Pallet supports for handle wood?

A

Andy Johnston

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Feb 10, 2014
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My dad is the manager of the bakery/deli for a local grocery store and often gets pallets with the thicker support pieces being made of walnut, maple, oak, and cherry. My question is would that wood be ok to use for handle material, or is pallet wood not dried? I honestly have no clue here I am just curious because there is a prospect of free wood :p
 
The might be, ask if they are stabilized planks.

There are thousands of hardwood pallets where I work, and several are usually taken apart monthly and put up for grabs if any employees want them. I wasn't interested at first - until it was mentioned that they are stabilized. Now I whenever I see one, I always check it for anything with good grain figure that isn't cracked all to heck.
 
Ninja Blacksmith said:
The might be, ask if they are stabilized planks.
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I doubt you could find a pallet anywhere that the wood was stabilized like stabilized knife handle wood.

Wood for a pallet may still be a little wet ( it is when they build it ) for what you need for a knife handle but bring it indoors to a heated environment and in a few months it should be fine.
 
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This is a hysterical example of a word being used by two industries....and having completely different meanings.

We all know about wood stabilization for knives. It is a process of impregnating the wood fibers with resins.

In Pallet Stabilization, they are talking about physical stability. Stabilized pallets have some method used to keep the load from shifting, or to allow stacking of pallets without danger of the lower pallet collapsing. The main method is to glue the boxes to the pallet. Another is shrink wrapping the contents onto the pallet. A third is heavy cardboard "stabilizers" on each corner. The wood or plastic used in the actual pallet is not "stabilized" in any way at all.

I think it will be a long time before I can see a stack of pallets behind my store without giggling about this thread :)
 
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Ah that makes sense. I deal with stabilized pallets all day, but have never heard of them described that way. I can't imagine why they'd stabilize the wood.

Good 'ol Stacy. Is there anything you don't know? My children think I know everything in the entire world. I guess I can see how that feels. :D
 
bladsmth said:
This is a hysterical example of a word being used by two industries....and having completely different meanings.

We all know about wood stabilization for knives. It is a process of impregnating the wood fibers with resins.
Click to expand...

I'll be darned; this whole time I thought they meant stabilization as KNIFEMAKERS know it. :foot: Nevermind, disregard my last post, Andy.
 
I second Strigamort, is there anything you don't know? Thanks for the info guys. Free wood is out. I knew it was probably to good to be true. :p
 
bladsmth said:
This is a hysterical example of a word being used by two industries....and having completely different meanings.

We all know about wood stabilization for knives. It is a process of impregnating the wood fibers with resins.

In Pallet Stabilization, they are talking about physical stability. Stabilized pallets have some method used to keep the load from shifting, or to allow stacking of pallets without danger of the lower pallet collapsing. The main method is to glue the boxes to the pallet. Another is shrink wrapping the contents onto the pallet. A third is heavy cardboard "stabilizers" on each corner. The wood or plastic used in the actual pallet is not "stabilized" in any way at all.

I think it will be a long time before I can see a stack of pallets behind my store without giggling about this thread :)
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Sorry, I should have read all the other posts before posting :D
 
I used to work in the forklift business and pallets were a major part of loads. The most common repurposing for pallets is as firewood. They are usually fresh yellow pine and prone to splitting almost as soon as made. There are companys that do nothing but recycle pallets 24/7. If you locate one of those companies I'm betting you can have your pick of the scrap.
 
Andy Johnston said:
Free wood is out. I knew it was probably to good to be true. :p
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You could still use it if you want , the wood does not "have to be" stabilized to use. If you want it stabilized you need to finish drying it first then you can send it off to be stabilized by the pros and it wouldnt be to expensive. If you want to know how to finish drying it look at my first post.
 
Spalted said:
You could still use it if you want , the wood does not "have to be" stabilized to use. If you want it stabilized you need to finish drying it first then you can send it off to be stabilized by the pros and it wouldnt be to expensive. If you want to know how to finish drying it look at my first post.
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Sorry, but this is terrible advice. Pallet wood quality is generally poor... for a reason- it's cheap. It's not made to look pretty but to support a load. Can someone use it for a knife handle- sure, but that same person can grab a stick in his back yard, dry it, have it stabilized and glue it on a tang and that person wouldn't be much worse off compared to using pallets
 
Bob Katilus said:
Sorry, but this is terrible advice. Pallet wood quality is generally poor... for a reason- it's cheap. It's not made to look pretty but to support a load. Can someone use it for a knife handle- sure, but that same person can grab a stick in his back yard, dry it, have it stabilized and glue it on a tang and that person wouldn't be much worse off compared to using pallets
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I forget where I read it recently, but someone was saying that pallet wood is often whatever was available at the time of manufacture. This includes indigenous wood from the country where they are made. According to a poster, the wood can sometimes be fairly exotic. Oh! It was Andy Roy (Fiddleback Forge) iirc. He said that he had seen some really nice wood and wanted to use it, but his boss, at the time, pointed out that the wood has some nasty chemicals applied to repel bugs... Or weather... Or something. Anyway, the point is that pallet wood isn't always crappy wood. I'll see if I can find that thread.

