Probably a FAQ - What to do with scrap?

[Eric Larsen]

This has probably been asked dozens of times. I've searched, but can't find a thread. Googling "what to do with scrap" yields too many false-hits. If someone can point me to an old thread, please do....


I'm cleaning shop today -- big time.

I've basically run out of major projects, and I can return to just being a weekend warrior. You have no idea how happy that makes me. (Just need to find employment, but that is another matter.)

I always raid my cut-off bin first when I can. I'm at the point where my cut-off bin is full of unusably-short wood. I dislike the idea of simply pitching into the trash, where it will end up in a landfill. Why don't recyclers take wood? It can be made into paper, right?

1) I can't burn it. I live in Las Vegas. It's 100f. It's going to be 100f until August. And I'm not going to leave a heap of scrap in my yard until winter. That's an eyesore for my neighbors. (Not that they're particularly good neighbors, but two wrongs don't make a right.)

2) I suppose I could grill with the hardwood. But I don't grill much in the summer (that 100f thing) and I prefer char-wood when barbecueing.

3) I could take to turning (very) small projects, but that does not much interest me.

Any ideas on a more green solution than tossing it the bin for pickup?

[Dan Friedrichs]

I always seem to have lots of long, thin strips from cutting the rough edge off a piece of S3S stock. I'm thinking of planing them all to some thickness, then gluing them all together to make a workbench top. It'll be 100 thin strips, and I'll need several layers, but hey - at least it's not wasted.

[Matt Tawes]

Maybe do some searching here for wood recycling: http://www.recycle.net/Wood/index.html

Personally I live on the eastcoast and in the winter burn the fireplace often if nothing more than to dispose of scrap. I also burn in a pile out back if needed. Sawdust on the other hand that I often produce 50 to over 100 gallons per week of gets bagged and off to the dump since like you I tried finding recycling means locally but with no luck. Also if you have any parks or camping facilites nearby they will often take it for kindling as well since most sell firewood to their campers.

[Eric Larsen]

I always seem to have lots of long, thin strips from cutting the rough edge off a piece of S3S stock. I'm thinking of planing them all to some thickness, then gluing them all together to make a workbench top. It'll be 100 thin strips, and I'll need several layers, but hey - at least it's not wasted.

True, but you are going through a lot of glue that way.... I don't know if that's any better or not.

I have the the "long thin strip" problem as well -- dozens of three-to-five foot strips of 1/2" x 3/4" stock.

[David DeCristoforo]

There is no such thing as "scrap". It' a myth. If it's useable, it's inventory. If it's not useable it's garbage. If you can think of a way to use pieces rather than throw them away, so much the better. My son is making some cabinets out of small pieces of plywood that would normally be taken to the recycler or the dump. He has glued them up into large panels with strips of contrasting wood in between the plywood pieces. They have a funky "patchwork" look and it takes a lot of time to get them glued up. But they may result in some interesting "art furniture" pieces.... we will see....

[Bill Petersen]

Eric,
I live in Las Vegas and I'd be happy to take it off your hands. I would hope to be able to use some of it for small projects or embellishments on larger projects. I also have a place in southern Utah where we do use lots of scrap for firewood in an outdoor fire pit and when camping. So, if you'd like, I would be happy to pick it up from you. I would need about a week to bring my little haul trailer down from Utah.
Thanks, Bill

[Dell Littlefield]

If it is hardwood, make endgrain cutting boards. Also, I take small pieces, double wrap them in aluminum foil and put directly on the burner of my gas grill. Does a great job of giving a smoke flavor. The soft woods, I slice into 1/4 inch strips and make panels for small tool boxes etc. It sure hurts this ol' depression-era hobbyest to waste anything.

[Prashun Patel]

When in doubt, make a cutting board.

[Chris Padilla]

Sounds like some good cutting board material. Or glue stuff into larger pieces to make jigs, push sticks, or sometimes it is just darn handy to have a good hardwood "2x4" or two laying around.

Shorts can be glued to longer pieces. I like to end-grain glue shorts together...then glue that to a longer piece. On painted items, hardwood like this can make nice durable edging material for plywood.

But, sometimes you just really need to let go and toss stuff or get rid of it in some fashion...one can't possibly keep EVERYTHING....

Wood going to the landfill isn't all bad...it'll eventually breakdown...or turn into oil for future generations.... ;)

[Eric Larsen]

Eric,
I live in Las Vegas and I'd be happy to take it off your hands. I would hope to be able to use some of it for small projects or embellishments on larger projects. I also have a place in southern Utah where we do use lots of scrap for firewood in an outdoor fire pit and when camping. So, if you'd like, I would be happy to pick it up from you. I would need about a week to bring my little haul trailer down from Utah.
Thanks, Bill

I appreciate the offer, but there really isn't enough to warrant a trailer -- maybe 50 pounds. And I don't really feel like separating out the hardwood from the ply, veneer and particle board.

[glenn bradley]

I keep pieces large enough to use for small items. Thin strips I keep a few because I can always seem to use one for this or that. The rest goes to friends or relatives with wood burning stoves or backyard fire pits.

