Just curious. How small does a piece of hardwood have to be before you will get rid of it? This question came to mind after looking at my pile of scrap wood that I just can’t seem to part with.
Thanks,
Paul
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Replies
Tough question.Most of my cuoffs are quite small. That's because they are cutoffs of cutoffs. Plenty of times, when I buld anything from scratch, I just 'wing it'
That is; no special dimentions at the start. whether it's a finger joint jig or a Christmas tree stand or a pizza 'peel',(a wooden paddle)
a sewing/crafts box for my daughter or a duplex bird house for a friend
If you start off big, after all the angles joints/hardware are fitted and fastened and glued,THEN it's easy to slice off any extra overhang and unnessesary material by wholesale ripping or crosscutting away useful shim/blocking/patching/wedges that come in handy in another project.
That birdhouse was a work of art covered with small wooden shakes and shingles. Fortunately, I mis calculated and have plenty of the shingles left over for ????whatever??? Steinmetz.
Cheez Paul!
That's the question of the century (already!)
I've got scraps of stuff that go right back to when I first started woodwork - more than 15 years ago and on the other side of the world!
Trouble is, from time to time, I find that I need a bit of walnut, or rosewood, or a bit of burr elm ... and with luck, I can still find some.
But, 90% of my scraps will end up belonging to someone else ... or on a fire stoked by someone who has no idea why I bothered to save them.
Malcolm
Got,
Too small to do anything with.
I get a chuckle out of those who want me to build something on the cheap: "Just make it out of scrap wood." "Buddy, if it's big enough to make something out of, it aint scrap, is it?"
Cheers,
Ray Pine
Hi
If someone wants me to build them something out of scrap hardwood i tell them { THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SCRAP HARDWOOD
Have a nice day Lee
One of my criteria for saving scraps is whether or not it can be safely machined with my power tools (Table Saw, Router, Drill Press, etc.). I also tend to save all my scraps until the project is finished. they are handy for test cuts and thickness measurements and adjustments. In spite of this, I have a generous supply of kindling wood and stirring sticks.
With that criteria, my scaps would get pretty small before going away. Think holding in a wooden clamp and cutting small parts for inlay on the scroll saw.1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
A couple of years ago, I moved. Had to take all my lumber with me. When I got to the "scraps" I ended up with a 4 x 8 foot utility trailer full of stuff that was "too good" to throw away or burn...that is, until then.
So now, I save scraps during the project, for test cuts etc, but unless the stuff really has promise, it gets cut to length [long, narrow strips], or tossed straight away into a bin to feed the woodstove.
I figure I may be burning up a bit more wood, but then I'm using up less fossil fuel as a trade off.
My mentor suggested for me to get a lathe and learn to turn... He uses most of his scaps to make knobs and such.
For me... I keep them around until summer, then I do a cleaning and take the the scraps out on the family camping trips. I tend to separate the 'common' hardwoods from the ones that cost me.
Prety much the same here. Late fall and the last BBQ will catch many of my scraps I let soak in a bucket of stale beer for a week. I throw them on a low fire to smoke the ribs/chicken/steaks/kabobs of choice. Over winter, I'll build up another "reserve"
William
I have this 93 year old man that still drives come to my shop to pick up my scaps on the first friday of every month (like clockwork). I look forward to his arrival with his good conversation and wisdom. he comes at 5am and I panic if I'm running late on that morning. This guy just makes my day He has the best stories and they are all true. Sex,Army,Women in his day,IRS,Reagan,Hunting with stones,water skiing,Chinese masssage parlors. The guy is nuts. Will be bumbed when he goes.O' Did I say he put new brakes on my van! When my wife had our baby, He just showed up at the hospital to congratulate us. Jim, If your reading this I'm still charging you $3 for all the scraps.You old fart
-Lou
surfer,
A bucket of stale beer? I never heard of "stale" beer. Is that some exotic, like hefeweissen, or lambic?
Ha, ha, hahahahaha
Cheers,
Ray
Stale beer (or any used beer,) should be recycled.
Return it in original cans/bottles and place at the curb.
or...
return to your dealer for deposit(If you live in Canada)
Steinmetz.
