# Teak pallets?



## justallan

A friend working for the mine here tells me they get pallets and crates made entirely of teak and he would set them aside if I would like. My question is, can you get enough wood out of pallets and shipping crates to bother with. First off let me say that I know nothing about teak. I'm fairly confident that you could show me a nice shined up piece of mahogany and say it's teak and I'd believe it. I don't know what kind of woodwork you do with teak, there fore don't even know if it's worth bothering with. My friend says they get some pretty big crates from Komatsu, so it may just be some big enough stuff to use for something.
Just to be safe I told him to set some aside for me the next time they get some in.
What's your votes?


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## Sprung

Teak is a great wood, especially for outdoor uses. It's got great uses in decking on boats/ships and outdoor furniture. If I had a source of teak like that, I'd be snatching it up. I'm looking to build some outdoor furniture this summer and it's looking like I'll be using either white oak or cedar - but if I had access to teak (especially at the low cost of having a friend set it aside for me), I'd be building it out of teak.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 2


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## barry richardson

Yea you should easily get usable wood from those! Is there any chance you can get a sample, I would run it by Paul in the wood ID section. I find it hard to believe they use teak for pallets, but you never know...


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## phinds

Even pretty modest sized planks of teak, if planed and dried, could be sold on eBay for easily enough to make it well worth your while to go to the bother.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## justallan

barry richardson said:


> I find it hard to believe they use teak for pallets, but you never know...


Barry, not even knowing anything about teak, that's kind of my thinking also.
I'm going to get some just in case though, it could be like playing the lottery for free. LOL


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## JR Custom Calls

I've heard of pallets made of all kinds of stuff. A guy at Lowes found a pallet made of some sort of rosewood with Burl figure. I think sometimes, pallets are made with wood to be 'snuck' out of the country to avoid export/import regulations. I don't know if teak has any regs like ebony, coco, etc though. 

Definitely worth getting some... Even if it's just to build yourself some patio furniture


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## phinds

I've had a lot of people email me with tails of having gotten great exotics in pallets. What we may sometime overlook is that some of these "exotics" are just NOT exotic where they grow all over the place. They are firewood

Reactions: Agree 6


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## justallan

I agree with that 100%, paul.
I once saw blue stained pine for sale on here and thought, "What the heck". To think about it though most every one of us may have seen pictures only of some species for the simple case of where we all live and what's handy.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## HomeBody

A friend of mine recently retired from Caterpillar Tractor in Decatur, IL. They got parts from Cat in Brazil in crates made from Brazilian rosewood. One guy that worked in the yard supposedly latched on to most of it. 
When Brazil banned the export of rosewood logs they had tons of them already cut. If they were cut into lumber and used for a product they could export it. "Value added" or something like that. Brazil did the same thing 20 yrs. ago with agate nodules. They used to sell whole nodules but the gov't stopped it. They now slice the agate nods in Brazil and sell the slabs. Making more work for the locals is the idea I guess. Maybe the US should do the same thing with our natural resources that are heading to China. Gary

Reactions: Like 3 | Informative 1


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## Nature Man

If you can validate that the pallets are made from teak, you can always either sell them on this site, or use them for trade, that is assuming the quantity is more than you can use. Teak is abundant in Asia, so I would bet you might have a WB gold mine! Good luck, and keep us posted. Chuck


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## barry richardson

After looking around on the web a bit I find Teak is neither endangered or scarce.. I just assumed since they charge so much for it at lumber outlets, it was.... it's also one of the most widely grown plantation woods... so the pallets may very well be teak...


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## Kevin

Just add a other vote of confidence Allan, not only do they make pallets oit of teak but they use whatever native species that are closest to the ports or are most readily a ailable. This is often rare exotics. There's just about no species of exotics that are *not* used for making pallets. I say grab em.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## frankp

Get the wood! It's totally worth it. Great for lawn furniture, flooring, whatever. Just watch out for splinters. Teak splinters especially suck, in my experience.


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## justallan

Thanks guys, I guess I'd better buy by my friend a box of beer to keep it fresh in his mind. LOL We'll see what happens.
Actually with my house being right between a bunch of the coal mine, plus having the ranches heifers on the mine and being safety checked already, I may just check into doing a little dumpster diving. They try to keep me happy when they can because I have to put up with the blasting and equipment all night some times.
We'll just see how this plays out.

Reactions: Like 1


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## ironman123

Allan, I see where the Big Brown Plant here is stopping their coal mining in Fairfield, TX and says it is more cost effective to have coal shipped from Montana and Wyoming.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Kevin

ironman123 said:


> Allan, I see where the Big Brown Plant here is stopping their coal mining in Fairfield, TX and says it is more cost effective to have coal shipped from Montana and Wyoming.



Didn't you hear? Our Mescans formed a union and they ain't got one in Montanner yet.


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## justallan

They're sure sending it some where. The local mine uses most of theirs, but the one on the far side of the ranch puts 100% of theirs on the rail and the same for the one to the south of us towards Wyoming.
And they certainly have unions here, and some are just all to proud to say so. LOL


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## Mr. Peet

Allan, Most of the above is all valid. The only thing I did not see was the reminder to read the IPPC codes on the pallet. Most counties are going with HT, which is heat treated, but a fair number of MB, methyl bromide are still coming into the USA. MB stuff is toxic, so don't eat it. Your not even supposed to let your moist skin on it. Maybe good to make outdoor furniture for those unioners Kevin mentioned. They can then use their Oblama Kare and get fixed up.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Great Post 1 | Funny 1 | Informative 2


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## justallan

@Mr. Peet thanks for the info on that.
While on the mine last night putting out salt and mineral I saw where they have two 40 yard dumpsters, one for garbage and one for wood and they both go to the dump. I think it would probably be easier to run up there Saturday than have my friend bother with it. We'll see.


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## Mr. Peet

If it was truly just wood, have the roll off just set it in the back yard and burn the scrap to heat the house come winter. Sure a 40 yard roll off would go over great with friends, family and neighbors. If there is an issue, a simple heavy duty tarp put over it with some re-enforced supports and 3 or so chickens would easily qualify as a hen house. It has wheels, so not a taxable issue?

Second thought, that Saturday trip sounds smarter...

Reactions: Funny 2


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## justallan

The shape of my yard, buildings, trucks, campers, tractors, ETC. I don't believe anyone would even notice a 40 yard roll off.

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Horatio

What is exotic in the states is common elsewhere so I can definitely see pallets from overseas being some cool and interesting stuff. My father in law tells tales of getting some from work - I work where he does now but I'm in the "corporate" end of things so don't see that sort of stuff. Its an R&D nonprofit and we do testing and and engineering for interests from all over so I wouldn't be surprised. 

As far as salvaging enough wood from pallets to work with....absolutely.....pallet salvage crafting is a huge thing, google it and you'll never run out of weird junk hipsters cobble together from them from furniture to, well, lots of stuff.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## justallan

Update on the search for teak.
On my trip to the dump today I went and looked at the wood pile and came to the conclusion that I'm not sure just how badly I need a teak, IF I even knew what one looked like!

Reactions: Funny 4


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