Standardizing lumber pallet?

[Brad_bb]

So I'm to the point that I want to make pallets to stack my lumber on for easier stacking, moving, and drying to prevent the need to re-stack.

I found this thread
Lumber pallets in Sawmills and Milling

Peter Drouin shows this


I was thinking of doing 3.5"x3.5" on the bottom and 1.5"x3.5" cross pieces on top.  I will also consult with a local mill that has kiln drying services.  If I can taylor my pallet to go right in their kiln, all the better.

Are there any other designs you fellas are building that I might also consider?  Are the 1.5x3.5 horizontal boards too beefy.  They'd be Ash cause I have a lot of it.  A good chance to use up my smaller dia logs.Thanks, Brad

[thecfarm]

Too beefy? ???    Never heard of that before. :D 

[SawyerTed]

I am interested in this as well.  Feedback from Peter on how his are working will be helpful. 

[curved-wood]

Mine are very similar. Bottom bloc is 3 3/4'' square space at every 2 feet. Top is 3 or 4 piece of 1 3/4'' soft wood.  I always jump  the 2 blocs on each side of the middle one because quite often the forks was going under it and it was difficult to exit the whole bundle. Also if I am not getting under at 90 degrees I was damaging one of the first 2 blocs if the angle of the forks is a little bit upword.   Another trick is to double the number of sticker of the first row because of a 4 foot spacing in the middle; in that way the lifting force is better transfer to the other rows. I did try with 2 3/4 square for the blocs but it didn't gave me enough space with the forks specially if the ground is a little bumpy

[YellowHammer]

We use 1.5 x3.5 runners, 4/4 on the top decking.  Peter has a good system, he moves a lot of wood. 

Once you start using pallets, you'll never go back. 

Strength isn't really the issue, unless doing long boards where the pallets may droop a little.  Basically, the top of the pallet, if made of 4/4 behaves the same as the bottom row of a stack of 44 lumber, except it has 2x4's nailed to it.  If you can carry a stack of 4/4 with your forklift without drooping, then 4/4 will work fine as pallet decking. 

Here is an older topic of how we do it.  
Storing dead-stacked lumber packs in Drying and Processing

 

[Tom the Sawyer]

I built a couple of air-drying pallets and once I found that they worked well, I found a local company that would build them to order.  8' and 12' long by 44" wide (my fork limitation plus a size that fits well on pallet racking), deck boards, and the bottom deck supports, on 16" centers.  Price was similar to the cost of materials bought at the box store, and no hassle of building them.  About $40 for 8' and $60 for 12' ones (10 at a time).


 

[WDH]

I like my pallet runners 4 1/8" high.  That way, two pieces of the 2" foam will fit in the voids between the runners when I put the pallet in the kiln and plug the holes between the runners . 

[Brad_bb]

I finally made some pallets so I can get more organized. The runners are roughly 1.5x3.5x46 and are Ash and Oak.  I say roughly because thickness varies from 1.375" to 2".  The height varies from 3.25 to 4".  The reason is I'm using what I can find in my piles.  I am taking all the runners for a palled and gang clamping them on my sawmill bed.  Then I'm gang planing them with the beam planer.  Essentially I'm gang jointing them then gang planing them so they are all exactly the same height on each pallet.  I started doing this on my table saw which was difficult when I realized I could just use the beam planer!
The top deck boards are all 5/4 Ashx 4" that i planed one side just cause I wanted to.  The two outside boards are screwed to every runner with 2.5" coated deck screws from Lowes.  I did pre-drill with a countersink.  The inside boards are only screwed to the end runners.  You don't need to screw in the middle because when you lift a pallet, your forks will lift on all deck boards and they interior runners just need to be held in place.  When you set it down, everything is in compression.
Got a few more to make, but it's a good start.


 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I make them pretty much the same only I use 2X4's as bottom runners  on 2' centers and I use 3- 2X6's for the long/top pieces. I make most of mine 2' wide because I only have 20" forks on my FEL bucket. I nail the first row of stickers on top over the 2X4 cross pieces which gives me a good start to keep the rows of stickers lines properly and on 2' spaces which is as far apart as I'd want to sticker my wood.

[WDH]

I find that stickering on 16" centers gives me flatter lumber. 

[moodnacreek]

All my pallets are 4'  wide made with 2x4 on 2' centers and covered with 1x top and bottom. I started to make them solid on at least one side and all hard wood because I over load them sometimes and can lift up to 10,000 lbs. with either fork lift.  The pile covers are about the same only 5' 6" wide and topped with roofing tin.  It's nice to walk by and be able to length and board [or square] foot just by looking.

