# What do you do with your wood scraps?



## Ripthorn (Mar 24, 2010)

This is the best place I could think to post this topic, since loose wood scraps can be a hazard in the shop. I work out of half of a 2 car garage and have recently been finding that more often than not, I just toss my wood scraps. Part of me thinks there has got to be a better way, but when I think about using a bin like my dad and others, I can never think where I would ever empty the thing. I don't have a wood stove to burn them in when the bin gets full and I don't want to have a huge bag just full of wood scraps. Of course, these don't leave many other options. So I'm curious, what do all of you guys do?


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

I just made a small business card holder from scrap-sized pieces.

You can also make boxes and cutting boards, with them.


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

I stack most of them till it just gets to be too much. I really don't keep too many small pieces. Anything big enough for test pieces everything else gets tossed or burnt. I have the same size shop so I know it can get real cluttered real fast.


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## interpim (Dec 6, 2008)

I usually keep anything longer than 3 inches LOL…

If it's something like oak, i'll save it for my smoker


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## woodspark (May 8, 2010)

I fill boxes and boxes and bins and bins and eventually I burn some…


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## MrsN (Sep 29, 2008)

Well for most of my projects it isn't scrap unless it is sawdust, and even then I have found uses for it. I make a lot of jewelry, so I use it all.

I try to really think about what I could use it for, and when I will actually make that project. For me it also matters what type of wood it is, things that are "pretty" can be much smaller then plywood scraps. Over the summer I got rid of a box of scraps that I just wouldn't get around to using. We threw the box into the bonfire pit, but sometimes we use a wood stove.

A friend of the family is also a woodworker, and he was cleaning out his shop one day. He started to throw pieces of scrap into the woodstove when his wife walked in and got mad "do you know what Katie could do with those" she said, and boxed them up for me. I made several necklaces from the material, even sold one back to the couple.


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## Edziu (Jan 17, 2010)

Scraps? What scraps?

No, I just box them up real compact and tight in boxes from the liquor store (they're free and just the right weight when full) and I put them under my basement stairs-that's during the summer. Then, as it starts to get a little chilly, I burn them in my wood stove, which is supplemental heat for my shop.

I haven't bought a single cord of wood for my shop yet, but I also go to the business next door and take pallets and cut them up.


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## hokieman (Feb 14, 2008)

Smoke meat with the good stuff like cherry and oak.


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

The grandkids help use up some of the wood scraps. After some builds up on the shelves I find a local woodworker that wants it. And finally, whatever else does not get used we collect the heat value out of it with the wood burning stove in the winter.


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

My six and eight-year-old budding woodworker sons always complain that I do not produce enough scraps for them - or that I keep the best ones for myself. Many scraps will be used for a few projects by the boys and then find their way into the wood stove or outdoor fire pit.


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

hahaha,those kids are going to look at these pictures later and ask, "You let me butcher up pieces of WALNUT AND MAPLE, and YOU BURNED THE REST??"

On a side note, you're in Montana, and I see the kid is shirtless. I guess he's acclimated to the cold, or are you burning a nice maple log in the shop? J/K.


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## KnickKnack (Aug 20, 2008)

You say scrap, I say offcut  - an offcut is just a small piece of wood you haven't found a use for yet.
I'm with MrsN - splines, keyfobs, pendants, details … - the list is endless. They sit in a box waiting for their day to shine.


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## newbiewoodworker (Aug 29, 2010)

I usually make push sticks out of them… since I like to run the blade into the push stick, for small pieces on the band saw, since often there isnt alot of room on the side, and slipping would be bad… So needless to say, they get chewed up pretty well…

I also use them for carving when I am bored… either with my jackknife, or a chisel and a mallet…

They also make good gifts.. I am currently in the process of carving a 1×8 cutoff into a fish for my brother(5).... Now if only my bandsaw would get fixed… then I could do the letters…


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

The small stuff I use for kindling wood, and the long thin pieces for garden stakes.


