How to Salvage Wood from Shipping Pallets

Pallet upcycling is all the rage today. But, if you’ve ever tried to actually remove wood planks from a pallet, you know that it is not an easy task. The nails that are used are typically spiral nails and are designed to really grip that wood. And if that’s not enough, they usually shoot 4-5 nails per joint. Sheesh, you’d think they were building a foundation for a 10 ton elephant. Okay, actually it is the foundation that has to hold tons of product as it is lifted by a fork lift. Which explains why harvesting pallet wood can be a labor intensive task.

I figured you’d appreciate it if I shared with you the quickest and easiest way I’ve found to salvage this beautifully rustic pallet wood.

Materials:

Circular Saw (or jig saw)
Pry bar
Hammer
Dremel Multi-Max (or hacksaw)
Dremel Multi-Max metal/wood cutting blade

Instructions:

Lay the pallet on a flat surface.

Set your circular saw depth to about 1/4″ beyond the pallet wood.

Saw through the pallet board close to the joint. However, make sure that you are far enough away from any nails. (It is a good idea to look underneath before you begin to cut.)

Cut along the opposite side of the board where it meets the other side board. You should have two cuts now, but the board is still nailed in the middle.

This is a good time to break out the Dremel Multi-Max. (Side note: Dremel sent this tool for me to try — and I have to say — it was a huge help for cutting through all those excess pallet nails. I really liked the tool and it fit nice in my (small female) hand. I haven’t tried any of the other attachments yet, but will be using it to cut the baseboard trim in the bonus room soon.)

The Dremel Multi-Max comes with a few attachments, but you can buy other attachments as needed. Check out the Dremel accessory finder to figure out which bit or blade you need for your specific project.

To install the cutting blade, remove the collet nut on the Multi-max with an allen wrench (1). Loosen the nut until you can slip the wood & metal blade underneath.Line the pins up with the holes in the blade (2). Tighten the collet nut on the Multi-Max.

Insert the Multi-max blade flush with the bottom of the pallet wood. Let the blade saw through the nails. Don’t force or rock the Multi-Max. (I was able to cut through the outer nails, but couldn’t reach the inner ones.)

Hammer a pry bar under the edge of the loosened board. Pry up the edge a little.

Slip a hammer underneath the pried up side and slide the crow bar into the opposite side of the board. Gently rock the hammer and crow bar outward to lift the board free.

To remove nails still in the pallet board, turn the board upside down (1). Hammer the nail through the board (2). Flip the board right side up and use the claw on the hammer to pry up the nail (3).

After a few hours I had amassed quite a collection of pallet boards and scrap wood from the shop. I used ALL of it in this project.

Stay tuned!

Disclosure: Dremel sent me the Multi-Max to try out in a product review. I was not compensated to write this post, nor was I told what to write or how to use the tool. All opinions and instructions are my own.

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Victoria Wolford says:

September 24, 2012 at 2:51 pm

TheDremel Multi-Max would be a great addition to our woodworking area (garage!). I’ve been collecting projects this summer, waiting for the kids to go back to school so I could start on them!

Melissa Whitcher says:

September 24, 2012 at 2:41 pm

Love your insights on getting the pallets apart. I just picked up about 5 of them off the side of the road the other day and haven’t had the time to pull them apart and work on them yet. This tool you mentioned would help me out immensely.

Thanks for the post and giveaway!

Melissa