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Block pallets for heavy and racked loads
A block pallet is built on blocks rather than long stringers, so forks enter from any side and the deck stays stiff under weight. It is the usual choice for heavy, racked and square loads.
- Entry
- Any side
- Frame
- Blocks, parallel and perpendicular
- Best for
- Heavy, racked
01 Anatomy
A block pallet has a top deck, a bottom deck and blocks between them, laid out as a grid. On a nine-block pallet there are three rows of three. Because the blocks are separated by open space on every side, a fork tine can enter anywhere along the edge.
02 Why it carries heavy loads better
The blocks transfer weight straight down. A stringer pallet depends on the long boards not cracking under a point load, and the cracked stringer is the commonest repair. A block pallet has no long board to crack in the same way, and its shorter spans stay stiff.
03 Sizes and grades
Block builds appear in every standard size and are the typical build for 48 x 48. Used block stock exists in 48 x 40, as grade A and B. For export, a block pallet can be heat treated and marked like any other.
04 Costs of the build
A block pallet is usually heavier and uses more lumber, which tends to push its price up. That is the trade: stiffness and entry for weight and cost. Say on the request which matters more.
05 Questions to ask about a block pallet
- How many blocks, and what material are they?
- Is the deck solid, or spaced?
- Is the frame rated for racking, with the beam depth stated?
- Has it been repaired, and where?
06 Block materials
Blocks may be solid wood, pressed wood chips or plastic. Solid wood is the most common in the used market.
07 Block pallets in the standards
Interlake Mecalux describes the block pallet as typically a 3 x 3 grid of blocks, allowing four-way entry and suiting automated warehouses. Block builds can have parallel or perpendicular stringers, and hardwood block pallets lifting from four sides often carry a deposit. Automated warehouses usually run a single pallet type.
08 Block pallets and plastic
Plastic pallets, of high-density polyethylene or recycled PET, often last more than 100 trips and can have RFID chips molded in, though some creep under long heavy loads. Block layouts suit those molded designs as well as wood, and the nine-block grid is a common pattern.
Q Questions
Are block pallets always four-way?
Yes in the usual layout: blocks leave openings on all four sides for forks.
Is a block pallet more durable?
Usually, for heavy and repeated lifting. Four-way pallets are typically heavier, bigger and more durable than two-way.
Are block pallets heat treated?
Only if the wood was treated and the pallet marked.
Why do blocks crack?
Dry wood, rough handling or nailing too near the edge can split them.
Src Sources
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