Does anyone have a good hookup for wood pallets? Or have one of the older, grey ones available? Looking to start a project this week and having bum luck finding some.
I’m in the grapevine area, but can also pick up around DMS. Thanks!
Have you checked on Craigslist? Search for free pallets always pulls multiple results.
Tempest Telecom (or northern neighbor) used to have stacks of them by their dock that I gather we can help ourselves to. I’d confirm that before removing any.
Keep in mind that pallets are horrible for our tools and you should probably bring your own blades for cutting etc
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Yes…they dull the crap out of any sharp blade, including jointer and/or planer, as well as creating a noxious dust issue. I have advocated for prohibiting them from the woodshop in the past, but since making stuff out of them is trendy and hipster-cool, everyone decided to put on big obnoxious glasses they don’t really need and go get a Starbucks Frappuccino instead.
But at very least, please pressure wash them before bringing them in to get as much of the dirt and grit and whatever out of the wood. We don’t have water/plumbing hook-up in workshop so this can’t be done at the 'Space.
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And then dry them because your gonna have a bad time on the saw stop
Yikes that’s s lot of info I wasn’t aware about. I was going to use pallets for the rustic look of this sign:
I’ll have to look for another alternative way to frame it then I suppose.
Pallets are pretty bad as far as reclaimed wood goes.
They have a lot of chemical treatment done to them to make them last longer outside. Don’t burn them.
The dirt and grit from being rubbed around on the ground for most of their use, makes them similar to sand paper on the blades.
They are often full of nails or partial nails that can destroy a blade easily.
That said, there’s lots of scrap wood on the scrap like that you could probably use.
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Its OK…people bring this stuff in all the time. It just needs a little prepping as described
To beat a dead horse, think about what sandpaper is or how it’s made, and then think about what happens to a piece of pallet wood over its years of use/abuse…
it’s a nice frame/look, though. (not trendy/hipster at all! 
)
If only you knew the amount of old, shitty wood from falling apart barns and the like I’ve burned over the years…
It’s enough to please the entirety of the bard wood hipsters.
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Sometimes that’s true. If you want to use pallet wood, use wood marked “HT” (for heat treated),“DB” (debarked), and “KD” (for Kiln Dried). No chemicals involved in these.
Avoid “MB” (Methyl Bromide) pallets - this is nasty stuff.
Avoid painted pallets: these are leased pallets and (almost always) actually owned by someone other than the folks getting rid of them.
Pallets with no markings are usually domestic (US made) pallets and may not have had ANY treatments, as they are made from domestic wood and are typically single-use.
Also keep in mind that even DB/KD/HT pallets may have had something nasty (toxic, poisonous, corrosive) spilled on them. These chemicals may not leave a stain on the wood but still have some material left IN the wood.
Safest: HT pallets (or no label pallets) from rock and/or paver companies. These single-use pallets are not typically exposed to nasty chemicals in the course of their use.
IMHO, pallet wood should never be used in a food-contact project (dining room tables, serving trays, cutting boards) as one can never be sure it wasn’t exposed to something nasty before repurposing.
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Look for used fencing on Craigslist Free section. Good source of weathered wood for picture frames, etc. Fence boards are often 4-6" wide and 3/4" thick. The support boards are typically 2x4 or 2x6 with 4x4 or sometimes 6x6 posts. Clever cutting can allow resizing while keeping the weathered portions on the “show” side of the wood.
You might also look up “ebonizing” as a wood treatment: this homemade solution made from vinegar and rusty iron (acetic acid + iron oxide yielding iron acetate) will age tannin-rich wood and make a grey-to-black weathering effect almost instantly from new wood. Will turn oak and walnut nearly black (fake ebony, hence the name), has little effect on pine*.
- unless you brew up some strong tea and pre-paint the wood to inject additional tannins (from the tea leaves) into the wood.
As an aside, this works on veg-tan leather as well: in leatherworking they call it “vinegaroon” (not to be confused with the psuedo-scorpion of the same name).
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If someone wants some weathered fencing, I’ve got some I’d like to be rid of.
Otherwise, when it comes to pallets…
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Also @Xerakon , I have 2 new leftover cedar fence pickets that I’d love to dispose of. They are clean, and would make a cool frame or 10. You could look at artificially aging them via the steel wool and vinegar technique (http://www.wikihow.com/Age-Wood-With-Vinegar-and-Steel-Wool)
I’ll be up at the shop this weekend, yours if you want them. I’ll need to cut them down a bit to fit them in my tiny car.
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A board like that makes a pretty good 1-board birdhouse. I’ve made a few and they are well-accepted by bluebirds and barn swallows (both insectivores).
FWIW, this makes a good beginner woodworker project, too (assuming you have the hole saw).
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I’ve made several of these and taught a class on it. The recycled lumber would work well for this, but I’ve never done it. It would probably work well for bat houses, too.
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This is a neat place, and they do have reclaimed wood and other things
I have seen turn of the century mantelpieces in there
they are down on Riverfront, just south of where it goes under I 30
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