Yup, it was Andy. The wood was Lacewood.

2nd to last post.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1146847
 
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I have seen some beautiful walnut pieces on pallets before, but I did not know about the fumigation. There's always something isn't there.
 
The chemical is methylbromide and is pretty nasty stuff, but is usually applied (fumigated) if it is going, or coming from, overseas. The tricky thing is that it isn't usually stamped as it is often done at/ near the port, so you can't tell it has gone through the process. It is ok to handle or touch it after the treatment is complete, but grinding the wood may re-expose the MB- which you definitly don't want to breathe. Heat treated pallets usually are stamped (either HT or ISPM15) though that is a different process to combat the same bug issue.

I want to make sure folks aren't thinking I am try to pick a fight, or argue, because I really am not. But if you think logically about it, why would someone use hundreds/ possibly thousands of dollars worth of exotic hardwoods for a $10 pallet? Sure, some pallets are made from hardwoods (domestic and overseas), but it really is a crap shoot to find good pieces to reclaim. Like Charlie Bucket finding the golden ticket for the chocolate factory. I know that they use rough cut oak, Ashe, and maple to make hardwood pallets around my neck of the woods, but that doesn't mean that it'll be great for handles. It is almost like saying ground beef is just like steak. I think guiding new or aspiring knife makers to reclaim pallets is providing a disservice to them, IMHO.
 
I completely agree.

I used to hear that a lot of the pallets and dunnage ( shipping timbers) from the marine terminals in Norfolk were teak and mahogany. One day, I decided to find out, and went down to the the company that re-cycles the wood from the terminals. They told me, "Yes, both teak and mahogany are used sometimes." Then they explained that there was a lot of difference between dunnage grade wood and furniture grade wood. They do separate some wood for hobby guys who make outdoor chairs and such, but said it was pretty low grade.
They said most all pallets are oak and maple....and the best re-use is firewood.
 
We get a lot of 'kindling' cut-offs from a local shop that does custom mouldings and whatnot. It's usually very clean wood, mostly poplar, oak, and mahogany. But it's also rather boring. I've used a couple pieces for knives, but we've burned prolly 3 cord in the woodstove compared to a few pieces worth saving. It makes decent cutting boards, but I wouldn't do that will pallet wood. :-P

Usually the same shop puts aside the nice stuff for favorite customers, so digging through the scrap bin is usually a waste of time.

We did get some pallet remains from the same guy that turned out to be Meranti. Tough as nails and a nice color, but coarse boring grain.
 
Well I found a nice piece of cherry that has been sitting in the closet for years when I came home to visit and my parents said I could have it so I have some handle material for a while. Not my first choice of wood but its free and it has a darker color in the middle of the board so I'm content.
 
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I used to work for a company that imported cast iron parts from China. I started noticing some of the pallets were Lacewood and was tempted to bring them home, but I knew that fumigation was required because they came from overseas, so I shyed away. Last thing I need is yet another toxin associated with my career.

Lacewood isn't that expensive anyway. Neither is straight grained Walnut, Mahogany or even Teak (compared to knife scale prices). Buy planks from a good hardwood supplier and you can cherry pick beautiful pieces, and cut your handle costs way down. I like buying 2" thick planks that are a foot wide and several feet long. That way I can cut scales off the edge with a simple rip cut.

Bonus - if the board is plain sawn (cheaper and more common) then the scales ripped off the edges are quartersawn. Plain sawn scales look cheap, and you don't get rays and flecks in the wood like you do if the scales are quartersawn. Think plywood. In addition, quartersawn wood is more stable. If you buy a thinner quartersawn plank (usually a lot more $$), then you have to re-saw the wood to get the quartersawn scales, so spring for the thicker plank. Re-sawing on the tablesaw is tricky (in a dangerous way) and re-sawing on the bandsaw doesn't leave a clean and ready to use scale. We have a sled for the tablesaw that allows us to re-saw our woods with relative safety. Without this safety device, I'd recommend re-sawing on a bandsaw then cleaning up at the surface grinder. I find this to be a PITA, much slower, and my cheap ass 14" Jet bandsaw isn't built for re-sawing. You need a big italian machine thats stout as hell do get good re-saw's on a bandsaw IMO. So IMO its a big deal and big $ saver to buy the thick plank and rip the scales off in ready to go fashiion on the table saw.
 
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