pallet breaker built. now need a pallet finisher off

[blackolive (Ste)]

Ive made a pallet breaker of the type with the angle iron forks and long lever bar.

I can now take the top staves off a pallet in 30 secons without much effort.

howver on some designs of pallet Im then left with 3 lots of 2 staves held apart by spacing blocks ( the bits where the forklift forks would go in ).

has anyone got any suggestions for a leverage type tool that will deal with busting these apart.

Ive plenty heavy gauge long steel tubes and was thinking along the lines of 2 pallet breakers fastened together with a pivot bar, so they operate with a scissor action.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Years back I worked on a repair line repairing broken pallets for Chep. We used a air spreader to open a gap above and below the block then a air hacksaw in the gap to cut nails out. Repaired thousands in the short time I was there.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Once I get to that stage I tend to just cut the stave off next to the block with either the table saw/chainsaw/demolition saw.

 

[frank horton]

agree with wendlspanswi, just rip em up with an old circ/saw....have an old'n just for this job....some carbide teeth nissing, so don't worry to much over the nails.......I burn everything......thats unless u want to save the wood for country furniture......hahaha.....
Frank

 

[sardine]

Suppose you could make a giant pair of internal pliers to force the staves off the block, imagine circlip pliers, or mount it on a bench like a shear ?

 

[8ob]

Ive made a pallet breaker of the type with the angle iron forks and long lever bar.

I can now take the top staves off a pallet in 30 secons without much effort.

howver on some designs of pallet Im then left with 3 lots of 2 staves held apart by spacing blocks ( the bits where the forklift forks would go in ).

has anyone got any suggestions for a leverage type tool that will deal with busting these apart.

Ive plenty heavy gauge long steel tubes and was thinking along the lines of 2 pallet breakers fastened together with a pivot bar, so they operate with a scissor action.

If you just want to smash a pallet to bits you could make/build something along the lines of a forestry mulcher, a carbide tipped hammer on a rotor , get this spinning at about 1500rpm and a pallet with nails and all would be destroyed in a millisecond.

Bob

 

[Country Joe]

Years back I worked on a repair line repairing broken pallets for Chep. We used a air spreader to open a gap above and below the block then a air hacksaw in the gap to cut nails out. Repaired thousands in the short time I was there.

Ha! We've both lived the same nightmare! I found myself doing the very same, a while before the air-spreaders, when they still used a device called an egg-bar.

You know those kind of oval but rectangular ice-cream tubs that "Carte D'or" uses?
If you imagine (a steel version of) it welded at about a 45 degree angle to a long bar - it then sloppily fits in the spaces next to the blocks, and as you pull on the bar, it's oval-ish shape pushes the staves away from the blocks.

Even then, still usually used the air-saw to cut through those grippy ring-shank type nails.

I would draw it, but I'm a very poor artist!

All the Best,
CJ

 

[blackolive (Ste)]

thanks for the suggestions, yes they are for burning. I suppose I could wait till ive a few need doing then eithir use the chainsaw or get a second hand circular saw for the job

 

[Gareth0123]

howver on some designs of pallet Im then left with 3 lots of 2 staves held apart by spacing blocks ( the bits where the forklift forks would go in ).

For block pallets/ Euro-pallets you are dismantling the timbers from your pallets in the wrong order. You need to begin by turning your pallet up-side-down and initially use a scrap piece of timber to pry against.

Then continue dismantling your pallet whilst it is still up-side-down using the heel of the bar to push the boards down rather than pry them up with the fork tines.

http://www.cargo-cycles.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Block-removal.pdf

 

[julianf]

Id love one of these -

Id just auger the shred into a furnace, and that would be that. Sorted.

 

[blackolive (Ste)]

For block pallets/ Euro-pallets you are dismantling the timbers from your pallets in the wrong order. You need to begin by turning your pallet up-side-down and initially use a scrap piece of timber to pry against.

Then continue dismantling your pallet whilst it is still up-side-down using the heel of the bar to push the boards down rather than pry them up with the fork tines.

http://www.cargo-cycles.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Block-removal.pdf

So I am, thnks very much

 

[sardine]

I can't think why you would bother pulling a pallet apart just for burning, just attack it with a ( reciprocating) saw and leave all the nails where they are.

 

[julianf]

You can get a few whole pallets in the back of a landrover..

You can fit a significant number of broken pallets in the back of the same landrover.

 

[julianf]

...its also a load quicker to saw them up once they're broken. Or at least it is for me.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I prefer to pull them apart before sawing otherwise the staves can move and jam the blade.

 

[blackolive (Ste)]

I can't think why you would bother pulling a pallet apart just for burning, just attack it with a ( reciprocating) saw and leave all the nails where they are.

I have a small pot pellied stove in the workshop and 6kw stove in the house.

with the pallet breaker I can bust one down in a short time with minimal effort and not much bending down.

Once busted down the staves are cut into equal legths with my chop saw on a stand, so I can maximise the amount stacked in the woodstore.

bocks are put in the wood box in the garage.

when ready to use the cut staves are chopped into kindling to get the fire going and provide a hot ash bed, once going the blocks ( or logs ) are used.

Random lengths of wood with blocks atill attached are a pain to stack and a struggle to fit in either of the stoves

 

[sardine]

I usually cut down all the staves on a standard pallet into four pieces, that fits my stove exactly. It all goes in a dumpy bag so I'm not bothered stacking it. It burns so fast it would probably take longer to stack it than burn it. My 4 kW Morso Squirrel will only go a couple of hours packed full of pallet wood and turned right down at night. I must be burning a cubic metre a week right now, and its not really cold yet.