Using pallets as firewood

[haveawoody]

avc8130,

When you think about the cure wait times the pallets seem a great way to go if you run short on firewood, or maybe even as a full time firewood source.
Lots of people seem to think the pallet wood burns pretty fast but since your cutting them up all pretty much uniform why not just stack wood in the fireplace to control burn speed?

Putting two pieces directly aligned to each other in the wood stove is sure to slow the fire speed, a 2x4 becomes a 4x4, 3 pieces a 4x6 etc.

Works on very thin regular wood so i don't see why that wouldn't work on skid wood, i bet better since skid wood is nice and flat so it should be easy to align for a slower burn.

I've burned quite a few of the main 4x6 oak base runners from stone or concrete skids and for me they burn very well and long.
All the top runners for me become kindle.

 

[jasult]

The plastic pallets make a lot of smoke.

Dont burn plastic but do use them

 

[avc8130]

avc8130,

When you think about the cure wait times the pallets seem a great way to go if you run short on firewood, or maybe even as a full time firewood source.
Lots of people seem to think the pallet wood burns pretty fast but since your cutting them up all pretty much uniform why not just stack wood in the fireplace to control burn speed?

Putting two pieces directly aligned to each other in the wood stove is sure to slow the fire speed, a 2x4 becomes a 4x4, 3 pieces a 4x6 etc.

Works on very thin regular wood so i don't see why that wouldn't work on skid wood, i bet better since skid wood is nice and flat so it should be easy to align for a slower burn.

I've burned quite a few of the main 4x6 oak base runners from stone or concrete skids and for me they burn very well and long.
All the top runners for me become kindle.

Trust me, when you are heating your house with pallets you learn "how" to burn them just like you learn how to burn "real" wood.

If I packed my stove full, it would burn 4-6 hours. Since the wood is all uniform it stacks very tight and you can fit more wood in since there is less air.

Honestly, there was nothing miserable about burning pallets for me. In fact, I still am not known to pass them up when I see them piled on the road side.

If it was once a tree, it burns in my stove and heats my house.

ac

 

[haveawoody]

avc8130,

Yeah that is what i was trying to figure out why people said it was a to hot fire.
Like anything you put in the wood stove if it's small and has lots of air it sure will burn hot and fast.
Skid wood should be ideal to control and being kiln dried add to the reasons to burn it.
Guess if you discard the painted or heavy stained stuff it's going to be as good as any firewood.

When i burn my oak skid chunks i get a few nails but for me i put all my ash in a woeful garden so rusting iron isn't a bad thing for a rock hard clay area.

I wonder if you collected all the nails from 100 skids how much metal you would get to take to the scrap yard.
i bet something towards the gas to go pick them up.

100 a good guess for an entire heating season?

 

[Carl Anderson]

I wouldn't pass a few up for free but believe it or not I haven't found any close enough to make it worth the gas in my truck to go get (haven't looked that hard though). I have tried asking some of the stores around here for a couple to stack some wall stone on and they won't give them away, they charge between $1 and $2 each. I was shocked and one guy said they have a service that collects them and pays the store that much for them. I think they either re-sell them to comapnies that need them to ship stuff if they are in really good shape or use them for making pellets for pellet stoves. So now it's getting harder to find free ones so it's definitely not worth the effort. If someone wanted to drop off a truckload of free ones at my house, sure I'd cut them up and burn them but having to hunt them down and go get them Lord knows where and/or pay for them, no way. Just another way you get the shaft living in CT, even stuff people don't want isn't free.

 

[husky455rancher]

ive burned more pallets than i could count over the years. hey when moneys tight and you dont have any wood you get it done. ive had plenty of firewood you years now. a couple years ago i used a mountain of pallets for firewood. i had plenty of firewood but the pallets were free and it kept me from using my seasoned wood a bit longer

 

[stumpy75]

Since I have quite a bit of wood stacked up, I don't go looking for pallets, but if I stumble into some, I won't turn them down. They are not that hard to cut up, and the ones around here tend to be either maple or oak.

I did burn quite a few of them last year because I had them. I picked up a couple of small magnets at Harbor Freight, stuck them onto the back of an extra ash shovel, and had a great nail collector.

 

[haveawoody]

jasult,

Your plastic skids are pretty sweet, wish i could get about 100 of them for deliveries of wood.
I have to create something similar in wood skids for my deliveries.

Looks like my standard 1/2 cord amount setup but in plastic ?
Bet they are easy to fork.

 

[fubar2]

Ain't worth the time wear tear and work involved to me. Besides the nails and staples you've got to watch for imbedded pea gravel from being weighted and sitting on concrete floors with the random pea gravel that rode in on the towmotors wheels.

 

[Bushmans]

I love pallets!
Being a fireplace guy I need to get a hot fire going and fast. Everyday I get home from work to a cold house. Get a fire going and toss a few chunks of oak pallet on there and we are hot in no time. Before you know it I have a nice bed of coals and switch to regular wood.
I have a plethera of pallets available at work and bring home a few every week.
Bad thing is you never know where the nails are going to be. I chewed up a chain this week cutting the slot between the boards and it was full of nails. I think from now on I will crush them with the log splitter into chunks that will fit into the fireplace.
Once I get my wood burner insert I might not use as many but for now they really help!

