what to do with 400 1" x 1" x 48" strips of clear pine

[Lynn Kasdorf]

Today, I snagged from the local stair factory, about 400 strips of clear pine. It is maybe southern yellow pine? It is the stuff they make stair treads from. They are basically 1" wide rips from 5/4 square stock, and about 48" long. Very nice, clear, straight grain, kiln dried wood.

A solution looking for a problem, right? My 12 year old boy (who was with me when I picked them up) thought I was nuts for grabbing them. But he is used to the old man scavenging stuff...

Anyway, I've been thinking uses for these. I will shortly be setting up a nice bench area in a room I am building in my barn. I'll be putting in quite a lot of built-in bench around the periphery, and a long cutoff bench. Maybe I could use 3/4 ply for the periphery benches, and then cover it with these strips, glued and held in place with a brad nailer.

Or, make up laminated sections as large as my edge lamination jig will hold, then use these for the bench top.

Maybe they would be better for furniture projects, again doing a big lamination. I could even do 2 or more layers. I could also do end grain butcher block laminations.

Or, they could just be firewood...

[Bill McDermott]

Lynn, I hope someone gives you a great idea, but if that fails, I have a few ideas.
1) Here in the Midwest, there are restrictions on carrying firewood across state lines, into campgrounds, etc., in an effort to stall the spread of tree killing bugs. So, waste lumber like that has become a great, campfire fuel. East to throw on the roof and tote into camp. I've been buying culled studs at the big box for that reason. Kiln dried lumber scraps is great firewood.
2) Another idea is aimed at the 12 year old. In our Boy Scout Troop, the boys are always practicing firebuilding. A great way to teach firebuilding and have fun with it is to set up races. That type of fuel is perfect because every team has a standard material with which to work.
3) Finally, stickers for sawn boards.

[Lynn Kasdorf]

3) Finally, stickers for sawn boards.
Now I like that idea. I actually do have a sawmill, that will someday be running again, I hope...

[Ron Kellison]

Sounds like great stock for making your own set(s) of "Lincoln" logs!

https://www.google.ca/search?q=lincoln+logs&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Dz7bT8PmOMee6QHq_L22Cw&sqi=2&ved=0CG4QsAQ&biw=1260&bih=711

[Andrew Pitonyak]

3) Finally, stickers for sawn boards.

Stickers was the first thing that occurred to me..... I could really use some :-)

I expect that they are too soft for use as cutting boards.

You might be able to make toys from these. Blocks, for example.

[Scott T Smith]

Stickers are the first thing that occured to me as well. You might even be able to do some trading to a local miller; it is time consuming to make them.

[Carl Beckett]

Tomato stakes?

[John Coloccia]

Stickers are the first thing that occured to me as well. You might even be able to do some trading to a local miller; it is time consuming to make them.

Ditto. That was the very first thing that came to mind.

[Ryan Wood]

Pine is just to soft to make a good bench top. What i would do is glue it up and make some cabinets for the new work area.

[Tom Ewell]

Lattice work, soji screen cabinet doors, mullion, grill work, etc.

[Bill Huber]

I guess I am a little nuts but I would be gluing them up in to boards. Then you could make just about anything you want, table tops, benches or just about anything you want, you would just be working with 5/4 boards. 9 of them glued up together would make a nice leg for a table.
It will take a lot of glue but I think you could make some really neat looking stuff.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

+1 for Bill Hubers suggestions. I suspect that stair tread material if it is yellow pine might even be ok for cutting boards also. I've been using a 2x 12 offcut from construction grade fir since 1972 for a cutting board. It started out as temporary, but it has outlasted several additional cutting boards.

[Thomas Canfield]

I have made quite a few of the 7 piece puzzle cubes (Google for picture) that the 1" stock would work well for. You would need to square it up and plane to uniform dimension, and it takes some time. Good project for 12 year old to glue up and work. Also makes nice gift for others. A little sanding and a coat of shellac work well for finish.

[Kenneth Speed]

Well, I guess Bill Huber and I need to see the same shrink although my first thought was lumber core. What's that, right? Lumber core was used to make door cores before manufacturers used plywood and then particle board. Lumber core makes a superb substrate for veneer. If the wood is oriented correctly there is minimal movement and the real wood core makes it possible to use more traditional ( and better in my opinion) joinery. There was an article in Fine Woodworking ages ago about this very iconoclastic old guy who'd been a woodworker all his life, he was making duplicates of Seymour Federal furniture. He was making basswood lumber core as a substrate for his veneered panels.

Ken

[Carl Beckett]

But sometimes, 12 year old boys have a lot of insight. ;)

( I'm just razzing you Lynn! You know you are going to have to come up with something good to show him why it was worth hauling home! )

Maybe oversized Jenga blocks?

[Alan Schwabacher]

If it's yellow pine, that's plenty strong and hard for a benchtop, and 130 bd ft should be plenty. If you use a bricklaying pattern that offsets the joins, you can simply butt lengths together as the adjoining pieces will provide strength, so you can make it long. Don't attach it to plywood, because that will not expand and contract across the grain, so would cause cupping if attached to a large surface of solid wood.

Laminating long sections of the maximum width for your planer, then gluing 2-4 of these these face to face will make a very solid benchtop. If you don't want it that thick (for hand woodworking) you can make it longer by offsetting pieces by the same amount in different assemblies, so these can then be joined end to end with the ragged ends nicely overlapping each other.

[Barry Richardson]

Make a sculpture like this guy does; http://www.eliaswakan.com/ although you might not have enough sticks;)

[Steven Green]

Send them to me. I need strapping for the ceiling of the new shop I betcha they would work till I ran out of them.

[russell lusthaus]

If the grain is really straight, stock like that can be converted into a pile of arrow shafting. I frequently run batches of pine, poplar, and maple. 3 dozen usually yeilds about 20 usable shafts, depending how straight the grain. Just a thought.

Russ

[Matt Day]

Dowels?

I was just in China for 2 weeks, so I'm partial to chinese window designs. Do a google search for "chinese window screens".