Building suitable storage for cutoffs will help you keep and use what may be valuable to you. I built this quick box for small cutoffs. I have a variation on (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=79268&d=1200376088)this (http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-plans/shop-organization/store-cutoffs-and-small-wood-pieces/) for larager pieces.
(http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=79268&d=1200376088)
I have stackable "crates" built out of scrap for small pieces of exotics.

[Eric Larsen]

Boy do I feel sheepish!

A wealth of ideas...and so fast!



After I'm done cleaning, I'll bin the garbage ply strips, particle board, etc. Then, I'll crack open Danny Proulx' "50-home made shop jigs" book and see what I can make out of all these strips and bits of oak.

[Chris Padilla]

I appreciate the offer, but there really isn't enough to warrant a trailer -- maybe 50 pounds. And I don't really feel like separating out the hardwood from the ply, veneer and particle board.

I try to keep most hardwood but I find it easy to toss scrap plywood and particle board and MDF pretty quickly. If your veneer is solid hardwood and reasonably thick, they make good shims and clamp protectors or can help raise a caul or clamp just a tad higher to get things centered a bit more.

I think you just need to adopt a more organized system to save the "good" scraps and make it a habit to toss certain materials at the beginning.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Get a mini lathe, and visit the turner forum..... It's a LOT of fun, and you can use all sorts of "scraps".

[Sean Nagle]

When in doubt, make a cutting board.

Scraps make great cutting boards. Mix and match species. Be creative. Make sure to use Titebond III or poly glue though. If you don't need them, give them to friends and relatives.

[Ben Hatcher]

The best shop organization project I ever did was to break my habit of saving every last piece of scrap. Now I can actually find and use the useful pieces.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I use the off cuts to hold the floor down on the right rear of my saw.
Sometimes when the floor seems unlikely to float away I'll snag some for little things like boxes, boards, push sticks etc.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I use the off cuts to hold the floor down on the right rear of my saw.
Sometimes when the floor seems unlikely to float away I'll snag some for little things like boxes, boards, push sticks etc.


ROTFLMAO My kind of shop......

I do keep a push stick handy and a backup nearby though. Too much trouble to walk around the saw.

[Bill Houghton]

In many areas now, there is a Yahoo group called "Freecycle," where you can post stuff you're offering to give away. Interested people e-mail you, and you make arrangements for them to pick it up.

If there's no Freecycle but there's a Craigslist in your area, C-list has a "free" section too.

Miniaturists, turners, etc., might think your scraps are treasure.

[Rod Sheridan]

Keep the good pieces, give everything else to a neighbour you detest and take satisfaction in their dilemma as to what to do with all those great scraps they got for free.;)

Regards, Rod.

[Eric Larsen]

Keep the good pieces, give everything else to a neighbour you detest and take satisfaction in their dilemma as to what to do with all those great scraps they got for free.;)



That might work elsewhere. Here, I'm the only person in the neighborhood with so much as a cordless drill.

My neighbors quit coming over when I told them I don't loan tools -- not to family, not to friends, nobody. I never see my neighbors anymore. (Hear their dogs all day and night, though. :mad:)

[Billy Chambless]

The best shop organization project I ever did was to break my habit of saving every last piece of scrap. Now I can actually find and use the useful pieces.

Intellectually, that makes so much sense.

But I'm still working my way up to it, emotionally.

[Stephen Tashiro]

If the trash service will take it, just throw the scrap away. If they refuse it, you can throw it away little by little by mixing in with regular trash.

My theory of clutter (and I am an expert in the subject) is that the primary cause of clutter is unreasonable ambitions. Sure, you can make the scrap into jigs, chess pieces, cutting boards. Sure, you can. How many other unused things do you have lying around that you "could" use. If you have that much energy, why waste it on trying to make things out of garbage?

The secondary cause of clutter is poverty. You might not be able to do anything about that except understand it. Is a truly wealthy person going to save a pile of wood scraps, a broken toaster, old garden hoses? - No, not unless they are traumatized by memories of past poverty.. Otherwise, they are confident that they can buy material items when they are actually needed. Poor or formerly poor people feel compelled to keep old junk. It usually doesn't make economic sense, but It gives them the comfortable feeling that the possess a lot of things. I say get rid of the scrap and make space for new tools.

[Paul Atkins]

"the primary cause of clutter is unreasonable ambitions"
What a statement! I didn't know if I had too many ambitions or too many scraps. Now I know I have both. "Someday" will never come. The big scraps that aren't exotic or 'big enough to save' go in apple boxes for kindling - to a neighbor or two. The next 'nicer' scraps go to the kids next door to make stuff from. The little exotic and interesting pieces go in boxes for tops and knobs. The littlest pieces go to my friend who makes jewelry. I still have to watch my step in the shop or I will create an avalanche and be buried alive. Still driving me nuts.

[Neal Clayton]

tomato sticks?