[alan gage]

I've been making mine out of cottonwood with everything nailed. I use 16"OC for the 8' and 12' pallets and something like 17" or 18" on the 6' and 10' pallets because that's how it works out. I'm building them 42" wide. Don't remember why exactly. I think it was because some of the guys using container kilns said 42" was the proper pallet width for that and since i might end up with one in the future thought I'd start out building that size.

I build them on my deckover trailer, which is a nice working height. Took a tip from Yellowhammer and after laying out and squaring the bottom runners for the first pallet I spray painted their outline on the trailer deck. So for subsequent pallets there is no measuring or squaring required. Just slap the stringers down and start nailing the top boards in place.

They sure are handy. You'll like it.

Alan

[moodnacreek]

Never thought of spray painting the image. I build them on the green chain one on top of the other bot they get to high. 2' oc and same for stickers except too wide for 1x grade hardwood so put stickers in between by eye [12"oc].

[YellowHammer]

Yes, lay one out on the floor and use a can of spray paint to mark the pattern then all future ones will be square and identical.  It's important to make all runners line up with other pallets they set on.  Also, if you will leave several of the screws or nails proud or sticking up from the deck boards where they are attached to the last runners, they proud nails will act as stops and keep the end stickers from sliding off onto the ground.  

[WV Sawmiller]

I find that stickering on 16" centers gives me flatter lumber.  

Danny,

    Do you put your runners on 16" centers on your pallets? That's the main reason I use the 2' centers is each strip is placed directly over a 2X4 runner.

[Brad_bb]

I like the idea of attaching your first layer of stickers to the pallet.

[moodnacreek]

Yes, lay one out on the floor and use a can of spray paint to mark the pattern then all future ones will be square and identical.  It's important to make all runners line up with other pallets they set on.  Also, if you will leave several of the screws or nails proud or sticking up from the deck boards where they are attached to the last runners, they proud nails will act as stops and keep the end stickers from sliding off onto the ground.  
Sounds like you have done this a few times, good advise.

[tmbrcruiser]

I read the post on pallets awhile back and started using pallets when I finished a drying shed. I use 1.5" x 3.5" stringers on 16" centers. Helps with spacing stickers by lining up each sticker with a stringer. I also followed YH tip and marked the floor then spacing is always the same for each pallet. The biggest difference for me is width, my pallets are 3'. I build my pallets as I need them and cut lumber from logs where I can use up junk that would end up in the slab pile.
On long pallets a band around each end before you move the load helps with droop, or the stickers bounce out when moving bundles. With 3' and 17 layers of 4/4" inventory is quick to estimate. A 8' bundle is approximately 400 bf, 10' is approximately 500 bf and so on. Doesn't work so simply with different thickness.

[YellowHammer]

The stickers dropping out is why I will leave a couple nails or screws proud as sticker stops on the pallets.  So when a pallet starts to get long in the tooth, we will generally have to renail or rescrew a few deck boards, so thats when I leave a few of the decking screws 3/8" to 1/2" proud on the end runners so they stick up above the deck boards and act as stops to keep the end stickers from dropping out when the pallet ends droop.  These pallets can't be used for flat packs anymore because of the screw heads sticking up, but in a pinch they can be whacked with a hammer and they are gone.  I don't screw the stickers down to the pallets, just brace them against the nail or screw heads so the stickers won't fall off the pallet when its being moved.

[jmouton]

we started using pallets for our lumber about  2 yrs ago ,,,,  we love it couldnt believe we lived without them for so many years ,,  saves so much time ,,,we are getting more organized every day ,,, well at least more ,, :D :D


                                                                             jim

[WDH]

I find that stickering on 16" centers gives me flatter lumber.  

Danny,

   Do you put your runners on 16" centers on your pallets? That's the main reason I use the 2' centers is each strip is placed directly over a 2X4 runner.

Yes Sir.

[caveman]

We have also started making/using pallets to stack on.  Instead of painting a pattern on the floor (no more room inside the shop to build pallets), we kept a pallet out of the wood pile and just build on top of it.  We use it as a pattern for 16' and 8' pallets.  Also, with 13 pallet stringers, we started painting a stripe on the center one to assist me when stacking or getting ready to grab them with the forks.

When cutting 1x's, we will save a stack of some with wane to use on the pallets.  Also, we have nailed stickers on the top of the pallets and this seems to be working well.  Seven full layers of 16' longleaf was about all the Kubota wanted to lift this morning.

 There are three open 16' pallets on top of the near pile and three or four more on top of the hot box's roof.  Friday, we will likely have to build another drying rack (the three we have seem to be working well). It is close to 90° here today.  The coolest place outside is between the drying racks and the pine smells good too.

[WDH]

The empty pallets are heavier than you think.   They are great for weight on top of your drying lumber.