Pallets are NOT Worth It!

As I know many people have done at some point, I recently dragged some pallets home.  I was out on an errand that turned out to be a job site and there were five rather nice looking pallets in the dumpster.  With permission, I tossed the pallets into my truck for the trip home.  Today I decided I really should pull those pallets out of the truck so I hauled them into the shop.  I didn't want them just cluttering up the place so I set to breaking them down.  This is where I soon realized that they are just not worth it.

I will say that on occasion a person can snag pallets that are made from some exotic hard wood and for that I'd go the extra mile but for commonly available woods, there is no savings.  I figure it cost me $5 to $10 per pallet to get them to the place where the lumber can be used.  The problem now is two fold.  I now have probably $50 worth of effort into a pile of short, thin, scrappy lumber that has nail holes in it and I can't even run it through a saw or planer because there's so much grit and debris on it.  The only thing I can do with it is sand and glue it...I can't even cut it without incurring even more cost in blades and knives.

I guess if I were heating my shop with a wood stove, there might be some value in pallets as a heating fuel but even then, you get so little material out of a pallet that they are still a lot of work.  I would rather spend that time building things that will make me money.

For the most part, pallets are just not worth it.  Stick to patronizing your local lumber yard...they are always there when you need something and their lumber is way nicer than any old pallets will ever be.