How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? I’m no woodchuck expert, but I can answer a related, lesser-known question: how many pallet planks could a Petersik pry free if a Petersik could pry free pallet planks? Say that five times fast while I walk you through what happened.
Our plan for a 12′ DIY console table (previous updates shared earlier) was to build a rustic, weathered top from old pallets left by the previous owners. The pallets were sitting in our yard and looked perfect for a reclaimed tabletop look, so I hauled them into the basement workshop to dry off after a few rainy days.
There were five pallets total and, seeing how much wood each contained, I figured it would be more than enough. Spoiler: the universe had other plans. After a few days of drying, I took advantage of Clara’s nap to start breaking the pallets down. My toolkit included work gloves, a crowbar, a hammer, a handsaw, a flathead screwdriver, and a dust mask—pallet sawdust is not the sort of thing you want to inhale, and my wife is rightly cautious.
What I didn’t anticipate was how stubborn each plank would be. Every board was fastened in multiple spots with several nails or staples, so cutting them free with a handsaw left tiny, unusable pieces. Prying was more effective, but it required a lot of force and often cracked the wood—rendering many pieces too short or splintered for our long tabletop.
I kept at it through Clara’s 90-minute nap. The pile of nails and staples grew quickly, and I managed to salvage fourteen pieces that looked usable at first glance.
But usable comes with a caveat: the boards varied in width. For a 140″ tabletop made from four or five side-by-side planks, consistent widths are essential. Without a tablesaw to rip boards to a uniform width, mixing different plank widths would make it very hard to get a straight, even surface.
After sorting through the pieces, I was able to find only five planks that matched the exact width I needed—16 7/8″—for a consistent section of tabletop.
So in 90 minutes I had enough matching wood for about two feet of tabletop. At that rate, I estimated it would take roughly nine hours of dismantling to free enough suitable planks for the full 12-foot top—assuming the remaining pallets contained enough matching pieces, which seemed unlikely after already stripping one pallet down.
Between the time investment, the frequent cracking, the inconsistent widths (about a 33% success rate), and dwindling usable material, the pallet route started to look impractical. Sherry agreed—it was time to consider Plan B. She also pointed out another important concern: some pallet wood can contain toxic chemicals like formaldehyde. While we planned to seal any reclaimed wood with an eco-safe poly, the health considerations made stepping away from the pallets a sensible choice.
Plan B is already in motion. We’re checking local sources for reclaimed lumber and will consider store-bought whitewood—like the wood used for the console base—if our reclaimed search comes up short. Using consistent, ready-cut boards would save tons of time and eliminate the prying and guesswork. If needed, we can distress the new boards ourselves to mimic the reclaimed look, which gives us control over the finished appearance without relying on fragile pallet planks. The pallets might still find a second life through other projects or be offered on Freecycle or Craigslist.
In other progress, Sherry finished staining the exposed shelves on each end of the console. Those are the slices that will be visible once the tabletop is in place, so she focused on staining them to match the rustic look we want.
That photo is a bit dark from the angle, so here’s a truer representation of the warm, rich finish. Sherry used leftover Minwax Dark Walnut stain and Safecoat Acrlacq, a water-based, low-VOC protective finish.
The staining was free since we already had the materials on hand. Sherry applied two coats of stain using a foam brush and wiped off the excess after a few minutes. The next day she applied two thin, even coats of Safecoat Acrlacq to seal and protect the wood. This creates a non-toxic, low-VOC shell that reduces off-gassing—important when we have a little one in the house.
We like that the wood grain shows through for a varied, rustic look that will help balance the living room’s more modern elements. The exposed shelves look great and will blend nicely once the entire console is assembled.
We’ll be back with a full reveal once the tabletop is sorted—hopefully soon. In the meantime, I’ll be admiring those freshly stained shelves and plotting our next steps. Sherry’s skill with a rag and stain continues to amaze me.
Pssst—If you want background on the console build, we’ve documented the earlier stages in previous posts and will share more detailed updates when the project is complete. Fingers crossed it won’t take forever.