tools you need to process palletts and packing crates

Let me start by explaing that it takes a little bit of a free approach to make things of value from something that is destined for dumpsville. A little bit of experimenting and trying new things will help alot.

I use tools that are not all that specialized. A crow bar and a hammer are necesssities. However those are just for aquiring your wood. You also need to have a way to sand it, since most of the wood looks like packing crate and pallet wood. For sanding I use a 4 inch right angle grinder with a fibre disk and a 5 inch random orbital sander. For cutting the wood I use two main tools. The first is a chop saw I got on CraigsList, and the second is a Table Saw I bought at Lowes home improvement for $130. After I have cut and sanded the pieces, I glue and screw them together. I use Tightbond for glue and a cordless 18 volt drill to screw them together. I predrill and countersink all the screws, then use wood filler to cover the holes. I never use a pattern and very rairly consult any kind of woodworking book or magazine, as they usually do not have information that specifically applies to my projects.

This is general information you need to get started, but I also want to talk about where to aquire this abundant source of free wood. Since packing crates are the better of the two, I will list a few companies that have them continually. The main source I have for packing crates is Don's Mobile Glass in Modesto CA. All glass comes in packing crates and a large glass company will generate a lot of scrap wood. Since a lot of the glass comes from china, you would figure that the wood is some junkie chinese wood. Well it isn't so. Most of the chinese glass is packed in pine that is shipped raw to China from Eastern Oregon and Eastern Wasington. When you get those crates, they are great because they rough saw them and they usually clean up to more than an inch in thickness. The other items in my area that come packed in decent wood are all power equipment, motorcycles, watercraft, and dairy equipment. If you put it together you will find all the wood you can use in your own area. When you embark on this woodworking path you will be ablt to make mistakes without a lot of cost. That is the secret to learning a lot pretty fast.