Wood scrap box

Good idea, my scraps look like scrap!

-- Paul, La Center, Washington

nice job.how do you store your longer boards?

on a rack on the wall…I try to keep them all short????
I really try to buy/scrounge what I need and keep a few nice pieces around at all times.

-- Ellen on Cape Cod

Thanks for posting this Ellen. I tried to address the scrap issue about a year ago. I made the cart so that I could store many lengths on it, though they were stacked horizontally. I am able to put 3 sheets of 3/4 in 4xB stock on the back of my unit.
I have been very disappointed with my solution. #1. It will hold so much weight that I couldn’t move it easily. In fact, I ended up having to buy heavier casters for it since the fully loaded cart squashed the originals. #2 Storing stock horizontally has all the problems of piling stock on the floor; have to sort through the pile and then the pile falls over.
Long enough story shorter, I’m looking for a new solution and I will probably do something similar to your solution.
Again, thanks for the post.

-- Gary, South Central Wisconsin. So much to learn, so little time!

Great idea Ellen!! I’ve been thinking about a mobile lumber rack for smaller pieces and like your design. Actually just stacked our hardwood scraps on top of the Azek decking from our unfinished deck project – weather got a little too cold too soon this year. But the space looks like it’ll be the “official” lumber storage spot in our garage and your cart might just fill the bill!

Also like your workbench in the one photo. What do you have on the top of that bench?? I’m thinking about using an old solid door but wanted to use something expendable on top that I could flip after a while.

Thanks for some great ideas and nice work!

-- TG - - - - Keep the power flowing!!

It’s perfect! I love how it looks with the diverse collection of woods stacked neatly in it, too. You’re inspiring me to get off my butt right now to go use the last ~3.5 hours of this Saturday to work on my own scrap holder. I’ve been going with a similar idea, but imagine the back edge of your box as the top, which each lower shelf less deep than the one above it. 3 cubbies in all, like yours, though I’m going to have stepped instead of ramped sides. I’m out of floor space, so I can’t go with this nice rolling idea. I’m putting the bigger shelves up top so I don’t bang my head, and so I can easily see the shorter ones beneath them without having to climb over the bottom ones. No idea if it’ll work.

Thanks for the inspiration! Also, my plan is to see what I have too much of, when my rack starts getting full, and come up with a project based on those, to help cull the pile back down – thin the herd, if you will.

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Another mobile workshop helper. Great idea and a very helpful post.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

Doesn’t matter how many or how big your lumber racks are….you will “always” fill them and need more space!!! We LJ’s just can’t get around to throwing anything out! “I’ll need that piece…someday!” but its nice to be a little organized.

-- George..." I love the smell of a workshop in the morning!"

fantastic… I’ll eventually set something up like that- when I have the space to keep it :)

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

That is a great idea! I need to make two because I have too much wood for one and too much metal can go in the other :-))

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Hey Ellen,

Looks great. I think I need a couple just like it!

-- Kate, http://www.wooden-box-maker.com

Ellen, Looks good thanks for posting and thanks for some ideas to deal with that ever growing pile.

CtL

-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."

I would likely need a dozen of these due to the amount of off cuts I make..almost as much as the sawdust I create
Very utilitarian! Currently using plastic milk crates.

Larry

-- Drink once, cut twice. New website up.... lazylarrywoodworks.com.au

This is really a nice way to organize your off cuts, Ellen. It keeps them segregated according to size and lets you store them vertically which make it easier to sort through them.

Nice job.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Very nice. I need one of these, but only the cut-off storage side and it can’t be mobile. There’s just no room to roll it in my shop.

-- Read my amazingly insightful blog at http://jn3Woodworks.blogspot.com/

Hey Ellen
How full is this box now?

-- "Even small steps makes a distance." (Shawn Phillips, musician)

Very good idea! of course I see there is an overflow bin behind it. That’s my problem, I don’t want to throw away ANY scraps. I keep thinking, oh, I’ll use that for something!!!

Nice work and good to see another Ellen involved in wood working.

-- Ellen -- www.goodadvertising.com/woodwork