I am not a huge expert on pallets but I came across an ad that displayed kindling wood that was oak and from pallets. I was a bit weirded out? Why put oak on pallets? Now I gotta ask the forum, has anyone run into such?
I had a friend that custom made skids from oak. Oddball sizes/made to fit. Machines, slabs of metal, etc.. Heavy weights that would just crush a normal skid made from lightweight woods like a bug. Most of them looked more like sleds than skids though. Some standard 40x48 pallets are made of oak. They are heavy as heck. I got the oak slabs from his sawmilling. They were fairly crappy slabs. More bark than meat sometimes.
This is what I thought entirely, how ridiculous heavy oak is, but as heavy as oak is, its Super flexible in planks so I can see it happening but perhaps not that common as pallet material.
I believe the hardwood pallets that all the blocks for my barn foundation came on were made of Oak. Heavy and strong.
Using Oak to build pallets is fairly normal around here. Pallet Pete , could give you some good info.
Lots of pallets are low grade knotty or rough oak to transport heavy equipment. They get shipped all over and people tend to use them for all kinds of things. I have 3 right now stacked with wood and one I am turning into a wheel chair accessible planter for a very close friend. They last forever... Most pallet companies pay good money to get them back too.
I work in retail and we get our product on one of two kinds of pallets. They are differentially painted either orange or blue, from different manufacturers (I think the blue ones are CPC?). I was told years ago that they are made out of oak, as they weigh a friggin' ton, and we are charged a rental fee for them. If the warehouse is shorted any of these pallets, we are charged for them.
CPC stands for Canadian pallet council if I remember correctly they make it here to the US and ya they are hardwood and weigh a TON... When I drove OTR I would get pallet loads when nothing else was available and CPC loads went over the border on occasion. The cheap pallets went to a pallet disassembly and repair plant usually.
the blue pallets are made by Chep, they use 4X4's between the planks instead of 2X4's. Definitely way heavier! I work for an industrial battery company. Our batteries weigh anywhere from 400-5000lbs. They all come on hardwood, mostly oak. Great for kindling, or for a quick bed of coals for my ginormous fire pit.
Ah yes. Chep blue pallets. Heavy as all heck. After high school, I worked for a company that made pallet disassembly and repair machines. Kinda like this one, except the ones we made had twin hardened and sharpened steel discs to cut the nails from the stringers. 1-Person Pallet Dismantlers | Pallet Recycling, Recovery & Repair I can't find the ones we used to make, the company probably went under.
Chep, that's the other name I couldn't think of. Then the orange ones must have been CPC. Regardless, very heavy. However, when I first started in retail (1974), we use to get our product on what was called skids. They were, roughly, 4x8 and had a heavy steel frame that held wood boards that, if I can remember, were laid width-wise and were around 6 inches wide by an inch and a half thick. those skids took two people to lift and were a great source of hilarity trying to pile them.
The only orange ones I have used where Vestile, Chep and Cpc where painted blue chep was all blue and cpc was painted on the sides. The plastic ones also have a return policy and hold something like 6000 lbs I think. I have been looking for a bunch but have never really had luck finding any.
If you're really quiet and all stealthy-like, there are several stacked piles of plastic pallets outside our local Walmart.....
I asked by me at Home Depot, Walmart, Meijer, Farm and Home, TSC etc.. They all say no there is a $60 to $65 return fee on them.
Ive picked up some pretty heavy pallets, one was over 7 feet long and 4 feet deep. The support boards are like small beams, rough cut and leveled. I can just lift it enough to move it but no way is the whole thing getting off the ground without a vein the size of a tow cable come out of my head and possibly a double hernia. Im going to guess that the pallets of oak are going to be more rare around here and possibly kept if companies know what they are. Most companies that I see giving away pallets are either construction or roofing/home and business. So they are more expendable and much more likely to break being cheaper wood and all. I hope they stop making the particulate pallets, they are a mess to get rid of and not worth having. I made the mistake thinking they were ok since I needed a place to keep the wood off the ground I was collecting all last summer but I was still learning about where to get decent pallets. Luckily I got that and its 2 mins from home. So its best to get cracking on saving a few for a good project or two and getting rid of the junky ones.
There's plenty of Oak pallets at my job. And they're not recycled either. Sad. Well, I recycle as many as I can :stacke: Or....
Those must last longer than 6 generations. By then if the pallet is used enough, its likely to have the plastic burring it gets when scrapped along concrete and whatnot and needs a grinder or sawzall to get it cleaned up. Looking like sweet gum from a splitter! Well If they worked well for keeping things high and dry and not needing replacement, the $60 fee doesn't seem bad when you may use it for 40+ years...
I have one waiting for me to pick up @ work. We got a big shipment last week including about 60 motorcycle tires. Got to the bottom and I notice an oak pallet! I'll snap a pic tues to share. They don't expect it back and boss said I could have it.
