Offcut vs. trash

depends how big your shop is

Robin Corell in Atascadero, CA

>

Re: Offcut vs. trash

John Lucas

>It only becomes trash when I simply don't have room for it anymore. I can use the smallest wood for something. A 1" square piece is good for about 20 of these goblets.

Re: Offcut vs. trash

Barry Irby

>I sympathize. I have the box the TV before this TV came in under the wing of my Saw table and it is full of just such pieces. And there is the stack against the wall and the stack under the outfeed table and the stack under the other wing. The problem with the box is that I am constantly pulling pieces out to the pile on top, but there are things in the bottom of the box I have not seen in twenty years. I am trying to slightly less of a pack rat and just had a fire to send some of it on the way. It's a problem.

I am trying to stare the piles into submission. I recently established a box under my shaper for small bits of burl and "fancy" stuff that might make nice ornaments.

Is it possible that "organized" trash is an oxymoron?

My approach: A measured amount

Grant Smith(remove 1 for email)

>I too had too many shorts and cutoffs at one point. One day I visited my neatnick neighbor and saw what he did with his cutoffs and was thusly inspired:

I have a bin between my bandsaw and tablesaw that receives cutoffs. When it is time to clean out the bin, I measure the cutoff for length and then mark that length on the narrowest end (I work with roughsawn lumber, so not all my boards are rectangular). Then, if the board is 24" or less in length, it goes into my below pictured rack. if it is longer, then it goes into another similarly laid out rack. If the rack is too full, my rule is to either replace an uglier/ less desireable board in the rack, or discard the offcut as scrap. The rack is a dedicated space I have for offcuts, and all the room I care to dedicate to the purpose. Any overflow gets given away or burned as firewood.

As you can see in the photo, there's a piece of tape on a shelf which allows me to quickly size pieces before they are placed in the rack. this allows easy browsing for a needed piece, and prevents needless digging, which is time consuming and creates a mess. I try to keep like species mostly together.

FWIW,

Grant in Iowa

My approach: Addendum(sp?)

Grant Smith(remove 1 for email)

>Here are a few more notes:

The length of the board is marked on its end. Usually when you are looking for a small or short board, you already know what the dimensions need to be. Since I try to keep similar shapes and species together, I can usually find what I need quickly, or at least know I don't have it and cut it from a larger piece of stock.

One final thought:

"You can tell a lot about a woodworker by looking at his/her shorts!" <---just made that up!

I'd show a photo of the longer "shorts" shelf, but it aint as pretty and organized!...YET

Regards,

Grant in Iowa

Re: Offcut vs. trash

George@Colonel's Workshop-Havertown PA

>Good Afternoon Barry,

I accumulate off cuts voluminously. I try to use most of it on the next big project. About October 2006, I decided it was time to draw down on the scraps inventory and began using it to make little toys for my grandchildren. I wiped out all my off cut walnut, birch, red cedar, white oak, maple and mahogany making choo choo train engines. All of which were identical. Also did jewelry boxes and desk sets. And Thomas The Train Whistles galore. My daughters in law really appreciated them. Anything left over can return to the burn barrel.

George

Re: Offcut vs. trash

Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.

>I'm of the type to never throw anything away. I pile offcuts in a couple cardboard boxes, and whenever my wife feels like making a fire in the fireplace I bring a box up from the basement shop. Being small and dry they burn very fast.

Of late though, the fireplace hasn't seen much activity with the mild winter we've had, so the offcuts have piled up a bit. Recently I've tried to organize my hand tool storage, and these little pieces came in really handy for making tool holders, many being the right size or close to it. That's scary in a sense because it supports my notion of not throwing anything away :-)

Usually, though, I try to keep only pieces of wood that are big enough to be used in a piece of furniture or a shop jig. And I try not to play with the definition of "big enough"...

DC

Rule 1

Garrett in Victoria BC

>Hi Barry

You won't need it UNLESS you throw it out, so you might as well get rid of any scraps that have been around for more than a month or so.

My shop is small, so I tend to be brutal about scraps, and even unused tools, although I do hang onto odd nuts and bolts and springs and that sort of thing since they're small and often quite hard to replace. Once in a while I metaphorically kick myself for not having kept something, but the small cost of replacement is far less than the aggravation of making space for long term storage. A secondary personal failing is that I'm not anal enough to make the effort to be as organized as some of the other posters.

Cheers, Garrett

So Garrett...

Bri in Mtl

>...maybe you'll be inclined to throw out that Jessem MastRSlide one day?? ;)

Still like it?

Re: Offcut vs. trash

Tom Stockton

>Rule 1 is never throw any scraps away until the projects done. this is in case you need to fix something and want a near perfect wood match.

After that it depends on species, exotics I will save most anything. Other woods if it is to small to use in a cutting board i will probably cut it up and burn it. left over rippings those 1/2 x 3/4 pieces I always cut them up unless they can be used in the project at hand.

I moved my shop about 8 years ago and gave away about 3 pick up loads of scrap away to others. Some of those pieces were from things I had done 10 years previous, if it sits around that long I'm probably never going to use it.

Tom

Kindling prices?

Bri in Mtl

>I don't know what prices are in your neck of the woods but kindling up here is like $10+ each for one of those buckets.

What do you think makes most of my scraps?

Garrett in Victoria BC

>Hi Brian

What do you think makes most of my scraps? That slider has become one of the most used tools in my shop. I'm just finishing a re-build of the forward cabin on a boat I bought last year - lots of crazy bevel and angle cuts - and I've really put it to some tough tests. No problem.

The new carpet, felt underlay for the berths, and mattresses are ready to be picked up this week, so all that will be left to complete is a day or two of making and installing moldings and trim. One of these days, sooner than later, hopefully, Victoria's weather will return to normal, and we can go boating comfortably again.

Cheers, Garrett

a drinking problem

Tom Sontag - St. Louis

>John,

I think you'd have an unruly crowd on your hands if you serve guests with those babies. Unless of course you are serving polonium 210, I think then you have just the right size serving.

Grant.....ya take all the fun outa it......

Scott in Eastern Iowa

>...dontcha like pulling out 15 pcs to find the one that MIGHT work?

Good idea there.....I gotta get me a system like that.

ps...check your email.

Scott