Scott,
That is assuming the pallets/shipping crates ORIGINATED in the U.S. where those are commonly used woods, for that purpose. When Hyundai was building the new manufacturing complex in Montgomery, Alabama, a Deputy friend of mine was cruising the area, he saw some shipping crates that some sort of machines where shipped in, he noticed the wood and that it looked , as he said, "interesting". He asked if they were going to throw it out and if so could he have some of it, they told him he could have all he could get before they BURNED IT!!! Not knowing what it was, only that it was "interesting'', he grabbed as much as he could safely put in his Deputy car, he took it home and set it aside, ....and went to bed as he was working the 3rd shift, sorta forgot about it until a few days later, on Saturday his youngest son was looking through their wood pile for wood to build a coffee table for a Scout badge, he was already pretty good at woodworking, and found that wood, after a little research they found out that it was TEAK! I can't remember exactly what kind of Teak, it wasn't like any I'd seen before as this stuff was gorgeous! It wasn't straight grained at all and made a beautiful coffee table, even though it was made by a 12 year old!
Hyundai is a Korean company, I asked him why would they use Teak for shipping crates?!? He said he did go back and try to get more but they had burned it, he told them that they burned some beautiful Teak wood, and asked where they thought it came from, he was told that no one knew for sure, that there were multiple pieces of equipment there, coming from all over the world. Best guess was that it came from any piece of equipment in there that was built in a country that uses Teak wood like we use pine. Kind of a broad guess I said, and he agreed, he kept watching for more, but no luck..., unless he was holding out on me....
I know someone mentioned Luthier makers, which I did get some nice pieces of Claro Walnut from one, but it's in a big city too far away from me to make it worth while for me to go for a visit. If I am in the big city of Birmingham, I do stop in and talk with the fellow and see if he has any scraps he'd like me to "throw away" for HIM! Honestly, all you have to do is ask! They'll usually give it to you, not always, I wouldn't go in expecting them to just give it to you, you may have to give them a knife, or a few bucks, they know what they have is of some value for you to go in there, so offer them "some value", meaning, either ask them how much they'd charge you for it, if what they want is too much for the piece, either give a counter offer, or just say sorry, explain your learning how to make knives and that you're on a tight budget, and was hoping to find a real good deal, a little (just a little) poor mouthing goes a long way. That you didn't want to put a lot of money into handle material that there's a good chance you will probably mess up the knife, the wood or both! Trust me, they will understand that, as they will recall learning their craft and the pains it took to learn their trade. Personally, I prefer to pay for it over trading a future knife, that is of course, if the price is right. And the wood is exceptional! Which I may add, it will be, because they always use BEAUTIFUL WOOD, especially the custom makers, they seek out the prettiest wood out there, I would go as far as to say they are as bad as some of us, if not worse....than some of us...not all! Some of us are a bit, err, OBSESSIVE!!!! And YES! I am talking about, ME! My wife swears I have started a wood collection, I even have one prized piece of beautiful Amboyna Burl that I have displayed on the mantle over my fireplace, yeah, I'm just a little sick! But it's a good kind of sick!
Hope his helps, Rex