Cut off/scrap fever

[sed9888]

Hi
What do you good people do with your cut offs/scrap? I have cut off fever I cant bring myself to throw it away I always think, I could use that, I might need that etc etc etc, its not only driving me nuts its filling up my rather small shop, do I need counselling/therapy or is there an ideal way to store such a thing, any help guys would be appreciated

 

[robgul]

I use the term "off cuts" - whatever - I have a bin that I chuck the absolutely certain bits, and the not sure in the truck that stores all my wood (a.k.a. lumber cart) - every now and then a purge of the not sure stuff and that plus the certain stuff (less any MDF or ply with nasty glues) goes to a neighbour for his woodburner as kindling

 

[marcros]

Be ruthless. If it is below a certain size throw it away. If it makes you feel better, put all of those bits in a bin or bucket and I bet that you won't have touched them in a month. Then you can be ruthless in the second month. The busier you are in the workshop, the more timber you will accumulate from the wastage you had to factor in, so these small bits become less useful still.

Anything that is 20mm+ thick and 150mm long could be cut up and sold as pen blanks (eBay etc) but whether it is worth the hassle is another question.

Unusual/special timbers are different. I would keep scrap sized pieces of highly figured or rare to me stuff to use as inlays and accents.

 

[billw]

Hi
What do you good people do with your cut offs/scrap? I have cut off fever I cant bring myself to throw it away I always think, I could use that, I might need that etc etc etc, its not only driving me nuts its filling up my rather small shop, do I need counselling/therapy or is there an ideal way to store such a thing, any help guys would be appreciated

I've decided not to buy any more timber until I've got through all my existing stocks and offcuts, making me think of designs that incorporate the offcuts. Sure I might be left with some, but since the box will get stocked up again from future projects I can keep repeating the process. I guess as @marcros says, if you've done this a few times and the pieces are still there from the first time, they're probably useless.

I'm keeping a lot of ply scraps at the moment but only because I am using them to make cleat holders, once I've got to the point of not needing any in the short term I'll bin the remainder.

 

[marcros]

Don't get me wrong, if you have a plan for bits, hang on to them but most people have an idea that "this piece might be useful for something" when they know in their hearts that it won't be!

 

[Jacob]

I've decided not to buy any more timber until I've got through all my existing stocks and offcuts, making me think of designs that incorporate the offcuts. Sure I might be left with some, but since the box will get stocked up again from future projects I can keep repeating the process. I guess as @marcros says, if you've done this a few times and the pieces are still there from the first time, they're probably useless.

I'm keeping a lot of ply scraps at the moment but only because I am using them to make cleat holders, once I've got to the point of not needing any in the short term I'll bin the remainder.

I've got stacks of offcuts and reclaimed stuff. Unfortunately I've got the space to keep it or it would be long gone by now.
One odd feature is how it changes. There are some spectacular pieces in there which just too good for any project so far - some have been there for years and have followed me from one workshop to another. There's also loads of weird or short stuff which is not good enough for anything, except little boxes, turnings etc. But the stuff in between gets used up most often - just good enough to use and not too long to worry about cutting it shorter.
It gets harder and harder to find pieces which are neither too good to use nor too useless.

 

[Cabinetman]

You also asked how to store it, this is how I do my offcuts the shelf has 465 on it, it’s how deep the shelf is, so an indication as to how long the pieces of wood are, unless it’s rare anything shorter usually goes in the firewood bin, the cardboard tubes are free from most carpet shops.

 

[billw]

That tubes idea is good, although I could use toilet rolls tubes for most of my offcuts.

 

[gmgmgm]

Hi
What do you good people do with your cut offs/scrap? I have cut off fever I cant bring myself to throw it away I always think, I could use that, I might need that etc etc etc, its not only driving me nuts its filling up my rather small shop, do I need counselling/therapy or is there an ideal way to store such a thing, any help guys would be appreciated

I have a wood-burner in the workshop. Whenever it's cold, I can bring myself to throw away small pieces much more easily! Generally speaking, having a wood-burner has made my workshop much much tidier.

I've tried to become more ruthless about throwing away scraps, but it's hard. For some things (like basic ply) it's easy to replace at a known cost, so I throw away (i.e. burn) much more. Otherwise it's a question of "can I get it again" or "how much would it cost me"? Ideally I would only keep very rare offcuts for "years".

 

[Fitzroy]

I have the same habit. One change I have made recently, that could be an idea, I used to keep small offcuts that I thought 'ooh that could be used for a jig, or sanding block etc' now all the small stuff goes in a bin for the fire. If I want a small piece for a jig etc i dig in the bin, when the bin is full I partly empty it but leave a few choice pieces in there.

Fitz

 

[peter-harrison]

I have developed some products that I sell in yearly Open Studios, which use small bits of wood. If I have the time and the inclination, I turn scraps into components for these, to be glued up later>

 

[Ttrees]

It all happened one Christmas really, I wasn't expecting much,
I'll just have a wee flick through this book for a few minutes...
(obviously totally unaware how different things could have been.)
How could a wee bit of literature be so dangerous?

Common the land of the rising sun, some call it the Kumiko hording fever...
You've been warned!

 

[stuckinthemud]

No no no you made me look up kumiko, all my life I lived in blissful ignorance , now you have infected me with kumiko fever, already I feel its siren call, the fever, nooooooo

 

[--Tom--]

Hardwoods I’ll hoard, softwood goes to kindling.
trying to follow the often repeated advice of pick a few timbers and use them, that way easier to use offcuts in the next project

 

[Doug B]

I have to admit if an off cut is too small for kumiko I usually throw it away

 

[Robbo60]

Be ruthless. If it is below a certain size throw it away. If it makes you feel better, put all of those bits in a bin or bucket and I bet that you won't have touched them in a month. Then you can be ruthless in the second month. The busier you are in the workshop, the more timber you will accumulate from the wastage you had to factor in, so these small bits become less useful still.

Anything that is 20mm+ thick and 150mm long could be cut up and sold as pen blanks (eBay etc) but whether it is worth the hassle is another question.

Unusual/special timbers are different. I would keep scrap sized pieces of highly figured or rare to me stuff to use as inlays and accents.

Hi, Excuse my ignorance - but what is a "pen blank"

 

[Robbo60]

When I put my off cuts in the log burner it feels like they are not wasted.
With regard to storage the WWMM has a great storage "cart" (trolley) with plans. I made one but was limited for depth so just missed out the centre bit. Then I have a couple of shelf brackets at high level for 2.4m+ stuff

 

[Doug B]

Hi, Excuse my ignorance - but what is a "pen blank"

A piece of wood around 20x20mm & 150mm long from which you can turn a pen

 

[I’ve got wood worm!]

I’m about to use my scraps to make some blank boards to use for later projects. Tamar from 3x3 makes an amazing box from doing this.

 

[pgrbff]

Unless it is a live edge I can't throw anything away. Bits with bark or lots of knots get sawn up to start the fire.