Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Molpet]

I use a hammer to tap the screwdriver blade under the bent nail and use it to pry it up. Is there a better way, tool

Cat's paw .... it's a type of crow bar/pry bar

 

[gtaus]

welcome to the club. all pallets here have bent nails. the only other way I tried is to cut nails (if you don't mind nail pieces that remain in planks).

Sometimes I don't care if partial nails remain in the wood. It really depends on the end use of the boards. Most of the time, I remove all nails, so I don't accidentally damage a saw blade on a partial nail when I cut the board.

Speaking of nails in wood, I have developed a good habit of scanning all my pallet wood before cutting them on my saws. I bought a nice metal scanning wand from Harbor Freight which works pretty well...

It picks up all metal on the surface and maybe down to about 1/4-inch below the surface of the wood. However, I just discovered, it failed to alert me to a bit of screw that was broken off about 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch into the wood. I could not see any metal upon visual inspection, and the wand did not alert to the metal broken off in the wood.

Unfortunately, my table saw blade detected the metal when it was cutting the wood. Everything came to a stop, and I did not force the wood through the saw anymore. I looked inside the cut and could not find the problem, so I ended up cracking the wood where the saw stopped cutting. After I broke the wood apart, I discovered a partial screw broken off about 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch down below the surface of the wood.

I think I stopped the cutting before I did any major damage to the saw blade, but it's never good to try to cut a nail, or screw with a table saw. My metal scanning wand does a great job most of the time and it has alerted me to metal in the wood that I might not see with a quick visual inspection, but I guess the wand has its limitations. Having said that, after using pallet wood for a number of years, that was the first board that had "hidden" metal broken off in it that I failed to see, or scan with the wand.

I do recommend using a metal scanner if you plan on cutting pallet wood boards on table saws, or miter saws, with blades that can get damaged from metal in the wood. The scanner, if it alerts on metal in the wood where I need to make a cut, allows me to switch over to maybe cutting the board with my reciprocating saw with a demolition blade made to cut both metal and wood. Most of the time, I just grab another pallet board. I have lots of pallet wood to choose from.

 

[gtaus]

Cat's paw .... it's a type of crow bar/pry bar

Well, I do have a cat's paw bar. For those who don't know what we are talking about, here is a picture of one...

I use the cat's paw nail puller when I need to pull a nail from the top head of the nail. In the case of the bent Euro pallet wood nails, it is the bottom of the nail that is bent over. A cat's paw working end is just too thick and would not work as well as a flat blade screwdriver, or a dull chisel, to lift up the embedded nail bent over and pounded into the wood.

I have been considering modifying one of my small wrecking bars I just bought at Harbor Freight Dollar Days sale for $2.00...

I think I might grind down the flat end of the bar to a finer blade. Then it would work better to get underneath the bent nail to pry it up. It's pretty close already to being thin enough on that small bar, but a screwdriver blade still works better. However, I do have a grinder that would let me sharpen that flat end down. Of course, the big advantage to modifying that small wrecking bar is that I could use it to both lift up the bent nails with the flat end and then remove the nail using the curved end.

BTW, I have full-sized crow bars, but I find these 12-inch wrecking bars do come in handy for some jobs. When pulling nails out of pallet wood, I use the smaller bars a lot. Sometimes it's just the better tool for a smaller job.

 

[Molpet]

I think I might grind down the flat end of the bar to a finer blade.

I have a small thin cats paw. It's too thin to pull framing nails, but for finishing nails or what you're doing .
I don't know where I got it but probably builders square, which went out of business last century.

 

[gtaus]

I have a small thin cats paw. It's too thin to pull framing nails, but for finishing nails or what you're doing .

Thanks. I did not know cat's paw bars came in small thin sizes. The only ones I have seen are heavy-duty bars for pulling framing nails, like you said. That's the kind I have, and it would do too much damage for prying out those bent over nail bottoms.

I keep my cat's paw bar in my pallet wood breakdown bucket. Every once in a while, I use it. But not very much for my pallet wood projects. I think a smaller, thinner cat's paw would work better than my standard sized bar for prying up those bent nails. I'll keep my eyes out looking for a smaller version. Well, if modifying that small 12-inch pry bar does not work out.

Over the years, I have collected many, many tools. Dear Wife cannot understand why I have sets of screwdrivers, multiple hand and powered saws, all kinds of drill bits, more than a dozen of different types of hammers, chainsaws of different sizes, etc... That does not include tools that I have had to modify for a specific job, and maybe never use it again. Too many tools, and yet, each and every one has its place, and I know when and how to use it for my task at hand.

Could I get by without nearly as many tools? Yes, but what fun would that be? Yes, I have a cat's paw. But now that I know that they make smaller, thinner models, I might be buying one because I have a use for it where the regular sized cat's paw is too big. See, that's how you end up so many tools over the years.

FYI, I found this cat's paw set on Amazon...

Maybe that mini 8-inch bar is like yours? I have the larger 12-inch model.

