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Just passed the 500th pallet I've torn apart for my garden projects
Yesterday I broke down pallet number 500 (I keep a tally on my shop wall) for my raised bed garden out back. Started doing this back in 2019 after seeing how much lumber costs at the big box stores, and honestly each one still surprises me when I find a heat-stamped marking I haven't seen before. The smell of pine and the satisfying crack of the boards coming apart still gets me. Anybody else keep track of reclaimed materials they've used over the years?
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aliceharris11d ago
But have you ever thought about what you're really tracking? Because 500 pallets isn't just a number, it's like 500 little lessons in wood quality and nail patterns all by themselves. I'm not counting pallets myself (I'm more of a "grab whatever looks good" kind of person), but I bet you've also got a mental catalog of which brands make the best boards and which ones always split on you. Like, that's probably more valuable than the actual lumber savings at this point, right? You've basically created your own unofficial lumber grading system through brute force and splinters.
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colegarcia11d ago
Aliceharris is onto something here. @patricia_hill60 I don't count them, I just have a rough number in my head from sorting them in the driveway every weekend. The real win is knowing which brands have the tight grain and which ones are basically just firewood waiting to happen.
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