Wood pallets are a great source of free wood which can be used to make furniture, artwork, toys, planting boxes, and construction material.

Step 1: MATERIALS

RAW MATERALS:

- Wood Pallet

TOOLS NEEDED:

- Cat's Paw

- Claw Hammer

- Ear Protection (Seriously, this is going to be loud)

- Safety Goggles

Step 2: Remove Nails

1. Place the pointed end of the Cat's Paw tool next to the nail you want to rip out.

2. Start hammering on the Cat's Paw to dig it into the wood next to the nail. As you're hammering, angle the Cat's paw to get leverage under the nail. You may want to repeat this several times from different sides of the nail to avoid damaging the wood (as much as possible).

3. Once the Cat's Paw is sufficiently wedged under the head of the nail, you can start to pull it out a bit. Use the claw end of the Claw Hammer to rip it out completely.

4. Repeat.

5. Once you get to the end you can use the crow bar to leverage the wood apart. It's hard to do in the middle bays of the pallet without cracking the wood. (This step is show in the video)

Step 3: VIDEO + TIPS

Here's a video of the process.

TIPS:

Some of the wood members, especially the 1-by's might crack. The 2-by's should be more easily stay in-tact. But that's OK since you got the pallet for free anyway. It'll get easier as you do it a couple times.

Remember, easy does it. If you try to pry things apart with too much force it increases the chances of your wood cracking.