How to take a pallet apart without breaking it

How to take a pallet apart without breaking it

How to take a pallet apart without breaking it

I like to use recycled wood for my projects, and a good and free source of wood is pallets. In this video I dismantle 4 types of pallets from all over the world, and I test some pallet dismantling tools like the sawzall, the pallet buster, the car jack, and my own homemade pallet buster tool and a prybar and hammer.

I would like to thank my good friend @TheWoodenRider from Canada for providing valuable tips and clips for this video. Check out his channel for more tips about dismantlilng american pallets at    / pallettv  

I would also like to thank @jeremylakenes6859 for publishing his very popular video Pallet Disassembly…DON’T USE A HAMMER!!! I have used a short clip from his video to discuss if using a sawzall and leaving the nails in the wood is a good idea. Thank you Jeremy.

Chapters:
00:00 What is the best way of taking pallets apart?
00:25 Dismantling the EUR pallet
01:53 3 ways to remove pallet blocks
02:16 is the Sawzall a good tool for pallet dismantling?
03:07 The North American type of pallet
03:18 Dismantling the square block pallet
04:57 @TheWoodenRider uses a pallet buster on a pallet
05:19 Total pallet disassembly failure

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Content

0.16 -> What is the best way of  taking pallets apart? Sawzall?  
4.08 -> Pallet buster? Car jack? Or just  clever use of a hammer and pry bar?
9.28 -> Hi. I’m Jesper. I really love pallets,  and in this video I'm going to dismantle  
14.16 -> these 4 types of pallets including  one huge pallet dismantling failure.
19.12 -> I’m also giving you my best tips for tools to  use, and what not to use! More about that later.
25.28 -> First pallet: The Euro pallet. Many people  seem to avoid euro pallets like the plague,  
29.92 -> but they are actually very easy to disassemble  because they have a lot of weak spots.
34.08 -> First, get the bottom stringers and  blocks off. Take a sledge hammer and  
37.76 -> tap the blocks lightly on the sides. In a  horizontal position the system with blocks  
42 -> and stringers are very strong, but if you put  it in a vertical position, it becomes weak.  
47.44 -> Next step is removing the large nails that  connect the top boards with the blocks.  
53.12 -> You can shoot them out with a nail  remover, but if you don't have one like me,  
56.72 -> the best way is just cutting the  nails short and hammering them out.  
65.44 -> Hit the short nails one time with a hammer,  
67.84 -> turn the pallet over and remove  the nails with a pry bar.
74.24 -> With the big nails out of the way, we  just need to get the top boards separated  
78.32 -> from the stringers. Most people would take a  crowbar and start twisting the boards apart.
83.2 -> I have found another way.
85.76 -> I have made my own pallet buster  kit. It's just two rafters  
89.36 -> that came from a pallet. I call  them pallet buster one and two.
94.72 -> Place number one on the ground, the pallet over  it, and just tap the stringers lightly with number  
99.2 -> two, and you'll have the boards separated from the  stringers fast and without any splintered boards.  
105.28 -> The pallet almost takes itself apart.
111.92 -> Now, we still have the bottom  boards with the blocks on them.  
114.96 -> One way of getting them off is to  hammer a crowbar in and twist them off.  
122.64 -> Another is hammering them off like this.  
127.28 -> Best way is to fasten the block in a  vise and use the board itself as a lever.
132.96 -> In a moment I'll show you some of my weirdest  pallet projects, but first, let's talk about the  
137.6 -> sawzall. If you mount a demolition blade on it,  it will cut through wood and nails, and a lot of  
143.6 -> people praise this method of taking pallets apart,  like this very popular video Don't use a hammer!
150.8 -> But if you cut all the nails, you're stuck  with two parts of the nail in the wood,  
155.04 -> one in the top boards and another part in  the bottom boards or blocks. They will be  
159.52 -> very hard to get out. Here I’m planing pallet  boards for a garden table build. And with nails  
165.28 -> stuck in the wood, you'll be unable to use most  woodworking tools like saws and planers on it.  
177.36 -> And I could not have made this tabletop from  pallet blocks if I had left the nails into them.
186 -> This is a North American type of pallet, and this  one is extra strong with 5 stringers. I’m pretty  
191.52 -> sure I can take it apart with my homemade pallet  buster, but… let’s save this for a little later.
198.16 -> This is a different kind of  block pallet, square in diameter,  
201.84 -> and it is pretty strong with bottom boards  in both directions. No obvious weak point.
208.32 -> I could use a car jack to separate  the bottom from the top boards,  
212.08 -> but I find it slow and board breaking. I  prefer to cut the boards with a circular saw.  
224.48 -> I use these short boards for a lot of things,  like making this pallet wood wall in my workshop.  
235.04 -> Then again, vertical position and a hammer,  
238 -> and I can disassemble the rest  with my homemade pallet buster.
300.24 -> This is my friend Karell, he lives in Canada  and has been dismantling pallets for many years.  
305.68 -> He’s using a circular saw to cut the  ends off, and then he uses a pallet  
309.52 -> buster to twist the board from the  stringer in the middle. Very clever.  
314.24 -> I have linked his channel in the  description. Go check him out.
318.96 -> Now my take on the amercian pallet.  This pallet is about 10 years old,  
323.68 -> and the wood is very thin and fragile.  The boards just splinters on me,  
328.08 -> and there is no other use  for this than the fire stove.
330.88 -> I live in Europe and get a lot of europalles,  
333.36 -> and I have some important tips on how to  dismantle them in this video right here:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOXvrHeSLzs