On Sun, 11 Feb 2018 17:14:51 -0800
pyotr filipivich wrote:

Yes, that is my quandary. I have a stack of pallets, and
some rather nice (for some values of nice) boards in some of them.

smell helps but the grain and density is a big help too

some are treated with pesticidals
some are toxic and some are not

mostly see oak and fir but have seen maple
no doubt they source locally suitable wood too but i have not seen
other than those

depends on the industry too

some pallets are better than others and some get used once because the
cost of the pallet is so small compared to the cargo

i have never recovered pallet wood that had bugs or even any signs of
bugs

but that will not let me make a conclusion because pallets in use are
on the go and not much time for bugs to set up anyway

you pay more you get treated wood and pay less you get untreated