Topic: Breaking pallets up ... how????

[glosterwomble]

Ok folks a simple one here ..... how hell do i take pallets apart in my attempt to make a shed from them??  >:( >:( >:(

I thought I was so clever in finding old pallets and stock piling them in preparation for building a shed but now it appears you need a degree to break them up without them shattering into kindling for the front room fire!!!  :o :'(

[manicscousers]

ray says
if you can find a decent piece of wood, 3x3..5' long, put it diagonally so the front edge is under the board you want
then the 5' piece of wood is leaning against the cross post the wood is nailed onto, step down on the 5' piece of wood
repeat all the way along, assuming the pieces you want are nailed to battens
some pallets just have small blocks of wood , he's never stripped these down
hope this helps , I'm very confused  ??? ??? ;D

[glosterwomble]

...hope this helps , I'm very confused  ??? ??? ;D

You've just made me laugh out loud!!! I'm going to read it over again but I think I understand what he's saying!!

Thank you for the advice!

[SnooziSuzi]

I also wanted to build a shed from pallet wood but the wood is too soft and will just split and break.

You could try building the shed without breaking them down;  I was going to use the advice given in this website ( http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletShed/ - scroll down) but in the end took the easy (and expensive) route of buying a flat pack from shedstore.co.uk!!

[ninnyscrops]

Find a friendly garage or mechanic and ask to borrow their tyre-removing whatsit tool - I've stripped enough pallets to make 5 raised beds this summer!  Do work next to one though :-D

[wivvles]

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,7587.0.html

With a very helpful picture explaining the technique.

[tartonterro]

having worked in a warehouse for many years, breaking up pallets for fire wood and building projects etc ive used a hammer, flat bar used for taking off the likes or skirting or door surrounds and a crow bar, just watch out for the nails - gave myself a couple of bad ones with those ouch.

[glosterwomble]

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,7587.0.html

With a very helpful picture explaining the technique.

Thanks wivvles, I  had seen that advice and it does work to a degree but only if you have pallts that are planked on one side only.

Tartonterro...I agree the nails can be vicious!!  >:(

[JimmyJames]

I have almost completed making a compost enclosure out of pallets, and had a load of the type that have a 'top' made up of 6 or so planks, and then blocks of wood to separate the top part from the bottom.  The bottom had 3 planks, and i managed to remove the bottom planks along with the blocks.

To do this I used a similar process to that which  Tartonterro described.

A flat crowbar, a hammer, and a large portion of brute force and ignorance!  Sometimes I was able to prize the nails out by using the bar as a lever, and other times I was forced to whack the crowbar through the nails with the hammer. 

This was about 100 times more difficult than I anticipated, and was extremely hard work!  My friend turned up (who is a lot stronger than me) and he also found it difficult.
I used the planks that were removed from the backs as battons to secure the pallets to each other.

Its a good idea to get more pallets than you think you will need, because you will end up splitting a few.

When the construction is complete (after my holiday) I will take a few snaps to share with everyone.
An old boy from the plot nearby came up and seemed very impressed with the construction, but it turns out that he was just buttering me up - the next question he asked was "have you ever built a new strimmer from scratch?"

Yes, you guessed it - we spent the next half hour scratching our heads over the instructions for putting his petrol strimmer together!

[legendaryone]

I used to knock them apart with a hammer and cold chisel but would end up with some damaged ones, so i bought a full sized hacksaw and just cut through the nails. I use a piece of wood as a wedge to enable the blade to get to the middle nails in the middle planks, and i have found it is very satisfying to take apart a pallet and not have any damaged planks :)  :)

[glosterwomble]

Would like to see pics Jimmy James. Seems like I need to adopt the brut force/crowbar method!!  ;D Thanks too Legenaryone for your advice, might try that way too if the "wack the hell out of it" method doesnt work! ::)

[Kea]

i also found the hacksaw method the best after a lot of effort and broken boards. It was much quicker as well. The nails were designed not to pull out.

[weedy gardener]

If you get some nails that still stick up despite havng sawn them off just get a die and bang them in a bit. 

I used some light-weight pallets to build a base for my plastic greenhouse/staging last summer.  The neighbours thought I was mad but it saved everything from grey mould because there was ventilation underneath for the first time ever!

wg

[JimmyJames]

Just got back from holiday and seen the request for pics.  Will get down there armed with camera as soon as I can!

[mellor]

a good size crow bar, a lump hammer or big sutty and lots of people to annoy as you make one hell of a racket!!!!!