Roughneck Pallet Buster

 At my allotment, one of the committee members (thanks Doreen) has been organising pallet deliveries for the last year. These have endless uses and once stripped can be made into almost anything you can imagine for your plot. From gates, fences, raised beds, benches and tables to name a few. There are also many instructional videos on YouTube where you will be amazed at what can be done with a few screws and a saw. Five years ago I was watching one such video and saw an American easily stripping the wood from pallets. Until this point, I'd always used a prybar and hammer with a fifty-fifty success rate as many strips of pallet wood cracked or broke. I found Amazon had the Roughneck Pallet Ripper and I promptly ordered it. Since then as for quality it is really well made and used every season and shows no signs of wear or rust. I can strip a pallet in under five minutes without breaking a sweat. If you have access to pallets I suggest this is the one tool you should have or make a group purchase as it truly is amazing.

I had a search on writing this article and the cheapest I could find this including delivery was still through Amazon. At £28.37 this is still a good buy and has only gone up by £4 in the last five years.

Now a word on pallets and their codes stamped on the support block on the sides. There is only one to be very wary of.

MB – Methyl Bromide. 

These have been treated with a highly toxic pesticide which can be necessary in certain regions of the world where there are pests that can’t be eliminated by heat treatments. You should never use pallets with an MB stamp on it for a craft project and you should never burn these pallets on fire.

Other codes include

HT - Heat treated

DB - Debarked

KD- Kiln dried

DH - Dielectric heated

SF - Sulphuryl Flouride. 

These have been fumigated in a safer way than the above-mentioned MB, although I you have a choice I'd avoid these too.

Now ones to look out for, especially for furniture. EPAL or Euro Pallet logo pallets are among the best quality wood. Very strong and usually made from hardwood making them excellent for sturdy long-term situations. 

One last thing, if you consider buying one of these check out YouTube for an instructional video on the best way to use this tool