 

[Molpet]

of course I can't find it, here or online
I did have a wonder bar at work, they have a newer model out. Similar to the HF, but a little shorter. Not sure of the thickness.
I also have used dikes to grab and lift using a pry bar as a base to protect the wood. nips should work too

 

[gtaus]

View attachment 4130192

of course I can't find it, here or online
I did have a wonder bar at work, they have a newer model out. Similar to the HF, but a little shorter. Not sure of the thickness.
I also have used dikes to grab and lift using a pry bar as a base to protect the wood. nips should work too

I have a number of dikes...

and nippers...

I use both of those tools all the time. However, for the Euro pallets with the bent over nails pounded down into the wood, you first need to dig it out from underneath to lift it up over the surface of the wood. Neither the dikes nor the nippers would be good for that task.

Well, both would work for prying up bent nails that were NOT pounded down deep into the wood. But that's not what I'm finding on these Euro pallets.

I think I can grind down the flat end of one of my small pry bars to get the job down. I've been really busy with lots of other stuff today, but next time I start to break down some Euro pallets, I will see if I can sharpen the end of that pry bar.

FWIW, if you want to use a pair of nippers to pull out nails, which I often use, I recommend you get a long pair of nippers for the job. And you don't need, or want, the sharpest cutters for pulling out nails. I use my nippers to pull out headless nails, and the last thing you want to do is cut of the shank even more.

Here is the nippers from Harbor Freight I think would work best for to pull nails...

I actually bought a 14-inch nipper made by Doyle. It is a more expensive tool than the Pittsburgh 16-inch nippers, but at the time I bought my Doyle nippers, they were on sale and cost less. There are times that I wish I would have bought the longer 16-inch Pittsburg nipper because length equals leverage, and I'm getting older, so a longer nipper would sometimes be better for me.

 

[chickengr]

Thanks. I did not know cat's paw bars came in small thin sizes. The only ones I have seen are heavy-duty bars for pulling framing nails, like you said. That's the kind I have, and it would do too much damage for prying out those bent over nail bottoms.

I keep my cat's paw bar in my pallet wood breakdown bucket. Every once in a while, I use it. But not very much for my pallet wood projects. I think a smaller, thinner cat's paw would work better than my standard sized bar for prying up those bent nails. I'll keep my eyes out looking for a smaller version. Well, if modifying that small 12-inch pry bar does not work out.

Over the years, I have collected many, many tools. Dear Wife cannot understand why I have sets of screwdrivers, multiple hand and powered saws, all kinds of drill bits, more than a dozen of different types of hammers, chainsaws of different sizes, etc... That does not include tools that I have had to modify for a specific job, and maybe never use it again. Too many tools, and yet, each and every one has its place, and I know when and how to use it for my task at hand.

Could I get by without nearly as many tools? Yes, but what fun would that be? Yes, I have a cat's paw. But now that I know that they make smaller, thinner models, I might be buying one because I have a use for it where the regular sized cat's paw is too big. See, that's how you end up so many tools over the years.

FYI, I found this cat's paw set on Amazon...

View attachment 4130147

Maybe that mini 8-inch bar is like yours? I have the larger 12-inch model.

you and your DW reminded me of my late stepfather. he spent hours to find all the tools he needed for the next day job. he made small groups of tools and put them on the garage floor. at the end of the day my mother went there, picked up every single tool and put them on a shelf

my mother will come next week and I am already afraid what she will do here. I still didn't find some tools she put away 2 years ago. she is 81 and according to her everything has to be tidy. old school.

 

[gtaus]

you and your DW reminded me of my late stepfather. he spent hours to find all the tools he needed for the next day job. he made small groups of tools and put them on the garage floor. at the end of the day my mother went there, picked up every single tool and put them on a shelf

my mother will come next week and I am already afraid what she will do here. I still didn't find some tools she put away 2 years ago. she is 81 and according to her everything has to be tidy. old school.

Thanks. That was funny.

I swear I never lost anything until I got married. Now, it seems I just cannot remember where I left something to use later. It was there, and then it was not!

 

[gtaus]

Modifying Small Pry Bar for Euro Pallet Breakdowns

I took out my 1X30 belt sander this evening and ground down the flat end of one of my small pry bars to a thinner blade...

It has a pretty sharp blade on it now but not razor sharp. It only has to be thin enough to get into the wood, underneath those bent over nails that are pounded down into the wood on the Euro pallet, and then it needs to pry the nail up and out of the wood. So, I want it sharp, but not to a degree where it is too thin and will break when used as a pry bar.

The blade on this pry bar is now thinner than the heavy-duty screwdriver I was using. I think if will work well. If it needs more work, I can do that after I try it out on a pallet.

For comparison, here is a picture of the pry bar on the left that I just ground down to a thin blade next to the original pry bar on the right which has a much blunter chisel edge...

When I get some more Euro pallets, I'll give it a try and report how well, or not, the modified pry bar worked. But I'm guessing it will work well.