Pallet Carving - How do you do it?

[danno]

I ran out of seasoned wood and have one good boil left so I picked up a bunch of pallets. So, you pallet burners out there, what's the best way to carve them up?

No way am I knocking boards off. I figure if I stack 10 or so I can chain saw the 2x4 between the slats all the way down so I wind up with one slat on the top and one on the bottom nailed to the 2x4 and into the evaporator it goes? Or is there a better way?

After burning trash wood all year, I curious what these will do to my boil rate. I hear pallets burn pretty hot:) I will blend them with some un-seasoned hardwood.

[brookledge]

When I cut up pallets I usually cut one at a time so I can watch for nails. I try to cut only the thin boards in the middle so I don't have to cut near any nails. Usually I cut into six pieces depending on the size. But you would have to cut depending on you arch.
Keith

[royalmaple]

Dan-

DO NOT stack 10 high. You will regret it. Best advice I can offer is stick to 9 or fewer if you want to have any efficiency cutting them. Otherwise your wasting your time.

[Sugarmaker]

Dan,
I have been cutting pallets for 6 years for this wood fired arch. I have tried several methods. Originally I stacked about 8 or 9 high then just cut the top pallet into pieces and kept working my way down. Found this was too much handling, and I had a huge pile of air gaps in the wood pile. Very difficult turning and trying to hold the smaller parts and hitting nails below in the next pallet.

( If you haven't figured it out yet you will hit many nails! I don't care how careful you are, and ts worse if the pallets have been repaired, nails can be hidden any where)

So I designed a wooden structure to aid in cutting them. Here is the idea.
I took a wooden saw horse and cut the legs down so that the top of the saw horse is about 24-20 inches off the ground Design to fit you height. Mine may be a little higher, since I have a solid pallet that I stand on in front of it. The back legs are about 1-2 inches shorter than the front. To the sides of the legs at the ground level I added stabilizer board on each side, about 3 feet long and favoring towards the back of the saw horse. This keeps the saw horse from tipping back when the pallet is in position. I added a horizontal board across these runners and aligned with the top of the saw horse. Form this lower cross member to the top of the saw horse I added a vertical 2 x 4 with the narrow edge facing you. this is located on the center of the saw horse. This vertical back rest is about 3 feet above the saw horse top. So the back rest 2 x 4 is about 5 feet long.
I did add a 2 x 8 on top of the saw horse top board to act as a sort of large flat support ledge for the pallet to set on. You can add some short vertical pieces to the back of the 2 x 8 to keep the pallet from rotating away from you.

So you place the pallet on this so that the pallet is in the vertical position the center of the pallet on the center of the vertical 2 x 4. The top of the pallet facing you. The pallet should lean back and be supported by the center bar and resting on the 2 x 8. I usually cut through the thin boards just inside the right rail then move to the thin boards near the center rail then the thin boards inside the left rail then the thin boards left of the center rail. At this point all that is left to cut are the rails in half and all the wood should be less than 24 inch in length. This compresses the pallets about as much as required. I have two small hand wagons, one on each side of the sawhorse and throw the pieces in their as much as possible to avoid handling.
You end up with several arm loads of kindling but man will it burn. Its not easy its not pretty but it will make syrup!

I was thinking about a electric chain saw but have not looked into it yet.
The blades will wear out about the first 4 inches of the under side from all the pressure being in that area. Rotate the blade often.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Chris

[royalmaple]

Chris-

Sounds pretty hi-tech pallet dismantling operation. Pretty neat idea.

FYI I did try an electric chain saw, ONCE. It is not worth it. I had a heck of a time with it. I think the rpms just weren't there and it really was a pain. It was an old clunker I got for free but it was just horrible trying to cut them. I hate to use my good saw, but sometimes have to.

I know the guy I get my pallets from, well boards. Has a hydraulic device that he uses to pop the boards off the stringers and instantly has the whole pallet broken down. I have been 1/2 thinking of a way to make something up that would work but I don't think it would be honestly worth the time to make it and parts needed.

One thing is you surely won't be upset with the boil you get from pallets. Just a bugger cutting and processing them. Why can't we just have it all?

[cheesegenie]

Yes you will hit nails. I stopped using as many pallets as before, seems they
have to be treated with some insecticides to enter the country and I can
notice a bad smell off them. Maybe you guys stateside don't get that kind.
Also in cutting, the small pieces that have no nails fly off and hit you in the
shins, even with cutter's pants it bruises.

[brookledge]

When I cut pallets I have a short bar that I put on my saw since you don't need a long bar and chain. That way when you do trash a chain from all the nails it is not as expensive to replace nor does it take as long to sharpen.
Like I said before I found I hit far less nails by cutting one pallet at a time so i could watch the nails better. I once tried a hand circular saw with a blade that was designed to cut wood and nails but it was too slow.
Keith