How-To: Knock Down a Pallet with Simple Tools

If you don’t reclaim enough pallet lumber to justify a specialized prybar for the purpose, it is of course possible to knock down shipping pallets using everyday hand tools. A common mistake is trying to use a crowbar or the claw end of a hammer to pry the boards apart. This is almost certain to split and damage the wood, which may be OK if you just want to destroy the thing, but is self-defeating if you’re trying to reclaim the lumber.

Instead, pound out board and nails, from behind, using a hammer. Or better yet, a pair of hammers. This video from YouTuber miscpro demonstrates his practiced method for knocking a pallet apart using a common claw hammer, a small sledge, and a short scrap “spoil” board to take blows that would otherwise mar the wood being reclaimed. The video page on YouTube, linked below, includes some good written directions for the process, as well.

How To Dismantle a Wooden Pallet – YouTube

11 Responses to How-To: Knock Down a Pallet with Simple Tools

DaveM on May 8th, 2012 at 2:50 pm said:

Too bad more and more pallets have staples instead of nails:/

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Sean Kennedy (@seanfkennedy) on May 8th, 2012 at 3:31 pm said:

That is probably the prettiest pallet I have ever seen.

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- Alec Syngar on April 27th, 2013 at 10:02 am said:
  
  isnt it though? i find so many people posting DIY projects with pallets eem to have access to fresh beautiful pallets
  
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David on May 8th, 2012 at 5:57 pm said:

Most pallets around here have side and center frames of 2×4 with no blocks to easily knock over. Many have spiral nails. One way is to cut loose the face boards inside the edge of the sides. Twist to loosen the nails from the center enough to grab and pull. Slide-hammer nail pullers and cat’s paws can work. A hand pumped hydraulic ram in expansion mode is nice.

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Merglyn on May 8th, 2012 at 6:00 pm said:

Last time I destroyed a pallet I just did it with a sledgehammer.

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thebes42 on May 10th, 2012 at 9:46 pm said:

Having built a cabin 50% of recycled lumber from pallets-

You can take apart pallets with a large pry or crow bar just fine.
If you’re messing with large oak pallets or something exotic like that you might have trouble with just a large crow bar and need to give it some persuasion with a 5lb sledge, but you won’t ruin everything, probably won’t ruin more than a trivial amount of wood given that its had for fuel costs…

Pallets are great, some of them have oak 3x4s in the center. If you check at 20 or 30 industrial sites you might find oak studs that are long enough for a residential wall- our whole cabin is studded with these. Our friend who helped once recovered cocobolo 6×6′s from oversized imported pallets of some kind, but that was his best score over several years or scrapping pallets.

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