[Frank Trinkle]

If you have a wood chipper around, chip the wood and use it for mulching plants (pine is acidic so use with plants that like that ph).

Wood chips are also used with green material (like grass) to hasten composting. It all goes back to the soil and improves you lawn and plantings.

I'm a compost fanatic and make my own, and that's what I do with all the scrap wood I can't use in my shop.

[Jamie Cowan]

Wise policy, not loaning tools. I loaned out some clamps a couple years ago to a guy who needed a bunch of them, and I never got the clamps back. six of the Quick Grips from before they were Irwin. Every time I think about it, I get annoyed.

[Leo Graywacz]

If it is not usable to you it is garbage. Throw it away. I have thrown out more wood than you probably would use in a lifetime. Do I like to do it, heck no. Makes me cringe when I have to do it. But to be overwhelmed by scrap is just not something that is worth the time. I have piles of scrap. It sits there for a certain amount of time and after that it is just wasting my space. Chuck it. And of course as soon as you do you will find a use for that pc you just trashed. :rolleyes: Oh well.

[Bruce Page]

Some of it I save but most goes into the fireplace.
I don't have the room to keep much.

[Loren Hedahl]

I have a covered rack along one side of my garage/shop that takes pieces 12 - 15 inches long. Since I do most of my projects in summer and heat my home with wood in winter this works out fine. I have several large garbage cans to take the very short stuff. Sawdust and shavings all go on the garden paths as mulch as do the nut shells from our several walnut trees.

I also have a wood shed in the back forty with a similar rack along one side. In the late fall and winter I prune the fruit trees in our orchard. I cut them up in appropriate lengths with an old chop saw on a stand. After a year of drying it is amazing the amount of heat in those old prunings!

Incidentally, I am not poor, have never been poor and never expect to be poor. One of the reasons is I send very little of my substance to the landfill.

[sean m. titmas]

start building really small projects like ring boxes and pens.

glue them up into blanks for accent pieces on a project

or a set of childrens building blocks

[Sean Nagle]

Offcuts make great bandsaw boxes too.

[Michael Flores]

When i took woodworking at the local community college they had a bin for scraps and when it got full they took it over to the child care facility to be used as building blocks.

[Jamie Cowan]

Take a large cardboard tube, like a poster shipping tube, and plug up one end with wood. Then toss all the random chunks in it, until it is full. Then pour epoxy down the tube until all the spaces between the wood are filled up. I'm thinking the type of epoxy you'd cover a bar top with. Let it dry for a week or two. Put the tube on a lathe and cut off that cardboard. Assess what you've got underneath, and maybe you can make something out of it. No, I've never tried this, but I'd like to. Even better, I'd like for you to try it first!

[jim carter]

you can make charcoal out of hardwood. its easy. google on how to do it. all you need is a 55 gallon drum.

[John Coloccia]

I make small things I never seem to have enough of. Gluing/clamping cauls, for example. I never have enough cauls. I'll take the curved pieced and flatten one side. One day, they'll be a curved piece of something I have to clamp...now I have a caul. I'll turn the straight pieces into short strips, maybe 1"x3".

Then I'll make some random things, like push sticks etc.

Finally, SOME of my cutoffs look like pieces of modern art. My wife will grab one of those on rare occasion, and it ends up in our display cabinet. You can't make this stuff up.

When all is said and done, the majority of it ends up in the trash bin. Life's too short for this sort of stuff....i.e. life's not an optimization problem.

....in my opinion.

[Leo Graywacz]

OK, I'll make you all cry/cringe.

I just spent 6 hours cleaning my shop. Which consisted of throwing away tons of 1/2" plywood that was to skinny for my use, some 3/4" a bunch of solid smalls. 6 hours. I didn't know I had such a stockpile of stuff. It had been sitting around for 2+ years, and I always check it first. So, no use in 2 years--out she goes. Now I can see more floor than I have in a while.

[Steve Clardy]

I generate lots of usable small cutoffs.
They get stashed back, cut down again until I feel there is nothing worthwhile to use again.
Then they go into 55 gallon plastic barrels, moved outside.
Then when cold weather approaches, I burn the scraps in the shop wood stove.

[Mark Versprille]

Cut it into 'Jenga' block sets and give them to Recreation centers, after school programs, children's hospitals, USO.

[Robby Tacheny]

Go to the library and find a book about making jewelry from wood. I found a ton of cool projects that would seriously only take scraps the size of dice. Necklaces, earrings, and homemade beads, rings, and all kinds of cheesy stuff could be made and sold for something like $5 to $10 each.

I have a little box I am keeping under my bench with scraps of wood for just such projects.

Cutting boards have already been mentioned, but thats a good idea too.

Last idea is to glue up a bunch in a pattern and do a bandsaw box. The one below is made of alternating 6x6 peices of cherry and polar. I even had to glue two pieces of the cherry together to get a 6" width. You can barely make out the glue line right above the small drawer on the front of the box below.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=104457&d=1230058440

[Bill Keehn]

What to do with cutoffs, etc
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=66576