2626 



Chapter 22 



M 124 882, M 124 883 



Figure 22-34. — Plywood pallets. (Left) Two-way pallets each carrying 1,800-pound load 



of rolled roofing, stacked four high in a warehouse. (Right) Four-stringer plywood 



pallets, each loaded with 1 ,200 pounds of flour stacked three high in storage. (Photos 



from Heebink 1965.) 



PLYWOOD 



Heebink (1965) found pallets with softwood plywood decks (fig. 22-34) 

 durable and serviceable. In some instances damage from rough handling oc- 

 curred; the most prevalent kinds of damage were as follows: 



• Fraying and splintering of plywood deck edges. Few users considered it 

 objectionable; repairs, if necessary, were made by replacing the edges 

 with 4- to 6-inch- wide strips of new plywood. 



• Breaking of bottom deckboards of plywood. This occurred especially 

 when pallet loads of bagged goods such as flour were piled on each other. 

 Reversible pallets, with plywood decks on both top and bottom are 

 recommended for this situation (fig. 22-34 right). 



• Some four- way pallets had crushed corners and some had split blocks, 

 when the blocks were solid wood; laminated plywood blocks proved 

 resistant to splitting. 



• Bolthead pullthrough. This was serious when it occurred and was caused 

 by routing out too much material for countersinking boltheads, or using 

 bolts with too small heads. Flathead bolts requiring no countersinking 

 and head diameters of at least 1 inch were recommended. 



Pallets must not only be strong, they must absorb large impact loads. Extreme 

 rigidity is afforded by a one-piece plywood deck, sometimes at the expense of 