 

[stihlrookie]

Circular saw is the way to go for cutting pallets. Like I said earlier, that old man just had a few cheap blades, maybe 5 or 6. It takes a few hits before that blade is really done. Unless you are ripping down the skids your chances of hitting metal are pretty slim. I have cut through many nails/screws/staples with a circular saw, usually can't even tell you hit one except for a spark maybe and thats a maybe. Hit the pawnshops, they usually have piles of blades and cheap circular saws if you don't want to use your makita.

As far as burning pallets that are contaminated, you just need to look them over and pass if they look nasty. Like some said, they are wood, they burn, no big deal. I live in a city of near 40,000 and less than 20 miles from me is Spokane(200,000+), pallets are everywhere. Where I worked previously I had arrangements with a couple pallet scroungers, they would rebuild some themselves but mostly were after the 4 way access 42" square pallets. I think they were reselling them for 2 bucks apiece if I remember right. They started making a mess sorting through my pallet stacks so I nixed the arrangement with them. I went back to crushing them against a 30yd dumpster with a forklift before I had the old man ask for them.

 

[jasult]

jasult,

Your plastic skids are pretty sweet, wish i could get about 100 of them for deliveries of wood.
I have to create something similar in wood skids for my deliveries.

Looks like my standard 1/2 cord amount setup but in plastic ?
Bet they are easy to fork.

Yes very easy to fork. I have 35 of these and some one just left them up for grabs on industrial site where I rent space.
The owner of property asked me if I had a way to dispose of them and I sure did. LOL :biggrin:

 

[haveawoody]

jasult ,

Well that was mighty nice of you to take tme with no charge and all

U lucky dog

 

[jasult]

I did not waste any time in grabbing every last one:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[gugge]

I used a bunch of pallets this fall. Got them for free at work we needed to get rid of them. Cut them up on the concrete with cheap circular blades no big deal really. I would do a stack of 8 or 1o a night. Use a magnet to pick up nails in the stove and the BOL tskes them for scrap.It saved my good wood for awhile. Keep your eyes out for little pcs. of nails in door track. Like a dumbs_it I shut the door on one a crack went the glass. My stupid fault. Will be getting more they burn hot and you learn how to stack.Some even had cherry

 

[Wood Doctor]

Nails?

The biggest problem I see with using hardwood pallets for firewood is avoiding dozens of nails as you cut them up, regardless of what saw you use to get the job done. Those nails tend to make the pallets expensive "free" firewood.

 

[avc8130]

The biggest problem I see with using hardwood pallets for firewood is avoiding dozens of nails as you cut them up, regardless of what saw you use to get the job done. Those nails tend to make the pallets expensive "free" firewood.

I don't understand. I have been cutting up pallets with 1 (one) circular saw blade for 2 straight seasons now. I probably have close to 200 (no joke) pallets cut. No problems with nails.

Here is how I cut:

Lay the pallet flat on the ground. Most pallets are 7 1x4 on the bottom, 3 2x4 stringers and 11 1x4 on top. I start with the top. I run the saw parallel to the stringers about 2" in from each. This makes me 22 1x4s. Flip the pallet over and repeat. This creates another 14 1x4s. Now I cut the stringers into 3 pieces between where the 1x4s were since there are no nails there. This creates 3 2x4s.

So...each pallet nets me ~36 1x4s and 9 2x4s. All ~16" long.

Really very little risk to the blade if you use some common sense.

ac

 

[J.W Younger]

In my experience they are near worthless as heat but will keep wood off the ground for a while.
For me its eaiser to dump em than mess with the nails burnin em when they won't work for stacks.
I suppose it depends on yer situation.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I don't understand. I have been cutting up pallets with 1 (one) circular saw blade for 2 straight seasons now. I probably have close to 200 (no joke) pallets cut. No problems with nails.

Here is how I cut:

Lay the pallet flat on the ground. Most pallets are 7 1x4 on the bottom, 3 2x4 stringers and 11 1x4 on top. I start with the top. I run the saw parallel to the stringers about 2" in from each. This makes me 22 1x4s. Flip the pallet over and repeat. This creates another 14 1x4s. Now I cut the stringers into 3 pieces between where the 1x4s were since there are no nails there. This creates 3 2x4s.

So...each pallet nets me ~36 1x4s and 9 2x4s. All ~16" long. Really very little risk to the blade if you use some common sense.

ac

That's great. I applaud your success. So, what do you do with all the nails? I figure 50 to 100 per pallet.

 

[avc8130]

That's great. I applaud your success. So, what do you do with all the nails? I figure 50 to 100 per pallet.

Depends how motivated you are.

VERY:
magnet through ashes and scrap them.

Not very:
dump them with the ashes

ac