Pallet Projects 101 - How to Cut Pallets

Have you wanted to take the plunge and dive into pallet projects? It’s easy to cut pallets apart with this tutorial!

Pallet projects are all the rage! I’m addicted to them as pallets are usually free. You can find pallets by the side of the road, at local hardware stores, home improvement stores, factories and sometimes grocery stores. And although there are pallet recycling companies, you’d be surprised how many businesses will give away their pallets. Start observing on your way to work and if you don’t see much, make a few phone calls to the places we suggested above and ask if they give away any pallets.

Of course you’ll need a larger vehicle or a vehicle with a roof rack to transport these pallets. Sometimes asking a neighbor for help is the easiest way as they are likely to help you obtain and load a pallet into their vehicle. Or better yet, they have a pallet they aren’t using and will be happy to give it to you!

You’ll need a few simple tools in order to cut the wood for your pallet projects. If you don’t want to invest in a saw, consider asking a friend or neighbor if you can borrow theirs. Just make sure you have the correct saw blade for cutting wood.

Circular Saw (if you purchase this one, make sure you purchase the battery as well)
Wood Cutting Blade for the Circular Saw
Triangle Rafter Square
Safety Glasses

Circular saws with a sharp blade are the best for this project. I have a cordless saw and it works fine for cutting about 2-3 pallets before I need to recharge the battery. If you are going to do major pallet destruction, you’ll want an electric saw with a cord. You’ll be able to cut all pallets in one day.
Wearing your safety glasses, learn how to use the circular saw by reading the manual instructions.
To cut the pallet, set the rafter square on the top of the piece of wood and place your saw blade/guard next to the straight edge of the rafter square.
Tightly hold the rafter square and cut the wood, slowly moving upwards.
Repeat until all boards are cut.
Flip over and cut the boards on the back

One beautiful thing about pallet wood for pallet projects is that you will have lots of wood from just one pallet! You can easily stack it and stash it in a nice organized pile for future projects! Plus you can find weathered pallets or nice clean wood pallets. You can use them as-is or paint them to fit your needs.

And if you’re not a feet person, I’m sorry! But I don’t advise you cut pallets wearing shorts and flip flops because it’s quite messy!