Anyone tried using wood from pallets?

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:23 am

From the pallets th at I have been able to obtain, there were an awful lot of defects such a cracks and splits that didn't make it worthwhile. About the only use I found for them was as a low A-frame trellis in the garden.

BPR

drewa · Post by **drewa** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:25 pm

I don't know if I had heard of this from here or just from around the "guitar block." However, C. F. Martin said the guitar was a function of the design not the wood. So, "The Pallet Guitar."

Check it out...

http://www.laguitarsales.com/pages/3157 ... Pallet.htm

http://namm.harmony-central.com/SNAMM00 ... allet.html

Be good,

Drew

solicitr · Post by **solicitr** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:29 pm

It may look like it, but Taylor didn't *actually* saw right through the nails- he went back and plugged the nail-holes with pieces of aluminum rod afterwards so they looked like sliced nails.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:39 pm

Interestingly in Wood Magazine issue 182 page 80 there is a x ray picture of a carbide blade tip imbedded in the index finger of the article's author.
Apparently the author was cutting some pallets and missed the nail. He cut through it and thought everything was okay. So he finished the cut. In his words BIG MISTAKE! Apparently one of the tips was damaged and as he finished his cut he felt something hit his finger. The next day an x ray revealed the tip imbedded in his finger. Long story short they removed and his finger is fine. One good thing is carbide really shows up on an xray. You can clearly see the tip.

Frankly I'll pass on pallets now.
Ed

navycop · Post by **navycop** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:43 pm

I got some pallets that were in the dumpster at work. That's right I said DUMPSTER. I took them home, removed the nails. I made a couple shadowboxes for my buddies retiring. They turned out pretty good after a coat or two of stain.

rcf · Post by **rcf** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 2:20 pm

I can't stress enough the importance of a metal detector, 30 + years ago I was salvaging lumber from a local factory, the loading dock was being replaced, the boards were over 2 1/2 in thick, most between 12 & 18 in wide and 12 to 16 ft long. The wood was covered with years of grime, I checked VERY carefully, but missed some imbedded metal, I was planing it using an attachment on my radial arm saw, the blade exploded, the last three fingers on my left hand were torn down to the bone. Luckily I was standing aside from the direction of feed, a piece of planer blade flew off and put a hole in the concrete block wall. If I had been standing in the path of the feed, I'd have had a hole through my chest. There were no readily available metal detectors then, you can bet I have one now!!

navycop · Post by **navycop** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:54 pm

What kind of metal detector do you use? Is it like a stud finder that finds the nails in the wall? Or is it metal detector like for coins?

BigSky · Post by **BigSky** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:05 pm

navycop wrote:What kind of metal detector do you use? Is it like a stud finder that finds the nails in the wall? Or is it metal detector like for coins?

Real good question! I have discovered that finding them with the whirling disc method is NOT GOOD. It is real hard on a sharp blade.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:03 pm

markfive wrote:Real good question! I have discovered that finding them with the whirling disc method is NOT GOOD. It is real hard on a sharp blade.

I do not believe the stud finder finds the 'nails' in the wall, it finds the wood(stud). I doubt a bandsaw would be a good alternative either.

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:03 pm

I use the "Little Wizard" detector. It does a fine job finding nails and screws in wood. I even tested it on my leg and it detected the hardware contained therein!
BPR

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Anyone tried using wood from pallets?

Pallet Guitar...?

Metal Detector