Pallet question

[Greg]

Are all (any?) pallets treated? I had someone telling me recycling pallet lumber was a bad idea since they were treated and the sawdust or even smoke from burning, was toxic. I looked at several sites that sell pallets and I can't confirm this. It's hard to believe the manufacturer would spend the money to treat a pallet and then not sell that process as a value add to their product. I do understand there are different grades of pallet but they don't seem to want any of them back that have block, sod or mortar shipped on them. Some look like pine but others are oak.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Some are. Import regulations require that wood be treated or the container be fumigated. Most pallets used domestically are NOT treated. I don't know the details of treatment. I do know that a lot of containers stink when first opened.

Since pallet wood is not dried the same as furniture grade, you will probably wait a period of time before cutting themanyway. That takes care of any odor present. Be selective. Some pallets have good looking wood, many have poor grades and much wasted. Ed [e-mail]

[Phisherman]

You never really know. Some are treated, others not. Not only pine and oak, but I have walnut, ash, beech, maple, cherry, and several other wood types I have not identified. You might be able to detect preservatives by cutting a small piece of the wood and (carefully) smelling it.

[Eric Tonks]

Some of my favourite pallets are the ones used to ship paper for printers. Because an uneven surface on a pallet will transfer to the paper making it wavy and unusable by printers, these pallets usually have a surface without any gaps. This means more wood per pallet. If the paper is shipped in bulk as opposed to in cartons, then the pallet has a matching top that takes the stress from the steel straps. I am still working on my stash of pallet "lids" that I gathered up over a few years in a printing plant. This particular paper mill shipped their paper on pine pallets. The caps or lids were 7/8" thick pine boards ranging from 8 to 12 wide by 42" long. They were easy to disassemble. While there are often large knots, areas of dry rot and splits, the good portions have ended up in many jigs, small projects and small framing and supports throughout my house. The bad portions that I cut out become kindling for my wood stove.

Check out a local printer. This would be someone who uses large sheets, not the pre-cut letter sized sheets that come in small cartons.

[Silvan]

Some might be, I guess. Treated wood is usually pretty obvious though, and I haven't seen anything that looked like treated lumber after 10 years in the workforce doing jobs that involve moving goods on pallets. I've seen them made out of everything from pine to MDF too. (MDF pallets suck, BTW.)