Pallet dimensions and design

doc henderson · February 17, 2020, 10:19:54 PM

made a prototype pallet. full dimension hackberry 2x4 bases and 1x4" tops. 42 inches deep to match my forks. and this one is 6 feet long for stair treads I milled for my cousin Mike. my standard will be 9 feet long. The spacing is 18 inch centers so add 2 inches on each, i.e. 74" (6 foot 2 inches).

son William helping. put some titebond 3 on there for stiffness to prevent torqueing.

will sticker tomorrow.

18 treads @ 11.25" x 1.75" x 6 foot.

WDH · February 18, 2020, 07:21:14 AM

Well done.

doc henderson · February 18, 2020, 10:11:45 PM

is this how you do it. i think so. i got my cousin and his wife to stack and sticker the oak stair treads as i pretended to take pictures.

the gray stain is from one night sitting on my skid forks. should plane out. inch and 7/8th, plane down to 1.5 ". if it seems like a "little ditty", it is Mike and Diane. :D :D :D

WDH · February 19, 2020, 07:29:34 AM

"Two American kids doin' the best they can".

farmfromkansas · February 19, 2020, 08:47:22 AM

Doc, did you build your pallets from green hackberry, or dry it first? I have been using screws to attach the flat boards, had not thought of using glue.

doc henderson · February 19, 2020, 08:58:12 AM

it had dried for a "few days" :D so it will dry in pallet form. for now this will be for air drying until I get a kiln built. this is a prototype. this is the dimension I decided on. some will be 9 foot 2 inches. but a multiple of the 18 inch on center spacing. so they can stack. but yes green. I found my big stapler and will add staples as I think they hold better. I though the glue might keep the pallet from torqueing and loosening the nails. a combo of screws and nails might be an idea. so it cannot pull apart and has shear strength. could use ring shank nails as well.

farmfromkansas · February 19, 2020, 04:01:53 PM

I like screws as they hold well, you can pull out a gap with your drill, and if you need to, just unscrew and things fall apart.

doc henderson · February 19, 2020, 04:19:12 PM

I am a screwy gluey guy too. but screws will break if sheared but not pull out, nails the opposite, no shear but pull out. could not find my larger staple gun at the time. i could put one screw between the nails i guess! love screws. I use the dewalt impact guns to drive.

doc henderson · March 02, 2020, 09:08:04 AM

up to 3 of the 9 foot 2 inch and the 1 of the 6 foot 2 inch. have enough of the hackberry parts to make another 6 footer or even a 86 incher.

Found my big staple gun so switched to glue and staples.
did the layout on the drive. set up on cut lines, and marked the bolster parts with a black sharpie. might make a jig. I have not asked, but my wife have difficulty picking a spray paint color she would want on our driveway!!!

farmfromkansas · March 02, 2020, 01:31:05 PM

What did you use for the first row of stickers?

doc henderson · March 02, 2020, 06:16:22 PM

hackberry. same as the pallets 3/4 inch.

Brad_bb · March 02, 2020, 08:05:30 PM

I use those Green deck screws from Lowe's with the Torx head, 2.5". They work well. No glue for me. The middle deck boards you put on there, I only screw the ends of those. The interior ones don't really need to be fastened to the stringers. When you lift with your forks, there's not pressure on the stringers. When you set the stack down, it's in compression. Someone else on here clued me into that tip, but I can't remember who.

I like screws because if I ever need to fix, rebuild, or reuse the material from a pallet, I can remove the screws.

doc henderson · March 02, 2020, 08:51:46 PM

i did not fasten my first stringer (sticker), like some, to the pallet, i am still in the prototype stage.

doc henderson · March 27, 2020, 10:08:53 AM

Got some concrete poured yesterday, ahead of the rain that did not come last pm. I post it here cause the "sidewalk" below the retaining wall that separates family and dad land, will also be for my new pallets full of wood as well. my pallets are 42" deep to match my pallet forks, and the sidewalks are 54 inches deep to use the most of the wire matts, 8 x 20, cut in half + 3 inches on each side. pinned to the wall. we are stamping with wood grain for looks and traction. so we did every other section so we could stamp, and will come back and fill in-between so it will look mitered on the corner/angle changes without messing up the stamping.

