Video: Nothing is more closely associated with “upcycling” than the lowly, splintery shipping pallet. You can get them for next to nothing and turn them into sweet boxes, benches, light stands or put the wood towards hundreds nay, thousands of other projects. Here’s how to pull one apart without ending up in the ER.
Jim Ether‘s method requires just three tools: a hatchet, a hammer and a Sawzall. You could probably swap the hatchet with a crowbar if you’re so inclined. Rather than rip all the boards out one at a time, Ether shimmies the shorter horizontal boards off the supports just enough to fit the blade of the Sawzall in. Cut those nails and you’re golden, no mess no fuss.
It’s a simple trick, but if almost-free furniture is your bag, this is bound to save you lots of time and more than a few injuries. Let us know how your wall-mounted whiskey shelf turns out.
Originally posted on Gizmodo.
Comments
2 responses to “How To Take Apart Shipping Pallets Without Hurting Yourself Like An Idiot”
Ok, not everyone has a sawzall and if you do use one as he’s shown, you end up with a pile of wood full of nails you can’t remove easily. As I mentioned the last time this video came up, you can do the same job with just a claw hammer, the bigger the better, but just a hammer. You can also remove most if not all the nails with the same hammer. It takes a bit longer, but in the end, you’ll have timber you can use a saw on without wasting bits because of nails. Just sayin, is all.
My thoughts precisely. If you do it his way, you can’t put it through a thicknesser, or plane it, and you have to be very careful where you use the table saw and it could really mess up your router.