A comparison is made of the performance of matched aspen-aspen and aspen-oak pallet joints and pallets assembled with nails and staples. This comparison id based on laboratory tests as well as predicted pallet life and cost per use.

Based on the deckboard-stringer joint separation tests, one polymer-coated, 2 1/2"- long, 7/16"- crown, 15-guage, pallet staple, driven through a 13/16" deckboard, provides approximately the same holding power as a 0.120"- diameter, helically threaded, hardened-steel, pallet nail with a 3/4" shank penetration into the stringer or block. Therefore, at least twice as many 2 1/2"staples are required as 2 1/2" nails and three times as many 2 1/2" staples are required as 3" nails to replace these nails, provided no fastener deckboard and stringer splits are introduces during deckboard-stringer assembly, seasoning, and joint stressing.

The pallet rigidity was determined by testing the impact resistance to distortion of non-reversible, double-face, flush, four-way, notched, three-stringer, 48" by 40", deckboard-stringer pallets assembled with 170 or 146 of the 3" nails and 207 or 150 of the 2 1/2" staples. As expected, the nailed pallets were very rigid. On the other hand, the rigidity of the pallets assembled with the 207 staples was marginal and that of the pallets assembled with the 150 staples exceeded an average change in length of 5% of the Pallet diagonals after the sixth free-fall drop from a 40" height. If the number of 2 1/2" staples is increased in line with the requirements for deckboard-stringer separation resistance, such stapled pallets should meet the distortion level of the nailed pallets. Furthermore by using twice to 2 1/2 times as many pallet staples as pallet nails, the life expectancy and cost per use of the nailed and stapled pallets should essentially be equal.