PalletsRecyclingUSAGet a Quote
FILE 05

The Anatomy of a Pallet: Every Board Has a Name

Field Guide · 6 min read

Request a Quote

Question this article didn't answer?

Send it over — and if you're ready, grab a quote in the same breath.

  • Reused-first inventory, graded honestly
  • Zero-to-landfill processing loop
  • Regional pickup & delivery on our fleet
US / Canada format — e.g. (555) 123-4567
US ZIP (12345 or 12345-6789) or Canadian (A1A 1A1)

Required fields marked *. We have no phone line — we reply by email, fast. By submitting you agree to be contacted about your request.

Stringers, deckboards, chamfers and lead boards — the vocabulary that makes ordering precise and grading honest.


A pallet looks simple from across a warehouse, but get close and it becomes a small piece of engineering with a vocabulary all its own. Knowing the parts is the difference between ordering 'some pallets' and ordering exactly the unit-load platform your operation needs.

The deckboards are the flat boards you stack product onto. The top deck carries the load; the bottom deck spreads weight and adds rigidity. The outermost top boards — the lead boards — take the most abuse from forks and are the first place to inspect for cracks.

Stringers (in a stringer pallet) or blocks (in a block pallet) are the load-bearing members between the decks. Block pallets allow true four-way forklift and pallet-jack entry, which is why they dominate automated and grocery environments.

Chamfered bottom boards — those angled edges — aren't decoration. They guide pallet-jack wheels in smoothly and reduce hang-ups. Small detail, big difference on a busy dock.

When you can name the parts, you can describe a repair, specify a build, and grade a load with zero ambiguity. That's why our team speaks this language fluently — and why we wrote it down for you.

The short version:

Reuse beats replace almost every time — for your budget and the planet. When in doubt, ask us to spec it.

Reused · Reclaimed · Reborn

Got pallets to move? Let’s loop them.

Buying, selling, recycling or shipping — one short form and a real person gets back to you fast.

Get a QuoteThe Anatomy of a Pallet: Every Board Has a Name · PalletsRecyclingUSA