Pallet wood Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by scitrek

The wood has to be heated for at least 30 minutes to a minimum core temper­ature of at least 132.8 °F /56° C. A Pallet treated this way will be stamped with [HT], and it should appear near the stamp of the IPPC logo.

The pallet was debarked under IPPC regula­tions, and many pallets have this stamp.

These two letters indicate that the pallet is debarked according to IPPC regula­tio­ns/­stamps. Many pallets have this stamp. It does not matter if your pallet has this stamp or not. Many pallets do not have it.

The process of “debar­king” wood is to remove the bark (rough outer layers of wood) using a cutting tool or a planer, and the pallet wood remains untreated. This procedure is done to allow for a more thorough treatment of wood before being approved for transport (aside from smoothing the wood). Pallets marked with the letters DB only are chemic­al-free and safe to use. Newer pallets no longer require this stamp by the IPPC regula­tions, as most modern wood treatment procedures require “debar­king” as a standard part of their process.

Chemical Fumigation [MB] – The wood was fumigated with a chemical called methyl bromide. A pallet treated with this should be stamped with the letters [MB] and it should appear near the IPPC logo. Although the use of methyl bromide was banned in March 2010 as an acceptable treatment under IPPC, you may still find a pallet that was treated using this method.

[KD]: The purpose of kiln-dried lumber is to reduce the moisture content of the wood (19% or less). This coding system is a means to control warping, fungal growth, and other quality features. The kilns or ovens used to dry the wood do not necess­arily reach the sustained temper­ature of 133 degrees Fahrenheit (56 Celsius) that would qualify as heat treated. Many lumber mills are processing their timber to meet the heat treatment requir­ements; thus you will see “KD-HT” incorp­orated in the wood grade stamp.

IPPC Logo – This is the logo for the Intern­ational Plant Protection Convention ( IPPC). Pallets that come from an intern­ational shipment requires a material that will not carry invasive insect species or plant disease. To meet IPPC standards, a pallet can not be made of raw wood that has not been treated. These pallets require treatment by one of the two following methods, and the treatment will be under the superv­ision of the right agency. Without this stamp, the pallet may be safe, but we would rather use pallets whose source can be traced.