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Like most woodworking, I have a problem with piles of cutoffs occupying every horizontal surface and corner of the shop. I saved just about anything larger than a toothpick. I needed to get better control of the growing mountain of scraps. The first thing I did was determine what was a keeper and what goes to the burn pile. I don't turn pens or make tiny boxes, so everything less than 6" was not a keeper. Anything longer than 48" goes on my wood rack. All of the odd strips that were going to become trim also went. After a search of LJ and the net, I initially settled on a scrap cart from Wood magazine. Greg Wurst (lumberjocks.com/projects/13462) posted an example of the cart. The Wood magazine cart had too many small cubbys and not much vertical storage for longer pieces so that became the starting point for my cart. I eliminated small horizontal storage in favor of an extra vertical bin.

My cart is made from 3/4 Sandply from the BORG. It is held together with 2" wood screws and glue. The cart measures 37" h x 21.5" d x 15.25" w. The three vertical bins are 6" deep and 33.75". 27" and 19.5" deep. The two horizontal cubbys are 6.75" and 13.5" deep. The plywood is edged with 0.25" pine. Photo 1 is the finished cart loaded with assorted scraps. Photo 2 shows the cart before I added the last side. The vertical and horizontal bins are apparent. Photo 3 is the finished cart. I added 2" swivel casters to make the cart readily movable. The last three photos are the cart filled with scraps.

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Comments

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48 Posts
Nice I really need to make one of these as well.
 

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29 Posts
Vincent,

Terrific looking lumber cart. But I can't believe you throw away pieces 6" or less!!!! I am not a hoarder but I keep all kinds of cut offs, some as small as an 1". I can make them into handles, decorative pieces or accents. All the shelves and holders and containers I have for cut offs are full, but I always have the perfect piece when I need it.

If you have any decent woods that are usable send them my way!!

Great Project!

Mike
 

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461 Posts
I like it!
Way better than my home depot pail that you can't find anything without dumping it all out
Thanks for sharing
 

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70 Posts
Very nice cart and very functional. I desperately need one of these as well.
 

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That works quite well! I always have a hard time deciding what stays and what goes though!
Thanks for sharing.
Well done.
 

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Typically, I tend to build larger pieces of furniture (cabinets, chairs, tables, bookcases, etc). Most of the small stuff that I save ends up as drawer runners, web frames, glue blocks and set up pieces when preparing a cut. Small bits and pieces would pose a problem in the type of work I do….not to mention grain and color matching. Hence my decision to donate the smaller pieces to the firebox. There are only so may pieces of 2" qswo that you can keep around.

Mike, If you are ever up in Pennsylvania and you want to load up your trunk with small cutoffs, give me a call.
 

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Really well thought out, well constructed, and a great efficient design !

I'm gonna' take a wild guess and say there's two kinds of woodworkers: those who've already built one, and those who are planning on it !

I'm in that latter group. It's on the list.

Really nice job !
 

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I am with Neil. I need to build one of these yesterday. Thanks so much for the post. Favorited.
 

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Wow, I need to build one of these soon. Great use of space

Guyu
 

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Great design!

I plan to build this a touch larger and put a ledge on the side for 2' by 4' sheet goods.
 
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