Industry Terms & FAQs

At Iron City Wood Products, we’re committed to helping you make informed decisions about your packaging and shipping needs. This page provides answers to frequently asked questions and key industry terms to simplify your buying process and ensure you get the right solutions for your business.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of pallets do you offer?

We offer a wide range of pallets, including new, reconditioned, combination and heat-treated pallets. We also provide custom-designed pallets built to your exact specifications for size, strength and functionality.

Can you design custom pallets to fit my specific needs?

Yes! Our team works closely with you to design and build custom pallets that meet your specific dimensions, weight capacity and handling requirements. Whether you need unique sizes or specialized features, we have you covered.

What is the process for ordering custom pallets?

Simply contact us to discuss your needs. We’ll walk you through options, provide recommendations and create a design tailored to your specifications. Once approved, we’ll build and deliver the pallets to your location.

Do you offer ISPM 15 heat-treated pallets for international shipping?

Absolutely! We provide ISPM 15-certified heat-treated pallets that comply with international shipping regulations, ensuring your products meet export standards and avoid delays at customs.

What other products do you offer besides pallets?

In addition to pallets, we offer wooden crates, Gaylord boxes, premium landscape mulch and lumber products like dunnage and wood sheathing. We provide durable solutions for shipping and storage needs.

How does your trailer drop service work?

Our complimentary trailer drop service allows you to load recyclable pallets at your own pace. Once the trailer is full, just give us a call and we’ll pick it up – free of charge – saving you time and reducing waste.

Are your products environmentally friendly?

Yes! Sustainability is a priority for us. We recycle wood materials, offer eco-friendly mulch and refurbish pallets to reduce waste and promote sustainable practices.

How do I request a quote or place an order?

You can request a quote directly through our website or by contacting us via phone or email. Our team is ready to assist with pricing, recommendations and scheduling deliveries.

Important Pallet Terms & Phrases

This comprehensive guide to pallet terms and definitions gives guidance on pallet components and design elements, ensuring you are well-informed when ordering products.

Annular Nail

Pallet nail with circular ring threads along its body.

Banding Notch

*See Strap Slot

Bin

Four-sided structure where boards are mounted to a pallet base with or without a cover. Often referred to as a box or container bin pallet.

Block

Rectangular, square or cylindrical deck space, often identified by its location within the pallet as a corner block, end block, edge block, inner block, center block or middle block.

Block Pallet

A type of pallet featuring blocks between the pallet decks or beneath the top deck.

Butted Deck Board

An inner deck board tightly installed against an adjoining lead deck board during pallet assembly.

Bottom Deck

Assembly of deck boards comprising the lower, load-bearing surface of the pallet.

CAD

Computer-aided-design software that allows the design of the “right” pallet at the best value. *See Pallet Design System© (PDS©)

Captive Pallet

A pallet intended for use within the confines of a single facility, system or ownership; not intended to be exchanged.

Chamfered Deck Boards

Deck boards with edges of one or two beveled faces, either along the full or specified length of board or between the stringers of blocks, allowing easier entry of pallet jack wheels.

Closed Distribution System

Shipping system restricted to moving goods between specified plants and facilities.

Collar

Collapsible wooden container or bin that transforms a pallet into a box.

Combo Pallet

A pallet built with a mixture of new and used components. Can have new stringers and used deck boards or new deck boards and used stringers. Combo pallets can yield significant cost savings over new pallets.

Cost-Pass-Through

A cost-share system where the partial cost of a pallet is passed through from the purchaser to the receiver of the pallet.

Cost-Per-Trip

Average cost of pallet use for a single one-way trip.

Custom Pallet

A pallet built to your specific design requirements.

Deck

One or more boards or panels comprising the top or bottom surface of the pallet.

Deck Mat

Assembly of deck boards and stringer boards, forming the deck of a block pallet.

Deck Board

Element or component of a pallet deck, oriented perpendicular to the stringer or stringer board.

Deck Board Spacing

Distance between adjacent deck boards.

