What do you do with scrap wood?

[Chris Bruno]

So the first real big project I'm taking on in our new house is to build a set of cabinets in my garage. With all the $$ spent on decent plywood, I haven't brought myself to throwing away any scraps larger than about 3" square, figuring I could at least use them for clamping or stop blocks.

But I was wondering if anybody has come up with clever things they do with their pieces of scrap wood?

-Chris

[glenn bradley]

Clamp cauls, backer blocks, setup test blocks, etc. for the little stuff. Once they've had 2 or 3 re-uses I cast them off. For larger pieces (up to 2 feet) I have bins built under the outfeed table.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=79268&d=1200376088

For items larger than that (2 to 4 feet) I have a cutoff bin. Items larger than that go on the lumber rack.

[Gary Herrmann]

Store them till I turn them

[Steve Clardy]

Mine get smaller and smaller, then too small. So they go to the woodstove.

[Bill Huber]

What is scrap wood, I plan my projects so well there is no scrap...:D:D

I just keep making smaller and smaller things until there is no scrap.:D

Really I keep a bucket of small stuff and then have a little rack I made for the larger ones. I use them for test cuts, backer boards, parts for jigs. After I get though using them for test cuts there is not much left so it goes in the trash.

[Bill Wyko]

Pile it up in boxes everywhere.:D Luckily i have very little scraps.

[Andy Pratt]

I'm one of those people that saves everything, so hopefully I can help.

Have four main areas for storing scrap:
Under the planer for stuff that is not planed to dimension
Under the Miter Saw for the dimensioned long stuff that's up to 3' long
On a shelf dedicated to short, blocky scrap stuff
In a small drawer under the miter saw for storing the small but dimensioned stuff

- I Use long scraps 1.5" wide and over for picture frames
- small blocky pieces for drawer pulls (either bandsawn or turned)
- junk wood with knots etc can still be good for test cuts with a router
- If you have a bunch of dimensioned pieces you can glue them up and turn the resulting block (haven't done this yet) to make neat designs of alternating colored wood.
- Practicing dovetail cutting works with a lot of stuff you wouldn't use otherwise.
- Scrap 1/2 plywood makes great sticker material.
- Scrap good hardwood (long, thin) ply makes great spacers for various parts of assembly.
- Short plywood chunks are good for elevating projects off the table for finishing (so you can do a whole assembly all at once and only have four small marks on the bottom where it was resting while drying)
- anything of a square/rectangular shape gets earmarked for the lathe
- Really thin hardwood strips are great for plywood edging

I figure I re-use about 80% of the stuff that some would throw away as junk, thereby saving myself sometimes using good wood for a junk task. The other 20% I put into a bucket and use for good coal generating kindling.

Hope that helps,
Andy

[keith ouellette]

I save scrap pieces of plywood to test dados. That way you can ensure a tight fit. They also come in handy as large shims.
I just can't make myself through away much of that nice plywood either.

[Jared Cuneo]

Testing dadoes, rabbets, router depth, grooves, bevel angles, and saw blade alignment tests.....

#1 of course, boxmaking :)

JC

[Jon Bonham]

Testing fit mostly, clamping, alignment. I tore a bunch of old 2x4 built benches out of my garage recently. I cut them all up to about 18" in length, rolled my fire pit out to the grass next to the driveway and burned them over three nights. My kids absolutely loved it, they had a blast roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Not so sure the neighbors were digging it, but they all pretty much have sticks up their collective butts.

[Steve Mellott]

There is no such thing as scrap wood if you have a scroll saw. Even the smallest piece can be included in an intarsia project.

[Jack Briggs]

Fireplace.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

This subject comes up occasianally. Below is the reply I made to the question from before....I just copied and pasted from before as I haven't changed my opinion. If it's a very expensive wood or highly figured, etc I would be more inclined to save it.

----------------------------

I toss 'em......or at least try to make myself toss them. They pile up and get in the way. Well, I sez, I can use that. By the time I need "that" one of several things happens. The wood has aged and discolored enough or is different enough to start with that it can't be used, I can't find it, or I forget I have it and cut another piece, or the cutoff I find is a half inch too short or a quarter inch too narrow. Etc, etc.

I have a friend who got a brilliant idea to buy some large plastic tubs at Wal-Mart and organize by size or species so he'd know what was where. He did that three or four years ago and the tubs are taking up shop space and haven't been opened yet (his admission).

[john frank]

Its sort of like saving bolts, you seldom have what you need anyway. I use any scraps shorter than 12" long in the wood burner. At least its heat.

[Jesse Cloud]

You can never have enough stickers.

[Larry James]

I just gave 3 large boxes of "scrap wood" to a friend who burns it in his basement wood stove.

Larry

[Rick Moyer]

The OP is talking about "Plywood"; so turning, fireplace, etc. don't work too well. Just thought I would try to clarify for future posters.

Edit: He does mention scrap in general I guess, so maybe he is not restricting his question to just plywood. My bad!

[Matt Meiser]

I've started sorting my plywood and solid wood scrap into two 55gal plastic drums with the tops cut off. When I generate it unless its reasonably useful it goes straight to the bins, but I cut it into <1' lengths first. Every project seems to generate a pile of the tiny bits you occasionally need, but if not I can always dig through the drums (rarely happens.) The plywood I burn in our fire pit outside when we aren't sitting around it. The solid wood becomes campfire starter and firewood when its not too much of a hassle to haul it to a campground with us. It burns easy and hot to keep us warm on fall camping trips.

[Paul Johnstone]

I use the plastic containers that my tools came in to store scraps. :)

Seriously, I save a few small plywood scraps for test cuts.
Other than that, I only save plywood scraps that are at least 12" long.

Then every once in a while, I'll build a bunch of small cabinets/spice racks out of them.

For hardwood, I have a pile underneath a bench. Every once in awhile, I cut them up into blocks and the kids spend an afternoon painting them, which they really enjoy.

[Jim Broestler]

My wife's aunt and uncle have a fireplace as their central heating, so I haul a binful over from time to time. I also find them useful for test pieces for finishes, and test cuts on the router table. But I try not to keep too many lying around. Just adds more clutter to an already small shop.

[julie Graf]

if you have any interesting scraps you would hate to throw away, send them to us! we can negotiate compensation.

we use scraps of wood to make belt buckles - which we sell online and at festivals. we started out using scraps to make photo frames, then we had scraps from that, so we started thinking what can you do with smaller scraps?

and came up with this idea:
http://images.etsy.com/all_images/3/365/956/il_430xN.15257544.jpg
http://images.etsy.com/all_images/a/a3e/37a/il_430xN.16220535.jpg

[Greg Just]

I just finished installing a Brazilian Koa hardwood floor in my basement and I have lots of scraps. I decided to try turning a pen or 2 and they came out really nice. Unfortunately I gave all of them away at Christmas so I don't have any pictures. I have enough Koa to turn thousands of pens!