Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

I like euro pallets as I use them whole. wood blocks are for fire stove only.

Thanks for the response. I hope I will learn to like the euro pallets more as I have just started seeing and picking them up locally.

I don't have a fire stove, but I do use the wood blocks for the burn barrel I use to burn out stumps. If I could find a better use for those blocks, that would even be better.

I hit planks with a heavy hummer then use crowbar to take them apart.

Yeah, I have been watching some YouTube videos this evening and most of them just use a big hammer and crowbar to take apart the Euro pallets. Of course, everything on YouTube looks easy to do. I'll have to try it out myself to see if the hammer and crowbar method works for me.

 

[chickengr]

Thanks for the response. I hope I will learn to like the euro pallets more as I have just started seeing and picking them up locally.

I don't have a fire stove, but I do use the wood blocks for the burn barrel I use to burn out stumps. If I could find a better use for those blocks, that would even be better.



Yeah, I have been watching some YouTube videos this evening and most of them just use a big hammer and crowbar to take apart the Euro pallets. Of course, everything on YouTube looks easy to do. I'll have to try it out myself to see if the hammer and crowbar method works for me.

if you water pallets first it will be much easier.

 

[gtaus]

if you water pallets first it will be much easier.

Not sure what you mean - water pallets. Can you expand on that thought?

 

[texsuze]

Just surfing through the forums and thought I'd share the website of a really cool company that keeps material out of landfills while providing lots of interesting items for reuse and repurposing. They have a few warehouses throughout the states:
https://www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com

 

[gtaus]

Just surfing through the forums and thought I'd share the website of a really cool company that keeps material out of landfills while providing lots of interesting items for reuse and repurposing. They have a few warehouses throughout the states:
https://www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com

Thank you. We have a couple of local companies that resell used building materials, appliances, furniture, and other stuff. I used to frequent one building material store, and bought a lot of things from them, but they got to the point where they wanted more for used products than you would pay for new at our local big box stores. I have not been back there in over a year. Maybe I should stop in and see what they have and if their prices are more reasonable.

I just cannot get myself to pay more for a used item than what it would cost me to buy brand new - as much as I might want to support the idea of reducing material being sent to the landfill.

I previously mentioned somewhere on the BYC forums, that I once was at our county landfill picking up a load of free wood chips, and I noticed that someone had discarded a scaffolding unit that looks like this...

All the parts and pieces were there, so the best I could figure, was someone had finished a project and just wanted to get it out of the garage to clear up room.

I took advantage of the situation and loaded it on top of my wood chips. I mean, that scaffolding was worth over $200.00 even back then.

Anyways, one of the guys working at the landfill came over and was very upset that I picked out material from their scrap metal pile. I told him I was not aware that I could not take and reuse something that was of no value to them. I offered to pay double for the scaffolding for their scrap metal selling rate per pound if that was the concern, or I could unload everything if that is what they wanted. Well, he told to just not take anything from the metal pile anymore. So, I got to keep the scaffolding. I use it in my garage as an overhead shelf and have lots of stuff stored high above on it and have my snowblower stored underneath it. Perfect for me!

FWIW, I told this story to a friend of mine who lives in a town a number of miles down the road, but still in the same county, and she told me that their local landfill encourages people to take whatever used materials they want. I guess it all depends on who is running the local landfill.

 

[gtaus]

Metal Stand Salvaged in Pallet Pickup Run

Speaking of other salvaged items, yesterday I went into town with my utility trailer hitched up to my car. I had the idea that I would load up some more pallets that I saw at Harbor Freight and Napa. Both had a few stacks of decent pallets when I drove past there a few days ago. I had to go into town for other things, so I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and pick up some free pallets.

Turns out, Harbor Freight was completely out of pallets. Someone must have come by and cleaned up those pallets. I know there is at least one guy who picks up pallets just to burn them in his wood stove. I guess I'm OK with that, but I hope someone who actually makes things out of pallets (like me) got there first. In either case, those pallets were saved from the landfill. So, it's all good.

No pallets, but I noticed that another store had set an old metal stand outside...

I took a quick measurement, and it was just under 4X6 feet, which would fit in my 4X8 utility trailer. I went into the store and asked the manager if that metal stand was free for the taking. She told me it was, so I loaded it up into the trailer.

I don't know much about working with metal, and my welds look like poop, but I did buy a Flux core welder from Harbor Freight a few years ago and have used it a few times to repair stuff. I figured this metal stand parts and pieces might be useful for something. If nothing else, I now have some material to practice my Un existent welding skills and maybe get a little bit better!?

