them.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Okay, I’m convinced. It sounds like way too much work. Now I just need to figure out how to build another chicken coop from pallets

i'd try keep the hearth enclosure cool as possible to avert the heat conduction thru the roofline.

Food for thought. Thank you.

Maybe you know someone that would be willing to trade some of your wet stuff for dry?

Hello, what? Why would anyone do that? I do have a neighbor with an excess of seasoned wood. I know him well enough because he helps me with my bees. Maybe I’ll talk to him.

Anyone ever tell you, you look like Jillian Michaels from Biggest Loser?

Not at all. But thank you!!

 

[Dix]

K, start scrounging. Put the word out that you will take wood if some one is cutting/trimming trees, etc. Take those pallets, and use them, they will get you though it.

Better look for a splitter, girl friend, you are going to need one, me thinks

It's not hard , lol !!

 

[spirilis]

Well as much as everyone's complaining about them, I gotta say it's worth breaking down a few pallets and just keeping them dry in the basement or garage somewhere. Just in case you need something to "freshen" up the fire and get the firebox a little hotter. Especially if some of my wood was questionably seasoned I'd want to have a few handy just in case it's 15F outside and I'm having a lot of trouble getting 'er up to temp. Might be a lot of work, but it could take some frustration out of operating the stove now and then.

 

[firefighterjake]

Pallets helped me out in my first year of burning . . . definitely useful if you have the time to break them down (although they can be a pain in the butt to take apart) . . . good for starting the fire and for helping to burn marginally seasoned wood as a few pieces stuck in with the marginal wood help dry the wood out to allow it to ignite and reach high enough temps to get to secondary burns.

Nails are an issue . . . you probably don't want to dump the ash on to your driveway, lawn or garden . . . it's too time consuming to pull the nails out before burning and even then it's easy to miss one or two . . . which will inevitably show up in your vehicle's tire.

Most pallets burn hot and fast so they're not something I would want to burn by itself . . . too much of a risk in over-firing the stove . . . and having to reload the stove far too often . . . but as I said they can and do have their place. These days I don't tend to use many pallets for burning -- I usually grab a trailer load of softwood slab for kindling . . . the pallets I do have on stock are used to stack my wood . . . and when they get too beat up or old I chop off the slats and use them for kindling.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

If you have the patience to cut them up, and maybe split the slats, you could think of them as 'kindling'. If you mix pallet wood with regular hardwood in the right proportions, you can get the benefit of the BTU's in that pallet wood, but without overfiring your stove. In fact, if you're 'forced' to burn some hardwood that is not quite seasoned enough (typical for first year wood burners), some really dry pallet wood mixed in would help a lot to get it going and to keep it burning hot enough. Of course with wood less than fully seasoned, you need to frequently check on the chimney/liner for creosote buildup- and have it swept if you are starting to get excessive buildup.

What I do here is to use pallets for a couple of years to stack hardwood splits on- then when the slats start to get weaker and break when stepped on, it's time to saw the thing apart, do some splitting, and stack it all. It makes great kindling. It needs a little time to get fully dry

A circular saw is great for separating the 'runners' from the slats. A Sawzall is 'OK'. For cutting the runners to length, a chop saw is excellent. BTW sometimes older saws appear at yard sales for incredibly low prices.

 

[JWM48]

had to use a lot of pallet wood my first year burning due to a lack of seasoned firewood. I discovered that the best "pallets" (if you can find them) are the heavy duty ones with roughly 3"x3" hardwood rails and not too many slats. They weigh a ton but come apart easily with a sledge. When they're cut up they look like ANeat's pickup load. Also used crate wood from a place near me that imports huge stone slabs for counter tops. They leave the broken down crates by the road. Some good stuff in there too if it's not too moldy. A circular saw is the weapon of choice. But nothing beats the real deal - seasoned and preferably free hardwood...

 

[SWNH]

I feed my shop furnace a constant diet of pallet wood throughout the winter. I have about 20 4x4x4 bins full of the cutoffs. Since it's only heated/fed during the day, I don't worry about getting a long/overnight burn. Takes some work to process them, but I'm set for the next 2 years based on my last season's consumption. They are kinda an eyesore waiting around to get processed, but the wife tolerates it.

I use Oshlun Deck & Nail 7 1/4" blades to cut the slates from the stringers. Theyl go thru the occasional nail without issue. The stringers are then cut with a 12" miter saw. Takes me about 3 minutes to cut up one pallet completely. A fair amount of work, but almost free DRY wood for shop heat.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Wow Peter!

Still reading and still considering. I may try to get up this weekend to pick some up. I need some more pallets around here for other things anyway, but I am short on time and tools.

I am scrounging and got a truckload of poplar today, but I had one really unsettling experience and I'm a bit more hesitant to follow some possibilities. Stranger danger and all of that.

 

[thewoodlands]

Wow Peter!

Still reading and still considering. I may try to get up this weekend to pick some up. I need some more pallets around here for other things anyway, but I am short on time and tools.

I am scrounging and got a truckload of poplar today, but I had one really unsettling experience and I'm a bit more hesitant to follow some possibilities. Stranger danger and all of that.

Kathleen make sure you go with someone and not alone, keep safe.

zap

 

[Cluttermagnet]

So how's the firewood supply shaping up, Kathleen? Have you tried the pallet wood, or have you found more, better seasoned hardwood?

If you have the patience to cut them up, and maybe split the slats, you could think of them as 'kindling'. If you mix pallet wood with regular hardwood in the right proportions, you can get the benefit of the BTU's in that pallet wood, but without overfiring your stove. In fact, if you're 'forced' to burn some hardwood that is not quite seasoned enough (typical for first year wood burners), some really dry pallet wood mixed in would help a lot to get it going and to keep it burning hot enough. Of course with wood less than fully seasoned, you need to frequently check on the chimney/liner for creosote buildup- and have it swept if you are starting to get excessive buildup.

What I do here is to use pallets for a couple of years to stack hardwood splits on- then when the slats start to get weaker and break when stepped on, it's time to saw the thing apart, do some splitting, and stack it all. It makes great kindling. It needs a little time to get fully dry.

A circular saw is great for separating the 'runners' (stringers) from the slats. A Sawzall is 'OK'. For cutting the runners to length, a chop saw is excellent. BTW sometimes older saws appear at yard sales for incredibly low prices. Or are given away by friends on house cleaning binges. ;-)

Here are some photos of a recent kindling operation here. I had this old mini table saw I was given, and I finally got around to trying it out. BTW I would highly recommend an old chop saw (mitre saw) for this sort of work. It would be a lot safer. That being said, this bad boy will churn out a heck of a lot of kindling in short order!

Disclaimer: "Don't try this at home, boys and girls. Don't make me come back there! Wait 'til I tell your mother!"

My trusty old hatchet. Usually at work trimming punky wood off of deadwood Oak.
Also good at splitting pallet slats- makes real fast work of it. That dry wood just pops apart.

Voila! Kindling. It didn't take but a few minutes to generate this batch. You can also cut up those stringers (2 by 4 or whatever) and mix them with your less than fully seasoned hardwood. It's got to help, some.