Solid Wood Products 



2605 



\AnpTH 



STRINGER BOARD 



HAND PALLET TRUCK OPENINGS 



Figure 22-20. — Nomenclature of pallet parts. When designating pallet size, length 

 should be given before width. (Top) Stringer design, partial four-way entry. (Bottom) 

 Block design, full four-way entry. 



small-scale producers who make pallets occasionally to fill local needs. The 

 industry is a significant consumer of sawed wood products, using nearly 40 

 percent of the United States hardwood production and about 5 percent of sawn 

 softwood products; typically, of all wood used, about 70 percent is hardwood 

 and 30 percent softwood (Martens^). 



E. George Stem, Professor Emeritus, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State 

 University, estimated United States pallet production in 1979 at 296 million 

 units selling for $2.38 billion, using 18 percent of the lumber produced in this 

 country, and requiring more than 200 million pounds of nails and staples for 

 their assembly. 



Pallet production increased from 43.2 million pallets in 1953 at an annual 

 compound rate of about 8 percent to 1979, for a total increase of 685 percent to 

 about 300 million. While about 20 percent of the total movement of domestic 

 products could be handled by pallets, only 5 percent was actually palletized in 

 1977.^ Because of competition for raw materials from which to construct in- 

 creasing numbers of pallets, however, growth of the industry during the 1980's 

 and 1990's is expected to slow to less than 3 percent annually; annual pallet 



^Martens, D. G. 1977. Pallets and ties — status, supply, historical and projected demand, alterna- 

 tives. 8 p. Paper presented at Utilizing the hardwood resource, Oct. 3-4, Madison, Wis. 



^Wallin, W. G. 1977. Characteristics of the U.S. pallet industry. Unpubl. rep. on file at For. Sci. 

 Lab., Princeton, W. Va. 78 p. 