If nothing else, there are lots of nuts and bolts used on that stand. I'll probably to be able to salvage about $4-$5 worth of nuts and bolts to add to my used parts kits. You can never have too many nuts and bolts.

The metal stand took up almost all the room on my trailer, but I did stop at another place and picked up a few smaller pallets made out of 2X4's. I did not have much room, but I managed to fit a number of those smaller pallets and loose boards into the trailer.

There was a couple of all 2X4 pallets that I would have loved to load up, but I did not have my tools in that car to break down the pallets. There was a 6X8 foot pallet and another 4X10 foot pallet made out of 2X4's that I had to leave behind. If I go into town this week, I will have to stop by with my tools and see if I can break them down to fit into my trailer.

Well, I have a trailer full of material to clear out before I can pick up anything else. So, I have to get back outside and work on it. If anyone has suggestions on what to do with all that metal, let me know. It would have to be beginner type welding projects, but at least now I have some material to work with in stock.

 

[chickengr]

Not sure what you mean - water pallets. Can you expand on that thought?

when pallets are wet they come apart easier.

 

[chickengr]

Metal Stand Salvaged in Pallet Pickup Run

Speaking of other salvaged items, yesterday I went into town with my utility trailer hitched up to my car. I had the idea that I would load up some more pallets that I saw at Harbor Freight and Napa. Both had a few stacks of decent pallets when I drove past there a few days ago. I had to go into town for other things, so I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and pick up some free pallets.

Turns out, Harbor Freight was completely out of pallets. Someone must have come by and cleaned up those pallets. I know there is at least one guy who picks up pallets just to burn them in his wood stove. I guess I'm OK with that, but I hope someone who actually makes things out of pallets (like me) got there first. In either case, those pallets were saved from the landfill. So, it's all good.

No pallets, but I noticed that another store had set an old metal stand outside...

View attachment 4127375

I took a quick measurement, and it was just under 4X6 feet, which would fit in my 4X8 utility trailer. I went into the store and asked the manager if that metal stand was free for the taking. She told me it was, so I loaded it up into the trailer.

I don't know much about working with metal, and my welds look like poop, but I did buy a Flux core welder from Harbor Freight a few years ago and have used it a few times to repair stuff. I figured this metal stand parts and pieces might be useful for something. If nothing else, I now have some material to practice my Un existent welding skills and maybe get a little bit better!?

If nothing else, there are lots of nuts and bolts used on that stand. I'll probably to be able to salvage about $4-$5 worth of nuts and bolts to add to my used parts kits. You can never have too many nuts and bolts.

The metal stand took up almost all the room on my trailer, but I did stop at another place and picked up a few smaller pallets made out of 2X4's. I did not have much room, but I managed to fit a number of those smaller pallets and loose boards into the trailer.

There was a couple of all 2X4 pallets that I would have loved to load up, but I did not have my tools in that car to break down the pallets. There was a 6X8 foot pallet and another 4X10 foot pallet made out of 2X4's that I had to leave behind. If I go into town this week, I will have to stop by with my tools and see if I can break them down to fit into my trailer.

Well, I have a trailer full of material to clear out before I can pick up anything else. So, I have to get back outside and work on it. If anyone has suggestions on what to do with all that metal, let me know. It would have to be beginner type welding projects, but at least now I have some material to work with in stock.

I am getting some of those metal stuff from a bike store. you can screw them together instead of welding.

 

[gtaus]

when pallets are wet they come apart easier.

That's interesting. I would have thought that dry pallets would be easier to take apart. But I don't have much experience with the Euro pallets disassembly.

When it comes to the standard pallets I usually get, I use a circular saw to cut off the wood planks at the ends, so a dry pallet is better because the saw cuts dry wood easier than wet wood.

I started taking apart one of the Euro pallets, using a big hammer and some crow bars. Not too bad, and probably easier than a standard pallet. The only thing I did not like was that on the Euro pallet, the planks were nailed down to a cross board and the nails were bent over and pounded into the wood on the bottom side. So, I have to use a thin screwdriver to lift up the nails out of the wood so I can get the hammer enough nail bottom to straighten out.

I am going to have to set up some sawhorses as a table to work on. That will make it easier to dig out those bent nails and pound them straight. Better to do that on a table then bending over on the ground level. I'm getting too old for that.

 

[gtaus]

I am getting some of those metal stuff from a bike store. you can screw them together instead of welding.

The stand I got had some metal welded together, and other pieces attached with bolts and nuts. I was going to take apart that metal stand this afternoon, after I had done a bunch of other work outside, but it started to rain and I retired to the inside of the house for the evening.