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## pvwoodcrafts (Aug 31, 2007)

I box mine up in large flatrate boxes and send them all over the USA to anyone who was willing to pay shipping and paypal charges. Over 400 boxes in the last 3 years.


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## MrsN (Sep 29, 2008)

Not that I need more "Scraps", but…. how would one get in on buying a box from you PVWoodcrafts?


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

Depends on what it is. Untreated hardwoods get saved for the smoker, or trim or whatnot… Softwoods, or anything treated gets bundled up and put on the curb. I have yet to find a single piece of scrap left by the time the waste management engineers come to do their thing… I have a neighbor that uses my scrap for all sorts of little doo dads… That's fine by me. They are in the way and dangerous for me at this point… So I don't need, nor do I want them….


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## stevepeterson (Dec 17, 2009)

I usually save anything longer than 12". The shorter pieces are sent to my dad to use as kindling in his wood stove. During the summer, the bags get picked through anytime I need a small piece, so the average length gets shorter and shorter until the time I deliver them

Plywood or particle board gets tossed into the trash.


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## CorDal (Oct 5, 2010)

I practice on some pieces, use others for small items and the rest gets bagged up and taken to a friend who has an outside firepit.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

Anything under 6 inch long is scrap to me because scrap laying everywhere costs me a lot of time and time is money even if it's a hobby. If I had a bigger shop then maybe I would cut it down but I'm not sure I would.


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## Gator (May 2, 2008)

I store any pieces 10 to 12" under my miter saw stand for future use, or test parts. The rest goes into a bin that gets picked up by a few different friends on a regular basis for camp fires or wood stoves.

Gator


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## BreakingBoardom (Dec 18, 2009)

I use my scraps for tons of stuff. I use the smaller pieces for test cuts or testing stains and finishes. I also use them between my projects and clamps as to not mar my projects. I use them as backers when drilling through holes to minimize tearout. I make pushsticks or table saw zero clearance inserts. I use them to test joinery techniques. I even used a few pieces to make a drilling jig when I had to drill holes for the cam lock knock down hardware I used on my crib. I use every piece until it's no longer usable. Then I give it to my dad for kindling.


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

I'll admit, I save anything that isn't buggered up, or rotten, or, etc… There's always room for a pen/pencil, knob, jig parts, etc. I do use the scrap scraps for nice outside camp fires. Hardwoods really make some good coals.


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## nate22 (Jul 12, 2010)

I got into that situation a while back. I decided anything under a foot was to short for me to use so I threw it out. Then anything over a foot long I either make into other things or make jigs or something usefull for the shop and I am like u I got my shop right now in a garage.


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## Steve_B (Oct 30, 2009)

I've been on a scrap reduction kick. I've been making squirrel & bird feeders. A very simple gun rest that you don't have to care about. Chuck it in the trunk and forget about it. Parts for the clamp rack I made. My addition is about done and I have a nice pile the contractor let me sort out. They are soon to be building blocks for a little kid I know, prototypes, jigs, testing stains and finally kindling. Tons of uses. I keep boxes by all of the saw to put small pieces in. After stepping on one and twisting an already shoddy ankle I decided it was safer than letting them pile up and sweeping. These go to a friend and are used for kindling.


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## Puzzleman (May 4, 2010)

I donate my scraps to the local school district's early learning program. The kids use them to create statues, towns and for free form fun.

PS. It's a donation so it goes onto my tax return as such. I get to set the value of the wood that I gave them.


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## stevenhsieh (Jan 8, 2010)

I hate seeing good wood thrown away, at local woodworking class, there's always scrap I can get.


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## terrilynne (Jun 24, 2010)

Well thanks to MrsNs' blog on making wood jewlery I'm now using up some of my really small pieces. I keep all my scrap in boxes stacked under my work bench. If you don't want to save it maybe give it to someone who can use it in their crafts.


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## DragonLady (Mar 2, 2010)

No such thing as scrap! there's big project pieces, and small project pieces, and test project pieces!


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