jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This must have required a ridiculous amount of work.

http://home-design.diply.com/and/wood-pallets-family-project-transformation/72498/4

DrWilk Loc: .

I wonder what happened to that floor over the winter as the wood dried out. Pallet makers don't use kiln-dried wood in their pallets so this floor will shrink and warp and twist terribly.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I wondered about that. I wish there was an article, instead of just the pictures. Years ago, we got a piano delivered. It was packed in a typical, ugly wood case, but the piano guy that it was mahogany. Maybe it was.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Here's the first page, of four. I don't know why they can't give a link starting on the first page.

http://home-design.diply.com/and/wood-pallets-family-project-transformation/72498/1

DrWilk Loc: .

Was the piano a Yamaha or other Japanese/Korean make? If so, the case probably was Phillipine mahogany. It's not actually a real mahogany but looks a lot like it. Many Japanese and Korean products were shipped in crates and pallets made of this stuff.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It was a Kawai.

dragonfist Loc: Stafford, N.Y.

If they were old pallets they were probably prewarped having dried naturally. The way they twist and turn when dry I can't imagine trying to get a decent floor out of them.

nicelifter Loc: erie,pa

the pallets we use at work are treated to keep the bugs from eating the wood ...that would be a good thing to check for before doing the floor ...dont want you or kids getting sick from the treated wood ..that stuff is poison

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It would be like making a dining room table out of pressure treated wood. :D

DePratt Loc: Stantonsburg, NC

I can understand the problems they went thru in this project.

I once covered a place in an attic with old pallet boards to make a small hobby space.

The old pallets versus the new are easily different enough that choosing the boards for the project is no problem.

Getting the nails out is the hard part as they sometimes have to be dug out or use a nail set to get the head out enough to catch with a hammer to pull.
Most pallets are some type of hard wood and is hard and stronger to work with.

The end result was worth the effort!

DePratt

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

It is true that pallets aren't made from kiln dried lumber but old pallets stored under cover for years would be extremely dry. I know a few woodworking friends that have lumber drying for years. Once cut to rough size it is allowed to dry longer then is milled and planed to size. No big issue to overcome with some time.

With a Table saw, planer and shaper the slats could be made quite easily.

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

Planers resolve that issue quite easily. Severely warped boards would not be candidates as you would have to plane off a lot to get flat and the resulting stock would be too thin most likely. It depends on starting thickness and ending stock thickness.

Ka2azman Loc: Tucson, Az

Wood does not have to be kiln dried, it's just faster. It can be air dried. While looking at the pictures the wood was stored indoors for months, a good drying process. Then once de-nailed they took and had it planed. Uniformity as well as a process of quality control of which pieces to use. Once nailed down, didn't see anything about sanding which would be the right thing to do, they sealed it.

Not to be argumentative but plywood is used throughout a home build and it contains formaldehyde and its a toxin. Something I wouldn't use on a eating table but on a floor? Shouldn't be a health issue, after all the 5 second rule applies to the floor not a table. With it sealed, where's the problem.

DrWilk Loc: .

In most areas of North America lumber will only dry down to approximately 15-20% which is nowhere near dry enough for a floor or furniture. Kiln-dried lumber is dried to 12%. The primary difference in using kiln-dried lumber is that it wont reabsorb moisture the same as airdied will so it remains much more stable in use. Air-dried lumber can reabsorb nearly as much moisture as it started with so will warp and twist and in a floor, heave drastically.

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

Kiln dried will eventually acclimatize to it's immediate moisture environment. Kiln drying does not seal lumber from moisture absorption though it slows it down - not enough to eliminate the problems of humidity changes. I have built a number of acoustic guitars. Humidity and changes in humidity really affect the guitar no matter how it is dried. I live in a very dry climate and when building a guitar I have to humidify the air in my shop for days to allow the wood to absorb some moisture. My target is the humidity conditions where the guitar will eventually be primarily kept.

They didn't have kiln drying hundreds of years ago but the old craftsmen did understand the affect of humidty on their creations and built around it. Some of these old creations are still in tact quite well and none were kiln dried.

I am not against kiln drying at all but there is a lot more to it than the initial drying process. By the way, there are living trees in the Sierras that have a moisture content down around 10%. So it is possible to dry wood to kiln dried levels by natural processes depending on the environment it is stowed.

I have built furniture out of naturally dried lumber and if I make sure I allow for the expansion and contraction it stays together and lasts for years without cracks or separations.