Are oak pallets seasoned?

[damifino]

I come across 8 foot long 4x4 oak that pipe is delivered on and oak pallets and was wondering if this wood is seasoned or kiln dried before it ever leaves the factory?

Thanks

 

[MATTYB11]

In my experience pallets and shipping crates are always made from kiln dried lumber and burn very well. If I were you I'd take all I could get my hands on provided the pallets didn't appear to chemically treated.

 

[Rookie1]

As far as I know they are all seasoned whether its kiln or by time. I just cut a truckload of oak timbers used for holding steel coils and am burning them as i type this. Nice and hot.

 

[coppermouse]

Generally kiln dried and burn well, I use them myself, and cut the slats into strips for kindling

 

[wdchuck]

I"ve built a trailer bed, and two wood sheds out of that type of oak runner, makes for great posts and headers and rafters.

Even made some office furniture from crate wood.

Try to find some other use for the better stuff, but if you are going to be cold, well, then its perfect to warm the house. Just cut to length.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

It seems a waste to burn such nice lumber!

Don't you have a better use for it?

Dan, I haven't found pallets to be good lumber, from a furniture standpoint. It's not pretty - usually full of blemishes of one sort or another, and then there are the multitude of fasteners.

Now, for building rough things around the place, wood bins and the like, that's good stuff. All my firewood is stacked on pallets or contained in bins made from pallets. My kids rabbit cages set on a platform made from pallet wood. It's very useful stuff.

I've got a line on some free 3x3s 7 feet long, from shipping crates from India. Don't know what kind of wood, but it's harder than oak. I have some projects in mind for that stuff!

 

[Rookie1]

Thats funny how different people see things differently. I had a big wild cherry fall over into a walnut this spring. Ill be burning them both this winter.

 

[cityevader]

I get free pallets, and made my initial "firewood room" of pallets under the carport. Three wide, three deep, two high. Twenty one total.
Then there are the two separate 3x4x6 foot "rooms" for the chunks and end cuts and wierd splits which are now filled and I need at least two more.

Then there is the spot out in the yard for next ytears woodpile to keep off the ground.

Once I have everything laid out, and all the "rooms" filled, I guess I'd naturally start burning the pallets!!

 

[Richard_]

are you guys high , don't burn em , build with them:greenchainsaw:

http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletWoodShed/

 

[wdanforth]

As far as I know they are all seasoned whether its kiln or by time. I just cut a truckload of oak timbers used for holding steel coils and am burning them as i type this. Nice and hot.

I get tons of these oak timbers from a steel warehouse near me. Real 3x3 and 4x4 7 ft in length. I build my wood racks and a very nice oak deck for my smoker. But I cut most of the 3x3 and some 4x4 into firewood. I believe they are seasoned by time. Some times I get some that are not seasoned. Damn they are heavy.

Burning some 3x3 in the wood burner right now.

 

[A. Stanton]

I threw a pallet in the firepit last night, don't think it was oak. That thing put on a light show like the 4th with all the popping sparks. Only used half a pallet too.

 

[dsm382]

are you guys high , don't burn em , build with them:greenchainsaw:

http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletWoodShed/

:dunno: link don't work.

well, guess what? i am burning some oak pallet wood right now.
been using them for years. I got a guy that owns a sheet metal shop and my skids are 8' 10' and 12' long, DAMN heavy. most have oak cross peices some dont but it all burns.
built the side board for the truck with it,
built the posts for the trailer side boards with it,
built shelves in the barn with it,
built a few pieces of 'rough' furnature with it,

i try and 'bust' up all the skids and burn what don't break, and store the 'good' stuff.

but yeah when your cold and low on wood ya burn it.

took a load to a good friend of mine for firewood and his dad spent (retired) 3 days busting them up and stacking so he could 'use' the wood....
he told his dad 'i'm going to burn it!'
next day we took 6 10' oak 4x4's over to a buddies to use a temporay fence posts....

i am saving the good ones for my wood shed.
recycle man recycle....

here is a shot of 'one' of my piles....
i know it's a shot of noodles but if you look past it....

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I was talking about the oak 4"x4"x8' timbers. I got about a dozen myself and they are quite stout. I lost out on quite a few to a fellow that burnt them but I feel they are way too nice a piece of lumber to burn. Sour grapes!

I agree, Dan. I'd have to be pretty desperate to burn those!

 

[coog]

Had a friend that worked at a pole barn mfg. plant.Their steel was delivered on 4x4 hardwood pallets that had 4"x6" timbers with real 2x4 cross pieces.They would only use them one time, as they were too expensive to ship empty.He would dismantle them and then bind them with steel straps and send them to me on a flatbed semi.I would pull them off the trailer and cut them up with a buzzsaw I had on the back of my IH tractor.I burned this wood exclusively, as nobody wanted to buy it from me.Boy, with the square angles(and no bark) you could sure load a stove.I was able to sell every piece of firewood that I cut.These skids were not kiln dried, but it did seem a shame to burn such nice stuff.I've often wondered if they got smart at that plant and went to a OWB.

 

[urhstry]

My friend owns a pallet company. The wood he gets in for making his pallets is not dried. Some of it CAN be but overall, no. He does have to take his pallets and heat them in a chamber in order to kill all bugs and what-not in order to ship them. This is a new government rule and must be done for all pallets. Or they can spray them but that is very expensive. I do go over to his place a lot and get his cutoffs but they have to be burned the following year. Most of his wood is coming in from other countries.

 

[Paso One]

I had my pallets cut down the middle so they become approx 24 x 48 fit nice in the bottom layer of wood in the OWB

 

[Paso One]

opps didn't insert all the images

 

[Chuck Diesel]

opps didn't insert all the images

What kind of owb is that?

 

[Paso One]

V92 Homesteader

 

[rx7145]

I also have a hook up for some of the large pallets from a steel fab shop. They are hard to get now that every one is looking for them. In the spring/summer no one is looking for them so I get most of them then.

Anyway I have burned hundreds of them over the years. Here are some pictures: