When I worked at Rural King, we kept a hammer, crowbar and some nails in receiving to repair broken pallets. The pallets beyond repair were mostly tossed into a free wood pile for the public, although we did keep a few boards for repairs. Some pallets were made of oak, and I would have paid good money for them, but we had to send all pallets back for reuse. I need some pallets for use around the barn, but I'll probably go with heavy duty molded plastic/resin.
About 2010 or so we were importing materials from China. The government had got tough on importing tropical woods. Fined Gibson Guitars about $300,000. Couldn't import the lumber into the US at several dollars a board foot, so they made pallets out of it. I took pallets apart, video taping it all, friends glued them together and made furniture, boxes, etc out of it. Lots of teak, some very good mahogany, and keeping track of it for when the feds showed up, as they did. Really helped out the country it was cut in. Lots of woods we couldn't even figure out what they were. Might of been sap wood or heart wood of some variety that was not usually imported. The method using the blocks caused the least amount of damage. The usual oak can be processed, we found wide belt sanders worked best as pallets tend to pick up stones, etc that do a number on planners. High pressure: is U.S. policy deterring illegal wood imports? Feds’ Reliance on Environmental Activism Underscores Lacey Act Issues A couple old time hardwood importers I used to buy a few board feet from went out of business soon after. Hard to prove that a piece of wood that was 18 in sq and 10 feet long and had been on your rack for many years had been on your rack for many years was indeed legal. Knew people who built things that had 100's of board feet of wood that was to special to use and was being kept for some special project, that lost it as they could prove when it was imported. No serial numbers on wood. There were both lawyers and do gooders that destroyed a lot businesses back then.
The thing to remember, is that if you're going to run it thru a planer, make sure you have all pieces of nails removed, first! Some folks don't worry about nails, and I've seen some that will just use a metal cutting blade on a reciprocating saw, to cut them flush, for easier board removal.
Good chance that the brown colored boards are some member of mahogany group. Pallets made in US are oak, pine, or fir. Would guess that in Aussie land could get some tropical woods as well. From China,India, etc in Asia, can be anything from a pine to teak. Seen machinery shipped in teak crates. Saw a video of a guy in Australia cutting down a tree and splitting out and making railroad ties for a small railroad, the way it was done 150 years ago, and it was some kind of tropical hardwood.
I use my portable band saw - cut thru the ring shanked nails and those nasty staples >>>>. I wouldn't put any pallet wood thru a planer or any other bladed woodworking machine without a metal check - a damn nail can chip all the blades on a planer and possibly cause worst damage ....
Agreed. Where I used to work, they got their hands on some of the hardwood pallets. Believe the chunky cross pieces were made of walnut (been more than a few years). Carpentry shop made sure there was no metal in the piece, then ran it through a planer to smooth out the rough finish. Sure was some pretty wood, once he was done with it!
For a nice, unassuming wood...American Chestnut. Nearly unobtanium nowadays...well, the original variety clear of wormholes anyhow. Seems a blight-resistant variety is now being sold.
