They certainly nail those pallets together well and as they are very wet at the moment prizing them apart is very difficult, some of the planks come off easier than others and I think, praise be someone did a shoddy job on this one.
With pallets I find my old pickaxe which has one flat chisel end, the best. You can get it between planks and lever up the inner ones, the first outside plank is always a bit tricky though. As mentioned on RTBC I got several good size bits of timber from a skip yesterday, two of the pieces are good enough for one side and one short end of a deep bed. 😀
Went to plot yesterday with O/H and repaired roof of sitting area and harvested cabbage ,leeks , kale & broccoli I’ve been today and replaced 2 broken fence posts , 4 more to go !
I remember some body posting on hear a special tools for taking pallets apart ?
As I have said I've been visiting the plot each week just to repair the old shed but for the last two visits have found that I am having to start by dealing with a rat or more likely rats which have invaded my kitchen waste compost bin, I did have a dalek type bin that I found during the winter months the rats were eating the kitchen waste as fast as I was adding it, as I had a couple of leaking water butts I decided to compost kitchen waste in these butts, this has been ok for the last two years but I have now discovered that a rat has chewed its way through the plastic lid and got into the bin, I gave the bin a good banging to encourage the rat the leave if it was still in there that is and went to fetch a garden fork, I then gave the bin a good forking still no sign of the rat so I replaced the bin lid with a couple of overlapping pieces of wire mesh the type the come as shelving with blow away greenhouses and a wooden panel weighted down with some pieces of paving slabs, when I returned to the plot a week later the rats had eaten through the wood and squeezed between the mesh once again getting to the kitchen waste, I have now put the wooden panel on first with the mesh on top hoping that this makes it harder for the rats to chew in the small spaces between the mesh and covered the whole lid with concrete paving slabs filling any gaps with bricks, I await to see what the rats have got up to on Monday when I visit the plot again, so far its rats two me nil.
My method for taking pallets apart is to use two bolster chisels one big one small, a lump hammer, a crowbar, a claw hammer and a hacksaw, I hammer the chisel into the gap between the planks and when the gap is wide enough I use the hacksaw to cut the nails which are quite brittle and cut easily, as each nail is cut it make it easier to drive the chisel in more to open the gap and get the saw in further, once one end of the plank if freed I move on to the next fixing point and do the same thing, once one end and the middle are free the final end is usually easy to leaver apart sometimes the crowbar helps, the lightweight pallets are easier to do but it is easier to break the boards if you use too much force, the heavy pallets are more stubborn to get apart especially when they are wet and the joints are swollen and much heavier to man handle, by the time that I have taken two or three pallets apart I feel that I have had a real workout and wonder why I don't just go and spend a fortune on new wood rather than recycling pallets. I then have to knock the nails out with the claw hammer making sure that I collect all of the nails so that I don't end up getting one in my car tyres which would cost money to replace and make the whole money saving affair pointless.
I treated myself to a mid size quite heavy duty crowbar. One end is chisel shape the other has a claw and z curve. It's great for levering both planks and then nails. Much better than the claw hammer, longer lever. I also favour a lump hammer. I was taught many years ago a light tap with something heavy is far more effective than whanging away with a light one.
We are in the process of making veggie beds and will be digging paths around each bed. The soil has lots of the usual nasty weeds. It has been covered for the past 5 months. My question is how can the dug out soil be utilised and made good for planting. I have two large Daleks which are empty I thought maybe to put the soil into them to try and eradicate the weed seeds which must be in there waiting to spring up! 🤗
@Marisol , I would have thought Daleks to big for soil , personally I’ve just pilled weedy soil in a heap with weeds/grass etc upside down and left it for a year and it has rotten down nicely , pulled any weeds out as I see them Best of luck
Posts
The last time I tried to take a pallet apart I destroyed it , ended up on the fire
As mentioned on RTBC I got several good size bits of timber from a skip yesterday, two of the pieces are good enough for one side and one short end of a deep bed. 😀
I’ve been today and replaced 2 broken fence posts , 4 more to go !
Have been to plot this morning , another fence post replaced , 1 more to go
Lovely sunny day but cold , slight frost this morning
Useful info about taking pallets apart
Best of luck