Building With Pallets: Is it safe?

We recently began a series of posts that have utilized pallet wood for a variety of items including beehives, cutting boards etc. There have been some comments asking about the safety of using these materials, as some may be chemically treated or could have had something spilled on them in transit, etc. We appreciate the comments and don't wish to dismiss or ignore them, as we ourselves have concerns of being exposed to harmful chemicals, and try to avoid them at all costs. We, based on our research and the process we put each piece of wood through, do feel comfortable using pallet wood as material for a variety of projects. We have found that anything that may have been on the wood is removed in this process. In order to show that to all of you, we decided to do a little experiment. While it might not be "scientific" per say, we feel that with some preparation most if not all contaminants can be removed. In this post we will try and demonstrate that with a few precautions and minimal preparations, pallet wood can indeed be used as a great source of free lumber, not to mention saving the landfills of unnecessary waste.





First, let's touch on where I think a lot of this concern originally comes from. It is a very well know fact that using treated wood (i.e. pressure treated, stained or painted) is not recommended for use in gardening. While I also believe that using treated wood in gardening structures is not a good idea, I think the reason it is dangerous is of utmost importance. You see, when you use treated wood in your garden it in constant contact with water, therefore leaching any chemicals used on the treated wood directly into the soil. The roots of your plants are then feeding from the now chemically filled soil, where those chemicals then enter your food supply.


Now, when using pallet wood for things like beehives, this leaching effect is not present because the hive is not in constant contact with water and is sealed on the outside to protect against the weather. Also, bees coat the inside of the hive with a combination of wax and propolis, therefore preventing any contact with the actual wood. As for the honey, It is made and stored inside the wax comb, never touching any wood surface. Now what about the cutting boards? Well, first off, you should never use pressure treated wood in anything that comes in contact with your food. We only use hardwoods for use in the cutting boards because hardwoods are traditionally not pressure treated. We then plane the wood, removing any surface area and seal the cutting boards using beeswax and oil.


Because Douglas Fir is a very porous wood it is commonly used as pressure treated wood and due to the process of the actual pressure treatment, it absorbs the chemicals deep within. We don't recommend using the pressure treated wood in anything that comes in contact with your food or livestock's food, period. Because of this we will be omitting pressure treated wood from this experiment. But, that's not to say it can't be used in other projects like outdoor furniture, firewood boxes, livestock pens, storage containers etc.


So, what about the pallets that are not pressure treated but may have been surface treated with some sort of preservative, or had chemicals spilled on them, paint etc. Do these sorts of situations make the whole piece of wood unusable? Let's find out;





For our example we begin with 2 different pieces of Douglas Fir that have been planed to a specific thickness. In example #1 we dumped "Minwax deep penetrating strain" on a piece of Douglas Fir that was planed to a thickness of 1.2445". Which would represent a spill of some sort of chemical.








In example #2 we coated a second piece of Douglas Fir with "Minwax deep penetrating strain" that was planed to a thickness of .5055".








We will then allow the stain of each board to fully dry. Then, we measured each piece of wood with a calibrated Mitutoyo caliper and have taken pictures of the beginning thickness.


We would like to note that Douglas Fir is one of the most porous woods found in pallets and so every other type of wood especially hardwoods will require less preparation.


The idea here is to see how much material needs to removed before the wood returns to its original state. While this may not be the most scientific approach we feel it should demonstrate approximately how far surface treatments reach into the wood. Since we are using a high grade deep penetrating stain, we believe this would be an extreme compared to what they may be coating these pallets with in a commercial setting.


In example #1 (stain dumped) the first pass of the planer removed .0115" of the surface while removing a large amount of the stain, but not all. On the second pass through the planer, we removed .0225" and ended with a surface that was completely clean and without any evidence of stain still remaining. So, removing .0340" (approximately 1/32") was enough to remove any visible evidence of the stain.








In example #2 (stain spread) the first pass of the planer removed .0045" and again the majority of the stain had been removed. On the second pass we removed .0165" and the surface was completely clean. With a total of .0200" removed there was no visible signs the wood had been stained.








So, by removing just a small amount of the surface area off of the pallet wood, you are essentially removing what may have been spilled or sprayed on it as well. Now, we recommend you always use the best and cleanest pallets you can find, as well as common sense. But we hope that this little experiment has helped in your decision making of whether pallet wood is a good source of free material to use around the homestead. We believe it is, and we will keep bringing you tutorials on exactly what we do with it here, to hopefully encourage you to make it instead of buy it as well.

Thank you for reading,


Happy Homesteading.