Well, today I stopped into an art and craft gallery to see what people sell. There were packs of four "Scandinavian Sandwich Bords" going for $40 a pack. The "Sandwich Bords" were about 3/8 thick ovals about 5 inches by 3 inches. They were of various species. What made them worth the $40 was the natural-looking piece of twine binding each pack and the photocopied note tied to each pack explaining that they were "hand sanded to bring out the natural beauty of each Sandwich Bord." I don't know if the store sold many of these, but I was impressed by the maker's marketing skills; if the maker reads this post, my hat is off to you.
At the risk of seeming as ignorant as I am, what do you use "Scandinavian Sandwich Bords" for?Ken
At the risk of seeming as ignorant as I am, what do you use "Scandinavian Sandwich Bords" for?
I would use such a børd for making the lutefisk sandwich. Ja, you betcha. ;-)My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
John D's answer seemed pretty accurate. However, they were too small for the sandwiches that I make. On the other hand, they would be useful for serving sandwiches made from all those small scraps of bread that are too small to put through the planer.
I keep two containers for PINE scrap. Container #1 is a 'xerox paper' box. Anything about 11 inches long is ripped into 3/4" wide strips and go into the box. Daughter #1 uses this as kindling. If I have too much of these pine strips I have three good friends who always want a box of 'Gourmet Kindling'. Container #2 is filled with small pieces of pine, under 1x2x2 in size. I cut triangles, curves and various shapes on the bandsaw and sent this small stuff to a local nursery school where the kids love to 'make stuff'. I also donate an occasional bottle of Elmers White Glue for the kids. They build whatever their immagination can design. Hardwood goes to a friend who is a turner. If it's too small for one of his 'big pieces', it is made into beautiful cabinet pulls, wine stoppers and an occasional chess set. If you look in the Rockler catalog, they sell a 'do-it-yourself' chess board. 32 dark and 32 light squares about 1/4"thick. You supply the glue, the backer board and the finish. Find it, look at the price and then cry. I can't even sell the completed chess board for what they get for the 64 piecess! But... there is always the point where you must say... 'Out, damned wood,' and then toss it. Guaranteed, you will have a need for it the day after garbage collection. SawdustSteve
I can't bring myself to throw out anything unless it is red oak or lesser grade wood. I suppose when I get to the level of some of you, I'll have some decisions to make.Steve, I have heard that pine is dangerous to burn in a fireplace. Something about the resin adhereing to the walls of the chimney and building up to become a fire hazard. I am not an expert, it's just something I heard and thus avoided doing to be on the safe side.
Thanks for the concern. Yes, it's not the greatest thing to burn only pine. The resin (creosote) builds up in the chimney and if there is enough, you get a chimney fire. Firemen will tell you it is a nasty one to put out. The rising flame/heat/smoke draw more air into the chimney and it acts like a blow torch. We use pine to get the hardwood (oak, etc) started. Once it starts, NO MORE pine. For outdoor cooking, pine can be used but it gives the bottoms of the pots a nasty coating that almost has to be sand-blasted off. It also does not give off enough heet to properly cook. SawdustSteve
Steve,
"it gives the bottoms of the pots a nasty coating that almost has to be sand-blasted off. "
An old boy scout trick is to give the outside of the pot a liberal coating of liquid dish detergent before putting it on the firepit. Makes clean-up a snap, later on.
Cheers,
Ray Pine
Not to hijack the thread, but burning pine is not a problem, especially if it is lumber which has been dried. Creosote forms from the moisture in wood, regardless of resin. Pine gets the bad rap due to the fact that the resin is liquid and takes a long time to season, so yes, resin does contribute to creosote, but it is not the resin itself that is inherently the primary problem.
Regardless of what you burn, burn it hot and check your flue. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security that burning hardwoods won't build up significant creosote.
Jake
When we moved into our place, a past owner had been a woodworker. He saved scraps galore in the barn and in two bins against the fence. Some of the barn scarps were actually useful.
We looked at the bins full of scraps against the fence and thought fireplace! Alas, it was only a veneer of wood pieces; it gradually morphed to compost a few inches down! We shovelled it out and burned it with about 5 yards of other stuff in the middle of the barnyard.
We did unearth a 5' gopher snake in cleaning out the bins.
