Picked up quite a bit of free scraps

Hello fellow LJ’s I just wanted to write a short message and see if I could get some ideas for some small beginner projects to work on and also post on here to get some constructive criticism to help me learn better techniques and also become better at what im really interested in trying to accomplish.

Now for the scraps I got recently, I went to a local wood craft place where they make custom built ins such as cabinets, ent. centers, etc.. The gentleman I spoke with was very helpful and actually took interest in me and my abilities. He quickly gave me a tour of the workshops they had and showed me some fancy equipment they use and also was very curious to what I have. He then showed me to a few scrap bins that was loaded with decent size pieces of oak ply and (maple faced ply??) I think so anyways. Very nice pieces of plywood for what I did have before entering this place. I began to load up my truck with several pieces of 3/4 oak strips that were anywhere from 2 1/2 – 3” W x up to 52”. I also found a few that were 1” x 5” x 12-15”L very nice for free I was so tickled to death to be offered such nice hardwood for free. I also grabbed several pieces of the oak ply and whiter ply? guessing maple faced or something. All 3/4” material and after I squared them up a bit were 2 1/2-8”w x up to 50”L.

After about a 45 minutes of feeling like I was 8 yrs old in a toy store the man told me to stop by anytime and say hello and grab some more scraps and also if there was a time when I needed to cut something larger than what I was comfortable with using my table saw to bring it over.

Great remarks were made with a smile and a new friend was made! He also as I forgot to mention earlier showed me to a ( Grizzly Shaper ) that they were gettin rid of and he said I could get this for $250.00… Would like to know any comments on one of these as to being a good deal or something of value in my shop one day.

So for the most part Im very new to woodworking and have a limited amount of tools.
I do have the following:
Dewalt Table saw (DW744)
Miter saw
portable sanders
drills
a descent bit of hand me down hand tools

Would like some ideas as to what to make with some of this wood other than some picture frames which I already have been doing a little here and there but cant seem to get the nice 45 touch yet for a perfect fit.

The Shaper?? as to what I could do with it other than made mouldings for doors.

Look forward to any help if this strikes you as something you would actually wanna offer.
Please don’t hesitate to try and be nice about anything because nothing will be taken the wrong way
All information will be gladly considered

Thank you for reading my very first blog on here.
Jason Winebrenner

-- Im all night long!! all night .. all night .. ALL NIGHT LONG