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Pallet buster

DIY

Last Post by Mars 4 years ago

8 Posts

5 Users

12 Reactions

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Majordennisbloodnok

(@majordennisbloodnok)

Famed Member Moderator

Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 2058

Topic starter 16/03/2022 8:54 pm [#365]

During the lockdown, wood became ridiculously expensive with everyone turning their hands to a bit of DIY. Even so, I found wooden pallets were still easy to find (once I was allowed out of the house again). As a result, I invested in a bit of kit I’ve subsequently found to be absolutely spot on - a pallet buster.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-pallet-buster-demolition-bar-43/6765x

Baically, if you can dismantle a wooden pallet without the wood splitting, it’s amazing how much good construction material it yields. The tool is well recommended by me.

105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs

"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"

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Anonymous

(@Anonymous)

Joined: 1 second ago

Posts: 0

16/03/2022 10:12 pm

What’s your success rate in not damaging pallets with the buster? I use a chisel and crowbar, with about 40% success.

I just love pallets. Last year I wanted to build more raised beds around the veg garden. Our hardware store, whose prices are very competitive, quoted me around £1,000 for the wood… not a lot of wood I might add. The prices are still insane. The very same hardware store gives away heat treated pallets. I took loads and built four large beds at a cost of £0 for the wood and £40 for liner.

https://myhomefarm.co.uk/raised-beds-from-upcycled-pallets

I’m in the process of building five more (three down, two to go).

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Majordennisbloodnok

(@majordennisbloodnok)

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Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 2058

Topic starter 17/03/2022 12:26 am

Assuming the pallets are in good condition, I reckon I can dismantle them and reclaim about 85-90%. There are some, of course, that are held together with nails or staples that are complete overkill and success with those is lower, but still immeasurably better than with crowbar, bolster and chisel.

"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"

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Saz

(@saz)

Reputable Member Member

Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 119

17/03/2022 2:27 pm

What liner do you use for the raised beds @editor? Would ordinary weed control fabric be suitable?

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Mars

(@editor)

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Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 4801

17/03/2022 4:26 pm

@saz, bang on. This is the liner we used, which was excellent, but it's currently out of stock: https://amzn.to/3ijgguF

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Mars

(@editor)

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Posts: 4801

17/03/2022 4:28 pm

@majordennisbloodnok, that's an excellent ratio. The issue is pallets that have 3-4 nails in the middle of the length of wood. Those inevitable crack or splinter.

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Kev M

(@kev-m)

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Posts: 1276

17/03/2022 4:42 pm

So far I've either used the pallets intact or attacked them with a chainsaw to make kindling. The pallet buster looks good though. This is my latest pallet construction. It's my hedge against increasing energy prices later in the year. Full of free wood. 😀

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Mars

(@editor)

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Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 4801

17/03/2022 6:22 pm

@kev-m, that's a neat project. Nice. I've also built four really large wood and kindling containers in our garage using pallets (it was actually my first pallet project) and that too saved a small fortune in wood.