Best tool to cut up pallets and long pieces of Wood for Firewood

ronan45

Hi there, So i have loads of old pallets and planks i want to break up into fire sized bits.

Bloody heck its tougher than i thought

So i have used a crow bar to break up the pallets but need to get the wood down to small blocks to use in the fire

Anyone regularly cut up wood like this and what is the handiest quickest way to do same.

At the moment im thinking of investing in a mitre saw.

wwwboof

chainsaw easist way 2 lads at it one holding the pallet and the other cuting it:)

CJhaughey

ronan45 wrote: »

At the moment im thinking of investing in a mitre saw.

Cheap chop saw would be the best, I have done it both ways, chainsaw is messy and you can hit nails which is not good for the chain.
I would get a straight saw not even a mitre saw, you can get them cheap now.

ronan45

CJhaughey wrote: »

Cheap chop saw would be the best, I have done it both ways, chainsaw is messy and you can hit nails which is not good for the chain.
I would get a straight saw not even a mitre saw, you can get them cheap now.

Cheers lads would this fella do the trick?
This is a mitre saw right? Or a cross between a mitre and a chop saw?

http://www.adverts.ie/machinery-tools/performance-compound-mighty-saw-190mm/1863901

CJhaughey

Thats a mitre saw, it should work fine for that job.

rossit

to be honest i think the chop saw would be grand when the pallets are apart .i just use a chain sawput one pallet on top of another so the saw is not hitting the ground and cut away a handy eletric chainsaw would to grand such as the ones in aldi or lidi . best of luck plus if you have a chain saw it can do for other lumps of firing

paddy147

Electric sabre saw in Lidl for 35 euro.

Great bit of kit and can be used to cut through railways sleepers and any other type of wood.

Adjustable speed,fully adjustable cutting head (turns 180 degrees on itself).

Very good for 35 euro and it will fly through pallets too.:)

Tom Joad

Chop up a lot of pallets for the stove - chop saw or mitre saw is best way i have found. Nail bar and claw hammer usually work a treat for taking them apart.

gsxr1

I used a chain saw to make a load of seats out of pallets for festival once.

Knife through hot butter . 50 pallets gone in no time

Chop saw would leave lovely cuts and all, but hell, its for the fire.

20mins and a bit of 2 stroke would leave a nice bit of kindleling.


Just a note when using pallets for fire wood...

My father used a load of this type of timber for a month in his big boiler stove . The stove's now has a thick coat of gooo/creosote to be chiseled of the insides.
Never again.. them soft woods are not suitable for stoves.

ponddigger

hi .try this log holder, jack

CJhaughey

gsxr1 wrote: »

Just a note when using pallets for fire wood...

My father used a load of this type of timber for a month in his big boiler stove . The stove's now has a thick coat of gooo/creosote to be chiseled of the insides.
Never again.. them soft woods are not suitable for stoves.

Softwoods are fine in stoves, but you can't burn them slow like hardwoods you have to burn them hot and fast.
Your fathers stove has a back boiler. This lowers the firebox temps and leads to the issue you described. If you burn softwood in a stove without boiler then the heat allows much better combustion.
I've been burning softwood for years with no problems bar a twice annual sweep in a Morso Squirrel.

randombar

Would it also depend on how damp/dry the pallets were, if they were allowed dry out would they not burn up like a flash but be a lot less smokeless?

CJhaughey

You should burn the timber as dry as you can, damp timber doesn't burn nearly as well as lots of the energy given off is used to turn water to steam.
Dry Pallets burn hot and fast and give good heat, mix them with other woods for best results.
They make excellent kindling as well.

randombar

Thanks for that, any threat of the pallets being treated with anything? Reckon my ones are ok but you never know.

Condatis

Whatever way you cut them up be sure to wear goggles. Apart from nails you could have flying knots and splinters – they could take your eye out. I had a near miss and ended up in the Eye and Ear Hospital.

Goggles should not cost more than €5 to €7.