Cut off/scrap fever

[Robbo60]

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

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thanks - everyday a school day. Don't have a lathe but when men in sheds re-opens I'm going to try turning then. No idea where I'd put a lathe though

 

[Peri]

To save anyone the trouble of looking it up - (Most definitely not my work) - Kumiko.

 

[marcros]

Getting ridiculous now! Surely there has to be some threshold where a piece is too small to use?

In my spare time I like to turn matchsticks for my daughters doll house, but anything too small for that goes to make pin heads for the local seamstress mouse...

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Getting ridiculous now! Surely there has to be some threshold where a piece is too small to use?

It depends on the circumstances, doesn't it? I've worked at places where anything smaller than half a sheet of plywood went straight into the skip to be recycled. Having said that, those are the sort of places where, if a big project came along and was just getting underway, a forklift hauled in a stack(s) of twenty, thirty or more sheet goods which were taken through basic sizing on a sliding table saw in less than a day. They were also the sort of place that rotated the skip near the machines anything up three or four times a day, all depending on how much material was processed.

Then there are workshops I've worked in that only an offcut of almost any hardwood that was smaller in section than about 15 - 20 mm square, whatever its length, would be carefully thought about before going into the scrap pile, ha, ha. Slainte.

 

[Peri]

I think the biggest factor is if you're a professional or an amateur.

If you're professional, you've got someone else buying your materials. Us amateurs will reach into a wood chipper to grab a nice bit of walnut

 

[Doug71]

I have a wood burner at home which is great for keeping the workshop tidy, through summer the workshop gets a bit cluttered but once we get in to the cold weather I soon reclaim my space.

I am generally quite good at throwing bits out but I do have a piece of 6"x3" Accoya about 12" long which I am struggling to part with. Anything below 18" generally gets thrown but when I work it out that piece of Accoya cost about £10 which makes it an expensive log

I saw the guy from Freebird Interiors had a good system for his sheet offcuts.

He has a 3 sectioned rack, month 1 offcuts go in first section, month 2 in second section and month 3 in third section. Month 4 all the offcuts get thrown out of rack 1 and he starts filling that one again, next month he throws out everything in rack 2 and starts using that one etc.....This works on the theory that if he hasn't used the offcut in 3 months it's not worth keeping. I know it's only really for a trade environment but I wish I was that organised!

 

[Doug B]

I think the biggest factor is if you're a professional or an amateur.

If you're professional, you've got someone else buying your materials. Us amateurs will reach into a wood chipper to grab a nice bit of walnut

Perhaps I’m unusual in this respect but I see an off cut as doubling my profits, if I’ve priced a job & have off cuts from it & subsequently can use those off cuts in another job I’ve priced then I’ve been paid for them twice.

 

[billw]

Hmm that gives me an idea - I'm going to start writing the date I put a piece into the offcuts box on each one, then if it's not a "special" piece of wood, I'll know which ones to chuck first.

 

[Garno]

Us amateurs will reach into a wood chipper to grab a nice bit of walnut

People don't call me 3 fingers Garno for nothing

 

[Bob Chapman]

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

This is a genuine question so please don't think I'm making any kind of statement about emissions from woodburners. I imagine that the glues used in MDF, chipboard and plywood are some sort of carbon based compound, so when they burn would produce the same sort of emissions as the wood itself? If so, what's the problem? (Perhaps I should say 'additional problem').

 

[Rorton]

I save the bits small enough to make splinters for when ive been over careful and not automatically injected some into my fingers, thus I use pliers and manually add the splinters so I feel like I've done some work - anything smaller than that I will throw away...

 

[Doug B]

Hmm that gives me an idea - I'm going to start writing the date I put a piece into the offcuts box on each one, then if it's not a "special" piece of wood, I'll know which ones to chuck first.

I tend to write the date on wood I’ve seasoned for a quick reference to how long it’s been air drying, I picked up an off cut the other day with 2007 written on it so clearly I’ve failed in the regular chucking stakes

 

[jcassidy]

This is a genuine question so please don't think I'm making any kind of statement about emissions from woodburners. I imagine that the glues used in MDF, chipboard and plywood are some sort of carbon based compound, so when they burn would produce the same sort of emissions as the wood itself? If so, what's the problem? (Perhaps I should say 'additional problem').

The problem would be the nasty smelling fumes, I assume. Even the most efficient and hottest burner needs to be opened to put in more wood, and some smoke always escapes. I've learned - eventually - to open our cassette stove very slowy to avoid drawing smoke out into the living room!

 

[Just4Fun]

As it is -19C outside today I decided it was time to fire up the wood burner for the first time this winter. Am I the only one who salvages stuff from the firewood pile? I saved a couple of pieces rather than burning them.

 

[Doug B]

As it is -19C outside today I decided it was time to fire up the wood burner for the first time this winter. Am I the only one who salvages stuff from the firewood pile? I saved a couple of pieces rather than burning them.

Not at all I’ve a couple of mates who have log burners & it’s staggering the beautiful timber that gets cut up for fire wood.

This lovely rippled Sycamore was from a log pile there were quite a few pieces it‘s a crying shame it got cut up like that, the firewood supplier could have made far more money from it if he had realised what he had.

 

[Yojevol]

Put a use-by date on each item. When you're running out of space, chuck out the oldest.

 

[TRITON]

I worked in a workshop and we had literally cubic meters of scrap, all of which the boss refused to get shot of. I suggested burning it
He always said it could be used for parts, but the reality of that is its a different colour, and having one component part radically different to the rest of the piece detracted from the look.

 

[billw]

I was sent these by a fellow UKW'er for whom they're just scraps. I reckon I can get a really nice box out of these and a piece of cedar of Lebanon I've got lying around looking useless.

 

[Rorton]

I was sent these by a fellow UKW'er for whom they're just scraps. I reckon I can get a really nice box out of these and a piece of cedar of Lebanon I've got lying around looking useless.

View attachment 100914

Nice, what size are the scraps (can't get an idea of scale)

 

[billw]

The bog oak is approx 350x70