Blanks from pallet wood

[newgenesis]

I have a couple pretty new pallets and I was considering planing and gluing a couple boards together then cut down for some blanks. Has anyone tried this? How do they turn out?

 

[JohnU]

I've never glued up pallets but I've gotten some real nice maple and oak pieces from the main runners on the underneath side of them. I have a couple tractor dealerships in my area that burn some real nice crates and pallets. I've rescued some nice pieces from their burn pile.

 

[tomas]

There are codes on most pallets indicating what has been stored on them or what the wood may have been infused with. Before cutting or turning pallet wood you should check the codes to be sure the wood is safe to use.

Here is a site to check. How to determine if a wood pallet is safe for use

Tomas

 

[Herb G]

I got a few pallets from work one day that had big spools of wire shipped on them.
(I used to work construction.)

Anyway, I liked the grain on it & threw them in the back of my truck at the end of the day. I took them home & they were made of curly maple.
I took them apart. Not an easy task because they used ring shank nails to hold them together.
Anyway, I built a coffee table & matching end tables from them.
I drilled out the nail holes & used an oak dowel to fill the holes in for contrast. I gave them to my sister as a wedding gift.

That was 20+ years ago & she still uses them every day.

I've only seen curly maple pallets that one time.
I've seen a lot of oak, ash, and even some mahogany boards on pallets too, but I never used one for making pen blanks.

It wouldn't hurt to try.

 

[oldtoolsniper]

I make dovetailed boxes out of them.

They glue up fine.

Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app

 

[Woodchipper]

FWIW, good idea to find out what was shipped on them. However.....a retired truck driver on a woodworking forum refused to use them. He stated that in 30 years on the road, he has seen all kinds of chemicals spilled on them. My wife wanted to do some pallet wood things as there is a place that rebuilds them about two miles from us. People probably use it for firewood as they fill up trucks with the discards. We chucked the idea after reading the trucker's post. JMHO. I did meet a fellow who got a pallet that came from SE Asia..... the runners were solid mahogany!

 

[mark james]

View in Gallery

Part of the IAP Collection - Made from Pallet Wood!

 

[Loucurr]

Used them for inside out ornaments and they glued up just fine.