Deck Board Span

Distance between deck board supports (stringers, stringer boards or blocks).

Deflection

The amount of deformation or bending in a pallet or pallet component under load.

Dimensions

*See Pallet Dimensions

Double-Face Pallet

A pallet with top and bottom decks.

Double-Wing Pallet

A pallet with top and bottom deck boards extending beyond the edges of the stringers or stringer boards.

Drive Screw Nail

Helically (continuous spiral) threaded pallet nail.

Economic Life

Output from PDS© program, which identifies the number of trips the pallet will make, provided it is repaired properly, which maximizes a return on investment.

Exchange Pallet

A pallet intended for use among a designated group of shippers and receivers where ownership of a pallet is transferred with the ownership of the unit load: common pool pallet.

Expendable Pallet

A pallet intended for a series of handlings during a single trip from shipper to receiver; it is then disposed of. *See Shipping Pallet

Fastener

A mechanical device for joining pallet components like nails, staples, bolts or screws.Fastener Shear Index

Relative measure of the shear resistance of the pallet fastener.

Flush Pallet

A pallet with deck boards flush with the stringers, stringer-boards or blocks along the sides of the pallet.

Fork Entry

Opening between decks, beneath the top deck or beneath the stringer notch to admit forks.

Four-Way Block Pallet

A pallet with openings at both pallet ends and along pallet sides sufficient to admit hand-pallet jacks: full four-way entry pallet.

Free Span

The distance between supports in a warehouse rack.

Hand (Wheel) Jack Opening

Space provided in the bottom deck to allow pallet jack wheels to bear on the floor.

Handling

A single pick-up, movement and set-down of a loaded or empty pallet.

Hardened-Steel Nail

Heat-treated and tempered steel pallet nail with a MIBRANT angle between 8 and 28 degrees.

Hardwood

Wood from species of broadleaf trees (not necessarily hard or dense).

Heat Treated Pallets

ISPM 15 Compliant Pallets-Export Pallets – International Phytosanitary Measure known as ISPM 15. Compliance involves heat treating pallets to reduce the risk of introduction and/or spread of quarantined pests. Due to international regulations, heat treatment is an increasing concern for companies shipping products using wood pallets. The international export standard, ISPM 15, requires that all wood packaging material be heat-treated at a core temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit for a minimum of 35 minutes. This regulation eliminates the presence of pests found in wood and thereby protects crops and forests in other parts of the world. Certification is necessary for compliance — Atlas Pallet is inspected on a monthly basis by NELMA. Our IPPC certification allows us to stamp all heat-treated pallets in compliance with ISPM 15.

Helical Nail

Helically (continuous spiral) threaded pallet nail. *See Drive Screw Nail

Nail

Fastener made from endless wire by cutting a point and forming a head at the shank end opposite the point.

National Wooden Pallet and Container Association

A national association to promote the design, manufacture, distribution, recycling and sale of pallets, containers and reels.

Non-Reversible Pallet

A pallet with bottom deck board configuration different from the top deck.

Notch

Cutout in the lower portion of the stringer to allow entry for the fork tine, usually 9” in length, 1 ½” depth.

Notched Stringer

A stringer with 2 notches spaced for fork-tine entry (partial four-way entry).

Opening Height

The vertical distance measured between decks, from the floor to the underside of the top deck or from the floor to the top of the stringer notch.

Overall Height

The vertical distance measured from the floor to the top side of the top deck.

Overhang

The distance the deck extends from the outer edge of the stringer or stringer board; wing; lip; the distance the unit load extends beyond the deck.

Pallet

A portable, horizontal, rigid platform used as a base for assembling, storing, stacking, handling and transporting goods as a unit load, often equipped with a superstructure.

Pallet Design System© (PDS©)

Reliability-based computer-aided design (CAD) program, for determining the safe load carrying capacity, performance, life and economy of wooden pallets.

Pallet Dimensions

When specifying pallet size, the stringer or stringer board (block pallet) length is always expressed first; for example, a 48” x 40” pallet has a 48” stringer or stringer board and 40” deck boards.

