I’m sure we all have sizeable scrap piles.
It seriously pains me to get rid of anything.
What scrapwood projects have you guys done in the past to whittle down your scrap hoards?
Go to’s? Favorites?
It could be anything I’m just interested in hearing, be it tools, jigs, gifts, items for sale, or literally whatever. Let’s start a list of all our scrap projects!If you’re braver than me, post some pictures if you have them.
I’ll go first:
Recently I’ve made a couple segmented toothbrush holders; I got some hardware kits for screw clamps, picture frames of whatever size scraps I have, random boxes of any size that I can practice on (different joinery types, construction types, etc.), drawer handles and pulls for future projects.
Replies
I have scrap wood that goes back over 40 years which I go through every year when doing a major cleanup and burn some. Every year I retain the same pieces, throw away a few and pile them differently. If I was to give a purpose to the scrap pile, it would be a sentimental one, far away from the intended purpose which is to save cutting or buying a full plank when a scrap piece will do. This will only happen occasionally but the space used and inconvenience of working with undersized or odd scrap pieces far outweighs the practical intended use.
40 years!... that's a decade older than I am...I guess its no wonder you guys are so damn skilled. Thats such a long time my brain can't even comprehend it...I guess my time will come to be able to boast about my scrap pile age, too. HAHA. I can't wait.
I've never heard of or considered the sentimental perspective with the scraps before, but it makes sense. Now I want to go rummage through mine and reminisce about each piece. Sounds really relaxing and grounding.
Im adding it to the list!
You sound like a very pragmatic guy, Gulfstar.
Certainly not wrong. They are usually a pain to work with.
It helps me think of unique ways to solve problems and work with different scenarios.
I've only got 3 years of experience, though.... I'll proly feel exactly like you 40 years from now.
Good one! (Topic, that is).
Over the years I've collected lots of very nice well-seasoned wood from scavenging in dumpsters, building sites (especially where they refurbish old buildings with MDF replacements) and various other places. There's always bits left over after turning a tranche into a piece of furniture and I can't bring myself to throw it away if it could theoretically be turned into a small item of some sort.
The trick is to actually get around to making that transformation.
Like you I've made endless knobs, pulls, picture frames and so forth. With the larger leftovers I've made planes, marking gauges and other woodworking tools. Little boxes take up a lot of leftovers too, even the small parts that can be used to make wooden hinges, bits for divided inner trays and the like.
Since getting a proper drill press, I've made quite a lot of hardwood dowels and plugs of high quality as these are always useful if such things used on a piece of furniture would be better matching the furniture's timber rather than using a bought-dowel or plug of beech. Any African Blackwood or Ebony chunks all get turned into square plugs for Greene & Greene style items, for example.
Just lately I've taken up spoon carving, bowl-making, kuksa carving and shrink pot hollowing. Those use green wood just now but already I've collected a set of pretty-wood leftovers of the dry hardwoods for eventual use in making more elaborate small carved pieces such as Welsh love spoons.
Perhaps we can all post a few pics of items made from leftovers and scraps? I'll go and collect/take some. :-)
Lataxe
Thanks! It just popped into my head this morning as I was throwing a bunch more offcuts into every nook and cranny I have available....
I thought it would be great to see what everyone does with theirs. Boy, was I right so far.
Oh man, I'm really looking forward to seeing these pics of yours, actually. dont forget!
I looked up the Welsh love spoons. Holy moly, those are intricate and really nice looking.
I looked up Greene&Greene style quickly but didn't quite understand what it is.
For Greene & Greene style explanations:
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2013/06/27/update-in-the-greene-greene-style-projects-and-details-for-the-woodworker-by-darrell-peart
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2006/09/15/touring-the-gamble-house
https://www.finewoodworking.com/1994/06/01/building-in-the-language-of-greene-and-greene
"Cloud lift amalgamated with Mission style".
Two of mine:
https://www.finewoodworking.com/readerproject/2021/03/29/a-small-greene-greene-bookcase
https://www.finewoodworking.com/readerproject/2021/03/29/a-greene-greene-bed
Lataxe
Thanks for these links. im going to read through them shortly.
your work links....speechless. I feel hopelessly inept and rivetingly inspired at the same time..its confusing! lol
I LOVE designing and building projects out of scrap wood. I enjoy the creative challenge which is uniquely driven by the pieces of scrap I have on hand. Here are two examples.