My cousins oak stair treads under cover, will get weight and move to the sidewalk in a week or so.

doc henderson · March 27, 2020, 10:12:31 AM

before @Southside can chime in, Eddie in black, Kim in red, my son William in green. I am behind the phone camera.

Crusarius · March 27, 2020, 11:45:43 AM

that looks pretty slick.

farmfromkansas · March 27, 2020, 02:39:06 PM

Where do you get those stamps? Way cool!

doc henderson · March 27, 2020, 10:55:56 PM

I pay a hundred bucks to rent them for the project. you can buy a set with 2,3,4,5,and 6 feet long by 1 foot wide stamps. with floppies for little area to fill in. there are 2 each of the three longer sizes. about 600 to 800 bucks. woodgrain concrete stamps. they are a rubber/silicone compound with handles on each end.

WDH · March 28, 2020, 07:41:26 AM

I just scratched some initials and the date on my concrete pads

.

farmfromkansas · March 28, 2020, 08:56:35 AM

I'd be too cheap to get the stamps, but I like the look.

doc henderson · March 28, 2020, 09:45:25 AM

It breaks up the look of tons of concrete. It can be stained as well. It saves a little on labor since the final troweling is not done, but the stamping process begins. The guys doing it are almost artists and much more picky than me. They get a little smudge and re-do it and I am saying, "there is going to be a pallet of wood sittin on this". anyway we are having fun and it will get more of my wood stacks off the drive. It is still a home as well.

doc henderson · March 30, 2020, 08:13:13 PM

filled in the gaps today. a few sprinkles but not rain yet. now a continuous sidewalk/wood pallet area aprox. 200 linear feet.

you can see the new darker area poured between what was done last week.

all the forms, wire and pins, dirt work done by my son and I. Eddie and Kim came and helped with the flatwork and stamping.

doc henderson · August 23, 2024, 09:54:08 AM

update. my final pallet size ended up being 42 inches deep (the length of my forks, and good to fit a solar kiln). I make skid bottoms from full 2-inch wood, and about 3.5 inches tall. I use glue and staples to hold tight and keep from racking. the big update is the jig I made. I do spacing at 18 inches on center. I "hit the skids" On the jointer on one flat and one edge, then through the table saw to make sure they are all the same size (3.5 inches tall).

so, I mostly make 6-foot 2-inch and 9-foot 2-inch pallets. the extra 2 inches is from the skid bottoms being 2 inches thick. I also make target boards, for a local axe throwing venue, and some of the stock can be made into skid runners. the tops are also cottonwood, and about 3/4 inch by 3.5 inches wide.

I should have got a pic with the runner in place before the tops. The old way using a tape measure on the concrete, the runner could turn or slide out from a line when putting on the top runners. this held them in place, and I lined up the ends along one of the jig pieces. I fastened the outer two first then spaced the others.

new pallet with stickers laid in place. I laid the runner against the blocks all pushed to the far side. I did check for square, and the movement of the runners to lay in place, then mark and roll over to put the glue and roll back. not a movement. made it look great. all cottonwood, the Kansas State tree. I do plan to start rolling some copper naphthenate on the runner bottoms to see if they last longer. I try to set them on concrete, not dirt. Yeah!

doc henderson · August 25, 2024, 07:39:35 PM

stacked and stickered

caveman · August 31, 2024, 05:12:46 PM

Typically, we use 8' and 16' pallets, but lately we have been sawing more 12' lumber for folks. Leftovers after the order is filled need to be sticker stacked or used. Stacking them on 16' pallets is not the best option, although that is what we've been doing.

The next slow day we'll probably make a few 12' pallets and a base to stack them on.