We should vacumme seal every scrap for later use. NOT
http://www.guildoforegonwoodworkers.com/Newsletters.aspx
There's a series beginning in the December issue that attempts to deal with this very problem.....scraps....sigh
Edited 2/9/2006 7:27 pm ET by Dave
How small does a piece of hardwood have to be before you will get rid of it?
Chop sticks or tooth pick?
Best way to find out is throw out all different sizes..
Inb a few days you will NEED it.. Hope ya jotted down the sizes ya threw out!
Edited 2/10/2006 10:10 am by WillGeorge
I don't save any scraps.
Just tossed 8 pieces of 8/4x12"x12" walnut crotch - offcuts from 4 slabs 8/4x24"x9' that made 4 rocking chairs.
Tossed a piece of clear cherry 8/4x12"x9'leftover from a log used to make a pair of beds.
Can you send your address so I can get there BEFORE the Garbage man?
No kidding! I checked his profile, no info. :) I'd sure show up to pick up scraps like that.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
I quit using the term "scraps" as it implied worthless cutoffs, which, as was suggested earlier, encourages friends to want something made at no cost. I've moved my shop 6 times over the last 35 years, and reduced the inventory each time. However, I recently made a hand mirror using a highly figured walnut crotch (cutoff) remaining from a lowboy I made in 1972, and it quickly fetched $95. Now, I can't bring myself to discard the cutoffs from making it, as they'll make georgeous cabinet knobs!
In this shop, (my last move, I hope) I have actually used the dish barrels and wardrobe boxes, cut to different heights, on 18" plywood squares on 2" swivel casters, to contain the sorted & organized "cutoffs" .... perhaps 14 of these occupy a space in one end of my 500 sq ft shop.
This afliction is in my woodworking family's blood! Twenty years after my Grandfather passed away, my aunt led me to the storage area over his home-shop, presenting me with several odd-shaped "lumps" of gray wood. She said that "Grover" had made her promise she'd give me those, the first time I was there in a car big enough to take then home. Revealed the most georgeous pieces of crotch walnut. Made an oilstone box from part of one, and have a second one intact .... perhaps I should post a few pictures!
It bears repeating .... throw it away, and you'll need it soon!
John in Texas
P.S. GHR is just pulling everyones leg .... or needs to buy a lathe or discover Ebay. I laugh out loud when I look at the pieces of junk wood people are shelling out greenbacks for. There's some sawmill operator out there rippin' off the "crafty" woodworkers. Shame, Shame. At least one of his buyers is unable to drive to the lumber yard, and has no other way to obtain his stock for his jig-saw than through the mail!
Edited 2/10/2006 2:26 pm by tailsorpins
"GHR is just pulling everyones leg"Not quite. I just don't make a profit on small items. I also don't make a profit on the time it takes to sort through shop waste. I once bought 700# (200bdft) of clear lumber, was careful to limit my waste, and still the the finished products weighed only 350#. 50% went to waste. The largest off cuts were 2-3" long and 10-13" wide.That experience taught me to save only wood I had a specific need for.Giving scrap away sounds good until you realize that our time is worth up to $100/hr (depending on who is around and what could be done). It makes no sense to take the time to give the scrap away.
I save what I interpret as decent size pieces, and the rest go in the burn barrel.
I used to save everything. Eventually, I realized that after a few months I forget what I have, and I'm just paying for the wasted square feet of shop space.
A lot of times my two Golden Retrievers will help make the decision for me. After sharing the shop with me for a few years, they seem to know what is an offcut. If it is below a certain size minimum and it stays on the floor long enough, and they like it (they don't like walnut but have recently discovered that they DO like mahogany) they will begin to chew it. I think some woods, combined with the ever present tennis balls, helps to clean their teeth.
I keep two boxes under my bench, one for soft wood, the other for hard. I was just about to go through them and throw out most of them until I set up my WoodRat. I just finished a small box out of maple and walnut, and I cut the hinges and the latch from walnut scraps on the 'Rat. This new machine makes cutting small items like this so easy, I'm glad I saved this stuff. The 'Rat has redefined what I consider to be scraps.
Edited 2/11/2006 6:05 pm ET by jhounshell
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