How do you guys determine what wood scraps are worth keeping?

[ivwshane]

After finishing a project I usually do a thorough cleaning of my shop (aka the garage). Today was that day and I realized I had a lot of scrap wood, some small pieces, a lot of medium sized pieces and a few large pieces like half sheets of ply, I even had scrap pieces of drywall.

So I need to get better organized because I could have used the scraps (the big pieces) for my workbench which would have saved me about $80 bucks.

So how do you guys decide what to keep and what to throw away or recycle?

Also what are some good wood organization racks that have a small foot print? The garage has to be shared with my wife's car and currently about 1/3 is used for wood flooring for a future project so space is a premium.

[dbhost]

Honestly, I go by the "looks useful" and "yeah it's cold enough to toss that in the fireplace" method... Usually there is beer involved.

[LCHIEN]

don't ask me there's piles of scraps of all sizes all over my shop

[mpc]

I keep almost everything that is larger than my palm. If nothing else, little blocks and cell-phone sized bits of scrap plywood are good for clamping pads, holding stuff off the workbench or table saw when I'm using the circular saw, painting/spraying poly, etc.

My storage system fits along a wall of the garage. It's really three separate pieces:
1: basic wire shelves from Home Depot for long boards & sticks. Quick and easy.
2: small areas between studs for cutoffs stored on-end. Small chains in screw-in J hooks trap the pieces.
3: a wedge-shaped bin for large sheet goods. It's on locking casters and is hinged to one of the wall studs. I made the bin from a long 2x8 or 2x10 (I forget which) bottom & end piece with rabbets and one sheet of 3/4 inch plywood cut diagonally: 3 feet tall on one end, 1 foot tall on the open end. Angled dowel pegs in the side of the panel support my sawboards. (the attached pics were taken before I added the sawboard storage)

Being on casters, the plywood cart tucks against the wall quickly. Rolling it out makes it easy to load/unload and enables access to the cutoffs. The idea came from a photo posted previously on this site. When tucked against the wall the whole assembly is less than a foot wide - about the same as a bike leaning against the wall - leaving some room for the car.

mpc

edit: the studs visible in my pics are not the actual wall studs... the walls are insulated and covered in drywall. Those 2x4s are nailed to alternating studs through the drywall so the storage bays are nearly 32 inches wide. And there is one along the bottom, just above the foundation edge, to keep everything off the cold and potentially wet floor.

[radhak]

Very timely! I've been going nuts this past week trying to figure that same thing out!

My wife remarked last weekend that she feels embarrassed when the garage door is left open, for the mess visible to outsiders. That made me spend some serious time there just to clean up. I realize now that I have retained everything using mpc's criterion above - and I could do better, be more selective.

The truth is while it's not easy to throw out anything that 'might be useful', I definitely don't need all the bits and pieces of plywood, nor all those slivers of pine or poplar...

I do have some good organization racks; I even have a small document sorter reallocated to sort smaller pieces of wood (will post pictures later). Now I need to hardline the space for wood scraps - will start discarding once that space fills up. As you have observed, having more scrap does not help if you don't lay your hands on them at the right moment!

[cabinetman]

What's a scrap? I'm really a hoarder, as I never know what I'll need. It could be as small as a stop block, or something to cut out a wedge.

.

[Pappy]

What mean "THROW AWAY, Ke-mo sah-be?

[Carpenter96]

Scrap

I used to work in a shop that restored antique wooden boats and the owner was burning mahogany as big as a couple of feet long of varied thicknesses. I asked if I could take some and he said to go ahead because they were no good to him. I have build all sorts of small projects from jewellery boxes down to key fobs. So to me they were priceless. That was 1992 and sadly I am finally down to just a few pieces. One mans garbage is anothers treasure. It all comes down to space if you have no room to work Purge. Regards Bob

[leehljp]

And if you are a pen turner, the pieces that are distorted, knotty and seemingly unusefull in a box/flat wood structure - these pieces are priceless as pen blanks, even if pithy, or with soft dead spots and with cracks.

I save pine cut off from 1x4s that are 6 inches or more; 2x4s the same; pieces of ply that are more than 6 inches. Less than that on plain pine or plain ply, I generally will throw away, especially if I have just finished a large project.

[charliex]

Like many other things that accumulate.... make a place and when it's full, cull. It's almost impossible to know what off-cuts will be needed in the future. I give my scraps to a neighbor with a fire ring in his back yard. Neighbors and friends enjoy getting together watch the fire, share good micro brews and converse. When Tony stokes the fire with some of my scraps, those in attendance will sometimes ask as to what I was making when those strange cuts were made. All the while I'm thinking why did I throw all those good pieces away.

[phrog]

don't ask me there's piles of scraps of all sizes all over my shop

+1 on that.

[phrog]

Ke-mo sah-be

Wow, I haven't heard that one in a long time! Hi-yo-Silver, Away!

[JimD]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only hoarder. My last shop was the front of the garage and my late wife hated looking at the scraps and dust. She readily agreed to an extra garage in my current house for my shop.

I throw stuff away when it gets so bad it pisses me off. I'm thinking of buying a sheet of 7/16 roof sheathing and splitting it into 16 inch tall pieces to make taller sides for my trailer. I would then shovel up all the scraps in my shop into the trailer and take it to the dump. I have to dodge things to walk through. My tools with wheels won't roll because there is too much on the floor. The problem is I use the little scraps when I make things. But too many of them is just not manageable. I bet I have stuff 10 years old or more.

I do throw things away but just at a significantly slower pace than I make more.

Jim

[cwsmith]

My approach is to minimize scrap altogether. While I am no where near as productive as many of you are, I find for the things I do, it's best to lay out everything on my computer first.

Probably because I've spent my life as an technical illustrator, building (or tearing apart, if you wish) machines on paper. So whether I'm doing a built-end or whatever, I draw it first and then take notes on what I should cut and how best to get the most out of the stock.

I look at a board, figure what knots need to be avoided for a clear piece, etc. and then go from there.

The scraps are all saved. Little stuff dumped into a large trash barrel and anything larger than "kindling" stacked or stored for other pieces when needed. After building the stuff for the main library and the cookbook room and a small table, some misc. shelves, molding, etc. I had one container of "kindling" after three years of this. I just gave it to my brother, who then used many of these small pieces for his model work and then the rest in his wood stove.

I even saved the sawdust, which amounted to two of those large paper "yard waste bags". Those went to a friend of mine who used them in his garage for "dust" clean-up or whatever he called it (He repairs engines.)

So, very little gets taken to the curb and whether it's for drill-press "backing" or whatever, the scraps do seem to have some use before I give them away.

CWS

[durango dude]

I don't decide --- I impulsively keep everything.