What can i do with my offcuts?

[MrMDF]

Hi there im Andy, I make and sell skirting board and get a lot of offcuts usually about 1300mm long from 3" to 9" wide....at the moment I let a local college have as much as they want but the rest I just give away as firewood (been told it has the same fire rating as oak) it just seems such a waste and that there must be some uses for it....any suggestions are really welcome.

Cheers

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Your user name suggests the skirting is made from MDF. If so it really shouldn't be burnt, either. Just keep giving the stuff to school, if there isn't anything that can be built from it of use to you, but please stop burning it.

Mike.

 

[lurker]

Hello,

Your user name suggests the skirting is made from MDF. If so it really shouldn't be burnt, either. Just keep giving the stuff to school, if there isn't anything that can be built from it of use to you, but please stop burning it.

Mike.

Why
I'm not being funny just interested in the reasoning

 

[lurker]

Andy,

I guess anyone here who is local to you would be glad af a car bootfull for jigs etc

how about a part postcode so we have an idea where you are?

 

[MrMDF]

yea I bet It would be great for jigs...postcodes B64

 

[shed9]

The proper thing to do with any off cuts is to hoard them for the next fifteen years repeatedly moving them around your workshop on an almost bi-monthly basis, whilst at the same time deluding yourself that they are really useful and you will probably rue the day you threw them out if you ever did.

 

[MIGNAL]

Yeah. They should be piled up on the bed of the planer/jointer. When you want to use the planer move them to the table on the bandsaw. When the bandsaw is needed just move them to the table saw. So the cycle of an ultra efficient workshop continues.

 

[adidat]

Oi mignal have you been hiding in my workshop???

Adidat

 

[lurker]

Amateurs!

You build a double garage at the end of the garden and fill it so full of wood you cant get to the decent stuff at the back.

Plan to use some of it this summer to build .............a garage lean to, for more wood :lol:

 

[monkeybiter]

Yeah. They should be piled up on the bed of the planer/jointer. When you want to use the planer move them to the table on the bandsaw. When the bandsaw is needed just move them to the table saw. So the cycle of an ultra efficient workshop continues.

That's my keep fit regime!

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Your user name suggests the skirting is made from MDF. If so it really shouldn't be burnt, either. Just keep giving the stuff to school, if there isn't anything that can be built from it of use to you, but please stop burning it.

Mike.

Why
I'm not being funny just interested in the reasoning

Hello,

The glue is nasty, it is no longer wood, in effect. It is illegal to burn it in the USA for this reason. It probably is here, too, though no one does anything about it, we should think about air quality.

Mike.

 

[Bm101]

I read somewhere that's it's more toxic when cut with powertools because the increased heat of the faster blades releases the chemical that's use to bind the fibres. I have no idea if it's true. Some times i rub my head along brick walls just to see what will happen.

 

[Wuffles]

I read somewhere that's it's more toxic when cut with powertools because the increased heat of the faster blades releases the chemical that's use to bind the fibres. I have no idea if it's true. Some times i rub my head along brick walls just to see what will happen.

Thrill seeker.

 

[Bm101]

I might have been once. I can't remember.

 

[lurker]

Hello,

Your user name suggests the skirting is made from MDF. If so it really shouldn't be burnt, either. Just keep giving the stuff to school, if there isn't anything that can be built from it of use to you, but please stop burning it.

Mike.

Why
I'm not being funny just interested in the reasoning

Hello,

The glue is nasty, it is no longer wood, in effect. It is illegal to burn it in the USA for this reason. It probably is here, too, though no one does anything about it, we should think about air quality.

Mike.

So what should we do with it?
Landfill just moves the problem.

I don't mean to sound argumentative just debating.

 

[Wuffles]

Why
I'm not being funny just interested in the reasoning

Hello,

The glue is nasty, it is no longer wood, in effect. It is illegal to burn it in the USA for this reason. It probably is here, too, though no one does anything about it, we should think about air quality.

Mike.

So what should we do with it?
Landfill just moves the problem.

I don't mean to sound argumentative just debating.

The same thing we should do with everything, Plasma Arc Recycling. I heard about it on a podcast last year called "Stuff you should know". It's interesting stuff.

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/plasma- ... cling.html

Here's the podcast. Warning, contains American language, like, you know. http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podca ... ters-work/

Fascinating though.

 

[Roughcut]

I assumed that when I go to our local "recycling centre" aka tip and dump my offcuts of wood/mdf/chipboard etc. in the designated waste container that at least a percentage of it somehow got recycled?
I'd like to think that a lot of wood/wood product waste gets re-used in a new product rather than sent to landfill.
But perhaps I'm being naïve?

 

[Jelly]

So what should we do with it?
Landfill just moves the problem.

I don't mean to sound argumentative just debating.

Disposal to a well engineered landfill would probably result in near total decomposition with minimal environmental impact... It's quite alarming what bacteria and fungi can digest! (Of course you have to collect the leachate from rain washing through, and chemically treat it to remove the acids produced by the bacteria, which means that a landfill continues to need daily attention for +30years after its full).

The best option is to either burn it in a properly designed furnace or incinerator which complies with the Waste Incineration Directive (all gasses held at >950°c for minimum 2 seconds) or to recycle it (it comes in as grade C or worse with the wood recyclers, so you usually have to pay them to accept it) where it will likely end up being turned into MDF all over again.

Burning MDF in an open fire, or non-controled furnace or boiler is likely to give off more noxious fumes than is desirable (or legal if you're not a homeowner), but in a hot fire with a strong airflow it is unlikely to be dangerous.

MDF is considered a Non-Hazardous waste, legally at least... And in truth it's not in the top 100 "wastes we really can't do anything about, nope, Nada. In fact now we're talking about it, why in blazes would you even use half this stuff?", or as the EA euphemistically calls them in its programme to allow landfilling things which would otherwise be banned from landfill because nothing we can do will make them less dangerous "problematic waste streams".

 

[timber]

Hi there im Andy, I make and sell skirting board and get a lot of offcuts usually about 1300mm long from 3" to 9" wide....at the moment I let a local college have as much as they want but the rest I just give away as firewood (been told it has the same fire rating as oak) it just seems such a waste and that there must be some uses for it....any suggestions are really welcome.

Cheers

Finger joints, scarf joints, and half lap joints. After all it is going to be painted I presume.
Timber

 

[Jacob]

It burns really well in a wood-burner. Hot and clean without much ash. Best thing for it if it's just a lot of off cuts. I've burnt tons of the stuff.
Lots of rumours about hazards but no evidence that I've read anywhere. Must be less polluting than coal, I imagine.
People like scare stories.