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

[ivwshane]

Lol

Thanks for the replys guys! At the very least it sounds like I need some sort of storage system. I just realize I have more scraps in my shed but that gives me an idea.

I can store the wood in my shed and that gives me 8'x2' to play with.

[LCHIEN]

Lol

Thanks for the replys guys! At the very least it sounds like I need some sort of storage system. I basically have 16"x 12' to play with

16' x 12' - 192 square feet just for scraps? That's wonderful!

oh, wait, you mean that's your whole shop?

[Bill in Buena Park]

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.

+1 on the scraps for pens.

This cart I made about 4+ years back is a great "scraps" cart, if you have the room for it. Also serves as a platform for cutting down sheet goods. It has held together great - and the clamps have now outgrown the room on the back...

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...t=storage+cart

[durango dude]

well - since I don't live and breathe recycling ---- I confiscated two (2) un-used recycle bins in the garage.

Do not give me a hard time - I'm recycling wood.

[cabinetman]

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

Well, I don't give anything away. Solid pieces I do save. But sawdust is bagged and I sell it to automotive shops. Shavings, and waste from the jointer and planer, if an appropriate species, gets sold to stables and farms.

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[BobSch]

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.

.

Add me to the list. I've got several boxes of small pieces and somehow they all get used... eventually.

[chopnhack]

LOL at scrap.. no such thing! As MPC showed, I too have a similar setup, his looks neater ;-) Wall rack and a rolling plywood cart... and the occasional 1 gallon mop bucket full of smaller scraps that the kids like to build with

[ivwshane]

16' x 12' - 192 square feet just for scraps? That's wonderful!

oh, wait, you mean that's your whole shop?

Lol no I meant 16 inches by 12 feet is the space I had in my garage for a wood bin.

No matter though, I'm going to store the wood in the shed which gives me about 2.5'x8 to use for a wood cart or something.

[mpc]

As MPC showed, I too have a similar setup, his looks neater ;-)

That's only because those pics were taken the day I built it and first loaded it up. Since then I've reversed the lower bin - the 3 foot tall end is now on the right so the narrow end points towards the garage door (i.e. toward the door where plywood sheets enter the stupid thing!) and the stuff on the shelves is a bit higher & messier now. So far though it has worked and basically met my needs - MUCH better than the "lean everything against the wall" technique I used in my previous garage. Getting full size sheet goods in/out of the bin takes a bit of gruntwork especially if the bin is more than half-full. Friction along the bottom of the bin and from other pieces doing their best to always lean into whatever I'm trying to move adds up quickly. In an ideal setup the bottom 2x8/2x10 would have a slick UHMW coating or some other low-friction coating applied to it.

My "I can't bring myself to throw them away" goofy items are fist-size blocks left over from bandsaw boxes. They're funky shapes... Sometimes I bandsaw them into thinner pieces just to have several test samples for finishing techniques/practice. Or they get used as elevator blocks to hold real work off the bench for circ saw cutting & finishing. They'd probably work great in a fireplace or BBQ for a little heat... I just can't bring myself to burn fancier wood species even if they are goofball shaped scraps! I have a grocery store bag full of them hanging from one end of the lower shelf of the lumber rack.

Cutoff sticks, small pieces of plywood, etc. are handy when making one-use jigs like hinge mortise templates, having a small sample of the stock to use to test-fit dados/grooves, to set table saw blade height or router bit depths, etc. I've taken 4 small scraps of plywood and used double-sided tape to stick them to a flat piece just to make a quickie rectangular opening for the router guide bushing to make hinge mortise jigs... Using 4 pieces to make the initial jig is the only way I've ever been able to make straight-sided holes with the router + guide bushing... trying to use a jig saw or other technique gives me anything but straight sides and by the time I file them straight the resulting hole is nowhere near the correct size to be the final template. Even an otherwise useless foot long skinny plywood cutoff (not even 1 inch by 1 inch cross section) works well to hold bandsaw box drawers and whatnot off the bench during the finishing process. (okay, it'd also make a decent paint stir stick I guess...) I've used mid-size flat pieces to make jigs, as back-ups for drilling or routing to minimize tearout/blow-through, etc. And as sacrificial story sticks/spacers for mounting drawer guides, marking where the hinges should go, marking where drawer pulls should go, etc.

My new shop challenge: where to store the jigs! They're not "stackable" shapes in general. And they'd rapidly gobble up wall space if I tried to hang them... wall space that doesn't currently exist anyway.

mpc

[dusty]

Scraps? What scrapes. I have cutoffs. All kinds and descriptions of cutoffs. You never know. I even keep MDF cutoffs.

I admit that finding one that is "just right" is sometimes difficult.

[cabinetman]

Scraps? What scrapes. I have cutoffs. All kinds and descriptions of cutoffs. You never know. I even keep MDF cutoffs.

I admit that finding one that is "just right" is sometimes difficult.

+1. It might be difficult, but if it's in there I'll find it. I've done some one time jigs that I thought were going to be one time, but, I save them...because as you say..."You never know".

.

[scmhogg]

I keep almost everything. I'll throw it away if can't be used in a project like this.






Steve

[cabinetman]

I keep almost everything. I'll throw it away if can't be used in a project like this.






Steve

Very cool indeed...well done. I really like that.

.

[phrog]

I keep almost everything. I'll throw it away if can't be used in a project like this.

Steve

Supercool, Steve. I love it.

[cwsmith]

Steve,

Love the box, pretty darn neat.

Thanks for showing,

CWS