Pallet Jack

Hand-propelled wheeled platform, equipped with a lifting device for moving palletized unit loads.

Pallet Life

The period during which the pallet remains useful, expressed in units of time or the number of one-way trips.

Pallet Top

A single-faced platform comprised of deck boards and stringer boards placed on top of a unit load to protect the top edges of the unit load from damage caused by banding.

Panel Deck Pallet

Pallet constructed with composite or structural panel top deck.

Partial Four-Way Stringer Pallet

A pallet with notched stringers.

Post Pallet

A pallet with posts or blocks between each deck or beneath the top deck. *See block pallet

Racked Across Deck Boards

Output from the PDS© program describing the maximum load capacity and deflection of a pallet where the rack frame supports the pallet only at the ends of the deck boards.

Racked Across Stringers

Output from the PDS© program describing the maximum load-carrying capacity and deflection of a pallet where the rack frame supports the pallet only at the ends of the stringers or stringer boards.

Repair

To restore to a reusable state; to remake in order to use again.

Recycled

A pallet, container or reel that is reused after having been abandoned, used, recovered or restored.

Recycled, Repaired, Reconditioned Pallet

A pallet that has been repaired to usefulness. There are a variety of grades available to meet your desired utility and price point.

Rental Pallet

A pallet owned by a third party, different from the actual pallet user.

Returnable/Reusable Pallet

A pallet designed for multiple trips.

Reversible Pallet

A pallet featuring identical top and bottom decks.

Shipping Pallet

Pallet designed to be used for a single one-way trip from shipper to receiver that is then disposed of. *See Expendable Pallet

Shook

Pallet parts cut to select sizes so they can be assembled into pallets.

Shook Grade

The classification of the quality of pallet parts relative to performance characteristics based on size and distribution of defects, independent of wood species.

Single-Wing Pallet

A pallet with top deck boards that extend past the edge of stringers or stringer boards with the bottom deck boards flush (if present).

Skid

A pallet with no bottom deck.

Slave Pallet

Pallet, platform or single, thick panel used as a support base for a palletized load in rack-storage facilities or production systems.

Soft Nail

Pallet nail designed with a MIBANT angle of at least 47 degrees.

Softwood

Wood from coniferous or needle-bearing trees (not necessarily soft or low density).

Solid Deck Panel

A pallet built with no space between each deck board.

Span

The distance between stringer or block supports.

Stevedore Pallet

A pallet explicitly designed for use on seaport shipping docks. These pallets are often heavy duty and of double-wing construction.

Stiff-Stock Steel Nail

A pallet nail created with medium-high carbon steel without heat treatment and tempering with MIBANT angle between 29 and 46 degrees.

Strap Slot

Slot cutout along the upper edge of a stringer or the underside of the top deck board designed to help with the tying down a unit load to the pallet deck.

Strapping

Heavy-duty bands used to secure the load of a pallet.

Stringer

Continuous, longitudinal, solid or notched beam component of the pallet used to support deck components. Often identified by location as the outside or center stringer.

Stringer Board

In block pallets, a continuous, solid board member extending for the full length of the pallet perpendicular to deck board members and placed amidst deck boards and blocks.

Take-It-Or-Leave-It Pallet

A pallet furnished with fixed cleats to allow fork truck tines to pass beneath the unit load and remove it from the pallet.

Top Cap

Panel placed atop a load to allow for tighter strapping, increased protection and decreased damages.

Top-Deck of the Pallet

The construction of the upper, load-carrying surface of a pallet.

Trip

Consists of four to six handlings of a pallet.

Two-Way Entry Pallet

An un-notched pallet with solid stringers that allow items to enter from either end.

Get in Touch

Whether you need custom pallets, crates or recycling services, Iron City Wood Products is your trusted industry expert. Contact us today and see how we can be your dedicated pallet and recycling partner.

GET STARTED CALL NOW

900 Albert Street Youngstown, Ohio 44502
Phone: 330-743-1645 | Fax: 330-480-0465
Email: [email protected]

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