I have a problem

[DSWalker]

Cut-offs and scrap pieces. How small is too small to save? I can't seem to just get rid of any extra pieces. They are everywhere. The one time I threw some on the burn pile I literally wished I had some of them back the next day!

No one else has this problem, right?

[bowman]

Nope, only you David!

[bob vaughan]

That dilemma got me a few times years back. As my wood inventory grew, I came to accept it as norm and came to appreciate the free space more than the annoyance of needing some scrap piece.

One thing I do is glue up panels of scraps that are 20" or so long to make drawer side stock for future projects. Strips of good wood are good for this if over 1-1/4" wide. I try to make a panel 24 to 36" wide. Once dry, I can rough cut out drawer side sizes, face joint, and plane to thickness.

1 scraps - 1 (1).jpg

Glued up strips from some finished oak strips.

1 scraps - 1.jpg

This grinder stand's drawer sides were made from various glued up species.

[Graywolf]

Bob has a good idea, or you could process your scrap into useable blanks for key fobs or whistles and donate them to the outreach trailer. That way you have done a good deed and freed up space in your shop. If that doesn't work then bonfire.

[Jim M.]

I was the same way until I put a woodstove in my barn, now I hunt from wood bin for scraps on cold days.

[NOTW]

So do we start a post your scrap pile thread now???

[Willemjm]

Cut-offs and scrap pieces. How small is too small to save? I can't seem to just get rid of any extra pieces. They are everywhere. The one time I threw some on the burn pile I literally wished I had some of them back the next day!

No one else has this problem, right?

I make cutting boards by gluing up strips, takes no time at all. Cut, glue, run through the drum sander and square through the table saw. Everything that is not suitable for that; at the old house I had a wood fired Pizza oven and at the new house we put in a high efficiency EPA II wood fireplace in the living room.

[sawman101]

Really small stuff goes in the wood stove. I used to try and save every scrap, but now I have other problems to haunt me, such as the several stacks of lumber I have accumulated again, around 1500 b'. I really hate throwing any out, but it becomes a great annoyance to have scraps stashed here and there.

[JimD]

My shop is a mess most of the time. Thin strips get thrown in the corner where the claps reside in case I need them to use with the clamps to prevent damage to the workpiece or to edge sheet goods. Small pieces are in the bins or on the floor. Often I need a little piece and scrounge it from what is on the floor. But every once in awhile it gets to me and the trailer gets loaded up and taken to the dump and the shop gets reasonably clean again. And I have to cut a piece off a bigger scrap when I need a little one. I recently threw out old painted doors and trim pieces from demolition work on the inside of my house. I made all the drawers for a dresser over christmas using 1X softwood scraps from the same demolition, however. Some drawer sides have nail holes but it doesn't affect the functionality of the drawers. I planned them to 1/2 thick so I removed the paint in that process.

Just last weekend I made new sides for my trailer using cut up 2x12s from my dock. They are wet and weathered but still sound. The bigger issue is I cannot get all the nails out (some are spiral, others are ring shank and neither will pull out). So I couldn't use the sawstop and just put an old blade on the old table saw and radial arm saw. The sides are very "rustic" but I don't care. They are sound pressure treated material and because they were cut out of 2x12s there are less than the normal number of knots. Rain will wash the remaining mud and plant material off. I threw the worst material away but kept the better 2x12s for this sort of repurposing. But they don't get to come into the shop except to be cut. They stay on the back porch or in the shed. Not nearly enough space in the shop for this sort of rough material.

I like the drawer side idea. Much better than throwing it away.

[Jerry C]

In the past I saved my scraps for a long time. I cut them up into building blocks for my grandkids. I was careful to use only hardwood and carefully cut properly square blocks and blocks of different sizes that would stack well. I used a lot of scraps and it took a lot of time and jigs to cut the smaller blocks. I was also careful to sand and smooth all the blocks. They have a huge set of blocks and they get a lot of use. Good sets of wood blocks are expensive and make great gifts for your kids, grandkids or schools.

I also have a fire pit and use the wood for marshmallow roasting and Smores with my grandkids.

[junquecol]

nope, only you david!

LIAR!

[ste6168]

For me, if they are too short to run through the planer, they typically get tossed/burned. Unless they are an unusual piece of wood, or something 8/4 or more. I know that I could hand flatten the smaller pieces, but it makes it easy for me to make the determination on whether or not to hold onto them.

[Gofor]

All my scraps go into a 35 gal plastic garbage can. As needed, I retrieve pieces for clamp pads, test runs for dado setting, etc, When it gets full, I retrieve the most likely reuseable pieces and dump the rest into stump holes and wash outs back in my woods for the termites and carpenter ants to digest back into nature (along with yard debris)..

The exception is treated lumber. I keep some of the larger pieces stacked outside for use in outside projects, but the rest goes to the land fill.

I seldom throw away any scrap from a project until it is finished. That's because I never know when they may be useful for setting up an angle cut, dado setting, finish test sample, .....

I confess to having two full containers of pine pieces that were originally a shelf and storage structure in my garage, removed when I built my shed. Still may need them for shelves or racks in my shed. LOL

[Rwe2156]

Yup, you've got the disease for sure.

You're asking the wrong people!! LOL