My concerns with pallets are all about bugs, cleanliness, and splinters. Some of these pictures look interesting, but having furniture made from actual pallets is rather off-putting to me.

I think the liberal use of a sander or sandpaper would be key.

RMF325: I share your concerns. A way around these issues is to disassemble the pallet, run the wood through a planer, and *then* use it.

I'm not sure why people want their furniture to actually look like a pallet. You can make nice looking things with the wood too. I made this out of a shipping crate:
http://wolskiwoodworking.com/productdata/segmentedPineBowl.jpg

no renest! we've talked about this! pallets are doused in formaldehyde & pesticide! no thanks to sleeping or working anywhere near that stuff.

which is a shame, because these designs are all really practical and beautiful, and would be a great way of reusing. would.

I don’t think sandpaper will address the off-gassing of pesticides and fungicides applied to wood pallets – also, some are made of composite wood, which could mean formaldehyde. I agree with RMF325 – stay away!!!!!

So then what are you suppose to do with Pallets? Burn them? like we did as youth? I like this article.

I like the white bed. Sherry and John on younghouselove like to talk about "sealing" their painted furniture with a water-based non-toxic topcoat so it can't off-gas. Would that work?

Hi,
I'm not sure i believe all the hype about wood pallets and toxins. Through some research i have found that some is and some isn't, some pallets are more identifiably treated and should not be used. This is a quote from woodheat.org: More on pallets from Mike

I read with interest one of your visitors comments on burning pallets. I have worked in the wood industry for almost 30 years and have sold many pallet manufacturers. I believe that the use of treated lumber in pallets is a rare occurrence. The pallet industry is a down and dirty price sensitive business because the product being manufactured is generally a throw away. I think with a little more research you will find that the main anti-bug requirement for pallets and shipping crates would be heat treating and not chemical treatment. Hard wood doesn't take treatment well anyway. Mostly southern yellow pine is a used in treating. Even new requirements for export require heat treated verification to prevent bug infestation. The greatest opportunity for chemicals on pallets comes during their use, not manufacture.

Mike, October 8, 2005

and another:
Kevin says don't burn pallets

I was reading your questions and answers archive and noticed the one about it being okay to burn pallets. I was burning pallets last year until my research revealed that most shipping wood is treated with one or more of the following: fire retardant; insecticide; fungicide. The arsenic treatments were easy to spot being green; now copper compounds are used. Insecticides are not easy to detect. Fire retardants result in a brownish or rust colored stain. I have noticed that sometimes even stickers (for under bunks of lumber) are treated. I thought that I had discovered a gold mine when I saw pallets for countertops made of 4x4 oak 10' long with 3' cross members, until I saw that telltale brownish stain. I was heartbroken! In other words, err on the side of caution when selecting shipping wood.

Kevin, December 27, 2004

Seeing as most of the readers here aren't burning the pallets but are using them nonetheless i think it would be prudent to know more about the materials they are using. On an end note, some of the first searches that will come up when you look into wood pallets and toxins are provided by the PLASTICS industry.