Wooden pallets provide endless possibilities in the field of creative DIY, being able to be recycled as they are or simply recovering their wood.
On the internet there is a lot of material and tutorials regarding the recycling of wooden pallets as is. As an example of this, you can see this other article in which we show a lot of ideas 1000 creative ideas to recycle pallets.
How to recycle wooden pallets
However, there are times when wooden pallets are so damaged that they cannot be reused as they are. For this reason, today we are going to show how to recover the wood from old and deteriorated pallets.
Therefore, we will see how to recycle wooden pallets, recovering their wood, leaving it as new and ready to use in any carpentry project.
Actually, this article is the first part of a larger DIY project in which we will make a “coil” style high table, worthy of the best chillout, made entirely with recycled wood from pallets.
We will also protect the wood with Cedria Nature, a totally ecological water-based stain with low VOC emissions, or what is the same, low in Volatile Organic Compounds. In the next article we will talk more about this innovative product, completely harmless to health.
Tools and products to recycle wooden pallets
To disassemble and restore the wood from recycled pallets we will need a series of tools and products, which are listed below.
 |
 |
|
How to recycle wooden pallets by recovering their wood
Once we have at hand the indicated tools and products and, of course, the pallets that we want to recycle, let’s start.
Disassemble the pallets
The recovery of wood from pallets consists of several phases. The first will be disassembly.
Nails used in the manufacture of wooden pallets.
The dismantling of the boards is the most complicated and delicate part for two reasons.
On the one hand, because the pallets that we recycle are usually more or less deteriorated and, therefore, the wood is weakened.
And on the other hand, in the construction of pallets, grooved nails are used that perform a similar function, to a certain extent, to that of screws, achieving an extremely resistant anchorage.
Dismantling of the pallet. Recycle wooden pallets.
Therefore, with a goat leg we will unnail the boards, being careful not to split or crack them. Don’t worry, as you disassemble pallets, you will gain more and more skill.
There is no rule to follow. Therefore, I include the video below so you can see how it is done and you can get an idea.
Demonstration video to recycle wooden pallets
Remove nails and hardware
The next step will be to remove the nails, as well as any type of hardware that the pallets may have.
In this step we have to be conscientious since, any metallic element that remains, would damage the blades of the electric brush.
Nail cutting. Recycle wooden pallets.
As the nails used in wooden pallets are quite long, it will save time if we cut them. Therefore, we leave only about 3 cm and remove the rest with a grinder or mini-grinder.
Once the nails have been cut, we hit them with the hammer and, with the ears of the hammer, we pull until they are extracted.
Extraction of nails. Recycle wooden pallets.
wood planing
The next step will be to remove the first layer of wood, in which most of the damage and dirt is found.
To do this, we can use an electric sander. However, if we have an electric brush, we will achieve an impeccable finish that is much more comfortable and faster to do.
We’ll get the job done with our powerful Ryobi 18V brush, hooked up to the vacuum system.
Wood planing. Recycle wooden pallets.
If you don’t have a DIY vacuum, no problem. The only thing is that later you will have to collect all the chips, which will not be little.
On the workbench we will fix some stops, so that the piece does not move during brushing.
wood patching
Once all the boards have been planed, we will repair them, covering all the holes left by the nails, as well as any other damage they may have.
Plastering of wood. Recycle wooden pallets.
To do this, we will use wood putty, which we will apply with a spatula.
Once applied, let the solvent evaporate and dry completely. And, then, we gently pass the manual brush, until the excess putty is removed, leaving the wood completely smooth.
Wood patching. Recycle wooden pallets.
As you can see, the wood is like new.
The truth is that recovering this type of wood has work. But is it worth it.
Wood before and after recovery. Recycle wooden pallets.
As I indicated at the beginning, in the next article we will see how to make a “Bobina” style table with all this recycled wood.
Stay tuned and don’t miss it.
Next project with recycled pallets.
Where to find all these materials?
If you want to take a look at the materials used to recycle wooden pallets, see their price or even buy them, here are the links to Amazon Marketplace.
.