I had a number of 5/4 thick 6" square pieces of quarter sawn Cherry. I thought it would be cool to make a box out of them but I wanted the box to be more like 6"x12" as opposed to 6"x6". I didn't want to join the pieces together with an end grain butt joint so I decided to leave quarter inch reveals where they were joined and "celebrate" the joints with Maple splines.
Before I start a project where I'll be hand cutting dovetail joints I'll do a couple of practice/warm up pieces. One day I looked at the big stack of practice pieces and thought, what can make out of these? After some thought, I realized I could take 3 right angle pieces and turn them into unique "pencil holders".
WOW....man, I'm not posting pictures, LOL.
That box is so awesome-looking.
So impressive....One day, I'll be able to make something like this too.
Super inspiring. Thanks for posting these.
I was just curious: what was your finishing process on that box? It's flawless.
I don't like sanding so all of my wood elements are hand planed. The box was finished with Minwax wipe on poly (satin) which I find to be durable, easy to apply, and adds very little amber color to the wood.
Gluing up long scraps into a 4"x4" loaf of scraps and making slices for end grain coasters. A Fan favorite. Doing the same to make mosaic turning blanks.
I sometimes enjoy doing that too.
When I have a lot of little offcuts and feel like being a gluey boy, I make the mess and get these chunky blocks that I cut back up or mill into boards to make something more practical.
I made a vertical planter like this.
It's funny you mention this, though, because when I posted this earlier this morning, I thought I wanted to do exactly what you said but make an end grain cutting board. my crappy old boards are getting pretty old. and nasty.
A friend is a professional chef and we had a long conversation about cutting boards. End vs. Edge grain. I was surprised to find d that he and his colleagues prefer edge grain. "End grain requires much more maintenance and offers no benefit". "You mean to tell me the easier to build boards are actually what you prefer"?
Left over cherry block and 2x4's..
Wow, very nice looking. What is it called?
I'm a lot more ruthless with scrap these days. I was accumulating far too much, for far too long. I give it away to someone with a fire pit.
I was on the verge of putting scraps in the attic, next to Grandma's box marked "Pieces of string too short to keep."
I have a long list of things to make, and I'll never live long enough to reach the end of that list. I'd rather build that stuff than invent new things to make with scrap.
Just my 2 cents.
Certainly understandable.
I also get overwhelmed by all the things I intend to make. I have THREE big whiteboards chock full of items I will one day make.
I'm 30, so I hope I'll have all the time to get it all (there are probably five years' worth of stuff listed right now).
Sometimes, I like to work on something smaller, something I can finish fast, and get that quicker gratification rather than embark on a much longer process like normal full builds.
I totally hear it. Grandma's box made me chuckle, haha.
I have a friend who is a knife maker. He gets a lot of my scrap for handles and display stands.
I just threw out a bunch that was 25+ years old when I moved. One thing I've done is used them for practice. Want to learn to hand cut blind dovetails? Use a new finish? Go for it! What do you have to lose? Some scrap?
I do that same thing myself. perfect for learning something new on.
And i usually end up with something not half bad too.
I can only find a use for so many boxes though. they get given away quite a lot.
The decent ones at least.
I just used a bunch of scraps this past Mother’s Day to make a nice bed of coals out of maple and cherry to bbq our steaks on. Not sure how much charcoal costs but I’m willing to bet using the scraps in this manner is likely a reasonable use for them.
I yam thinking now of all the unborn maple and cherry knobs and pulls that could have adorned your cabinets for, oh, centuries! :-)
Scrap bits, especially of good lookin' wood with charming grain patterns and alluring shades, can be used for all sorts - eventually. Just get a bigger scrap bin, man!
Some pics of scrap-made-useful things are attached. I has dozens more.
A key cupboard from shakey bits cut out from various furniture parts.
A picture frame from leftovers.
Glue blocks for a hefty table to reinforce agin' racking forces.
Nearly a whole piece of furniture for hats and slippers, made from leftovers!
Macassar ebony covers for bed bolt heads.
Lataxe, probably with a hoarder-gene.
Oh, I completely understand. You see, I grew up with a father who literally would take any scrap wood he could find. He has a large basement full of it. As such, it is hard for me to want to toss out wood. However, there is only so much one will use in their lifetime. It's a hard balance. I have joke to him over the years that when he passes, we are going to pile up all the scrap, place his body on top and give him a proper Viking funeral. He laughs as do I. City wouldn't allow it I'm sure.
