I Turned 5 Pallets Into Workshop Stock… But Was It Actually Worth It?

I turned five rough pallets into two big laminated pallet wood blanks that can be stored dry and used later for furniture, workshop projects, or reclaimed timber experiments. This one is for small-shop woodworkers, pallet wood users, and DIY makers who like the idea of reclaimed timber but also know it is never really “free” once you count the cutting, planing, sorting, glue, clamps, electricity, and time. Week 24 did not go to plan. The workshop flooded, the mic broke, and the outdoor pantry got pushed sideways again. Instead of a normal day-by-day progress video, this became a test: can five awkward pallets become useful workshop stock? The answer is… maybe. The slabs ended up around 1500 x 300 x 60 mm each. One slab is about 27,000 cm³, or 0.027 m³. That sounds tiny in cubic metres, but on the bench it feels like a serious chunk of timber. This is not structural glulam. It is not certified stock. I would not sell it as an engineered beam. But as clean, dry, compact, reclaimed pallet wood material for future furniture projects, I think it starts to make sense. The real question is not whether pallet wood is free. It is whether the material is worth the effort once it becomes usable. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:12 The Week Starts Badly 03:03 L1, L2, and L3 Panels 06:15 Pallets as Potential Timber Stock 07:35 Breaking Down Five Pallets 10:31 Sorting and Thicknessing 11:41 Pallet Timber Fights Back 13:15 Laying Out the Mega-Slab 14:27 First Glue-Up 15:39 First Slab Out of Clamps 17:13 The Second Slab Goes Faster 18:26 Two Big Pallet Wood Blanks 19:34 Are Mega-Slabs Worth It? 20:38 Outro Reflection Hashtags #woodworking #palletwood #reclaimedtimber #smallworkshop #diywoodworking 🙌 Support My Work 💖 Like, comment, and subscribe! It helps more than you know. 🛍️ Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/ENU-... ☕ Buy me a coffee: [Coming Soon!] 🔥 Join me on Patreon:   / anemuinnewzealand   🛠 Tools & Materials I Use: DeWALT DW735 Planer Thicknesser 🛒 Recommended Gear & Affiliates 🔧 Best woodworking tools: [Coming Soon!] 🪵 My favorite pallet wood tools: [Coming Soon!] 💡 Lighting setup for filming: [Coming Soon!] (These are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.) 🌍 My Other Channels ENU Outdoor Adventures    / @enuoutdooradventures   Fibromyalgia New Zealand    / @fibromyalgianz   📢 Connect with Me 📸 Instagram:   / anemuinnewzealand   🎵 TikTok:   / anemuinnz   📧 Business Inquiries: [email protected]