Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Tips & Tricks for your Pallet Projects

There is still time to enter your pallet creation in PalletPalooza!
Here is a quick round up of tips & tricks that will help you get your project finished!
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Finding the Perfect Pallet A perfect pallet doesn't mean new wood, no splinters, or no bent nails. Perfect means a pallet that perfectly fits your vision for your pallet project.Read More....

Pallets at Goodwill

Where can you find pallets for free?
PalletPalooza Pallet Providers
Scroll down on the Enter Tab of the PalletSWMI.com website and you will see a list of our sponsoring pallet providers. They often have have pallets available at their locations on a first come first serve basis. Just click on their link to see their location, hours, and check on availability.

Local Businesses
As you a driving through your town, you will be surprised how many pallets you see at your local grocery and hardware stores, landscape businesses, construction companies, and feed stores. Ask them if their pallets are available to take.

Craigslist.com
Sometimes free pallets are listed on Craigslist. Go to the Free section in the "For Sale" category.

Recycling Centers and Township Dump Days Pallets are large items and they might be just dumped. You may be able to rescue a couple of these and recycle them into an amazing project.

Ask Friends and Family (and Frenemies too!)
Ask them on Facebook, give them a call, let them know what you are up to and you might be surprise how often you hear "Oh yeah, I've got a couple of pallets laying around."

So many different types of pallets! Check out PalletPalooza Sponsor 1001Pallets.com Ultimate Guide to Upcycling with Pallets.

1001pallets.com

You found your free pallets, picking the perfect ones, but how to get these things apart? Pallets are meant to be very durable, they are not meant to come apart easily. The nails are often heat set, so they swell in the wood. The wood is dry, beat up and has cracks already. Or your pallet was repaired for reuse several times so it has tons of nails holding it together. It can be very frustrating to have found your pallets, and then lose a lot of the wood to giant splits. Visit some of these links. I found that every pallet is different in how it wants to come apart, and knowing different techniques will be helpful.

Get a pallet breaker tool: This is the one I use here at Goodwill.

Crescent Tool DKB44X Bull Bar

If you are committed to DIY - here is a link to make your own pallet busting tool from instructables.com.

Instructables.com

Very good short video of tips for pulling out nails. - Re-claiming Pallets Made Easy!! - Pulling Nails!

I like how PrettyHandyGirl.com calls taking apart a pallet "harvesting wood". :)
She uses a Dremel Multi-Max, which is new to me, but now I want one.

PrettyHandyGirl

I had never used a reciprocating saw before I started creating things with pallets. Another very handy tool. Check out DIYReady.com and look for her video - very helpful.