I keep some cutoffs to use in repairs. I too will use scraps of cherry or maple in grilling, and will give away larger chunks to friends who are into smoking meats. But mostly the little stuff goes into the fire pit. I figured out there wasn't enough time left to catch up all the little projects.
Tools and jigs:
Box maker's mini bench, made with all sorts of scrap wood including particle board and MDF chunks, as well as stops, dogs, hold-downs and other implements made from little cut-offs of beech, ash, oak and other tough timbers.
Plank-end stoppers used in a benchtop dog hole to hold one end of a plank against the front edge of the workbench, with the other end in the vise.
A small smoother made from various bits of leftovers, including some pretty yew for the sides.
A rather basic plane hammer (for adjusting the blade) made of a leftover bit of afromosia and a brass bracket.
A multi-function panel gauge able to use pencil, pen, knife, knife-wheel or scratch-point.
I'm so jealous of your skill knowledge...honestly.
Sometimes, I wish this was the old days when I could be a REAL apprentice to a woodworker like you or the others on here.
Every time one of you uploads pictures like this, my jaw literally hits the floor...
I'll stop being a 13-year-old girl groupie.....for now.
Unrelated question lataxe. how did you make those elongated holes for those screw clamps? mine turned out....less than ideal..yours look perfect naturally.
How about a slight twist on the topic?
Many years ago a family member made some cloth "tools" for our kids. Years later we found them and instead of tossing them out, I decided to make a display case for them. I built the box out of Cherry with proud dovetails but then decided to make one corner look like it was made out of "scrap" material with bad craftsmanship. I mean after all, what kind of work can you expect from cloth tools?
Very nice
I like that wonky-cornered item a lot and have put it into my "Copy It" book. :-)
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Another use for scrap parts - kitchen and dining room odds & sods:
A butcher-block chopping & cutting board made from leftover iroko kitchen benchtop offcuts and offcuts from making 4 teak Adirondack chairs.
A cook book rest (open ones in front, closed ones on the back) constructed with oak remnants from making steam-bent greenwood ladderback chairs.
An oak salt & pepper pot holder sat on an oak serving board, made of parts left over from a large bathroom floor cabinet.
Sapele place mats from leftovers, of which I must have made dozens in various timbers, sizes and shapes using a single ogee bit in the router table.
Oak remnant parts glued up and slotted to make panels filling gaps in the fitted kitchen left when old defunct & irreparable cooking ovens got replaced with similar but smaller items.
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To come - various small boxes and their fitments! :-)
But it would be good to see more examples from other.
Lataxe
Okay Lataxe, but if your "copy it" book sells well you better send me a royalty check!
I'm loving this thread so far. SO many excellent ideas.
I think my favorite yet is the Lataxes "placemat". We call them coasters i think.
Those are being added to my very next scrap project. I will make a zillion of them and upload some pics when I'm done! Because I don't think I'll embarrass myself with something so simple lolol
Now then, it must be mentioned that those coaster things are not quite so straightforward as you may think!
Make sure the parts used are flat and at a moisture level that won't see then wobble and warp once you begin to use them.
Do the end grain mouldings then the straight grain mouldings in that order, to reduce the chance of tearout. Real woodworkers will use a moulding plane not a router, of course. :-)
Try to pick good grain patterns for the tops; make sure the end grain edges are not left woolly; mind any sharp corners don't spelk or crumble.
Put some felt or other slidey stuff on the bottoms to stop them sliding about too much on your highly polished coffee table. I like stick-on green baize.
Any finish should be heat and wet proof really, not like mine. (I periodically sand the tops and refinish them instead).
Lataxe
oh YES!
Thank you for these tips, sir. *salutes*
This is perfect. now I can make sure all these bases are covered.
Plus, I feel like it's a test, and I'm weird and love tests.
As far as being a real woodworker, D: Yeah, I know, lol. I'm using a router, though, LOL.
Im totally not a real woodworker and accept that.
This is also gonna make real woodworkers cringe...
I'm going to mess around with the shaper origin on some of them, too. I'm going to do some cool inlays or something of the sort. It's good practice.
I'll report back in a dedicated thread, actually.
Making toys is a good use of smaller pieces of leftovers. I hate to call it scrap. You can make a smokestack for a train engine or headlights for a car with super small pieces you might otherwise toss.
The club I belong to makes toys for the local children's hospital. We also make memory boxes that can also be made from relatively small leftovers.
Interesting. is your group ever in need of more leftovers ?