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Thread: Scrap Wood and Offcuts
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13th February 2023, 08:05 PM #1
Scrap Wood and Offcuts
I'm slowly running out of room in my single car garage as most of its taken up with small scraps of wood and off
cuts. I've grown into the habit of not chucking anything out smaller than a postage stamp and its getting ridiculous.
So I thought I'd ask the question, whats the smallest size scrap you guys keep for the following:
- MDF
- Plywood
- Cheap Solid Timber
- Expensive Solid Timber
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13th February 2023 08:05 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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13th February 2023, 11:34 PM #2SENIOR MEMBER
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Is there such a thing as scrap wood?
I suffer from the same problem as you…
cheers,
ajw
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14th February 2023, 08:18 AM #3
EB71
As ajw has implied it may be a prerequisite for a woodworker to be a hoarder. I find it difficult to discard anything that has a halfway reasonable shape or size. However, much depends on the type of woodworking you enjoy. Also a single piece of timber by itself might be next to useless without a few similar pieces.
I hurriedly took a few shots of some (by no means all) of my "scraps", which are primarily stored in 20L buckets. They are not always that small. There are also more buckets behind the buckets that are visible!
Timber 1.jpgTimber 2.jpgTimber 3.jpgTimber 4.jpg
As I said, much depends on what you do. These are my "scraps" for making saw handles which can be as small as 200 x 150, although most of these are larger. They will become smaller as time goes on and the currently endless tasks SWMBO has for me start to diminish:
Timber 7.jpgTimber 8.jpg
These ply offcuts were not even mine but salvaged from the scaffolding during maintenance at my workplace. I do have a specific project for them. When I have used what I want I will give the rest to a woodworker in town who makes bird boxes.
Timber 5.jpgTimber 6.jpg
I am a little fortunate in having some space to store this, but I have to tell you I have run out of room. It actually doesn't matter how much space you have, you will fill it. Every so often I have a cull: Not that a casual observer would notice.
Regards
Paul
Edit: I meant to say that the Casuarina Oaks I have (Hairy Oak, Bull Oak) are rarely discarded. If they are larger enough to become a scale for a knife handle, they are keepers.Bushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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14th February 2023, 10:30 AM #4
There is an infallible rule in all this.
You keep an offcut for ten years, and then, the week after you throw it out, you find a dire need for it.
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14th February 2023, 10:43 AM #5
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14th February 2023, 03:18 PM #6GOLD MEMBER
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As far as solid timber goes, I'll keep strip offcuts which are around 1000mm. Eventually I'll glue them into boards. I'd chuck em out, but they fill up the bin pretty quick.
20230214_150631.jpg 20230214_150651.jpg
Solid boards that are 500mm+ long are good to keep, especially if they are nicer timbers (not pine or vic ash).
20230214_150530.jpg
Manufactured boards are good when they are 500x300ish. I don't seem to have many smaller pieces at the moment as they seem to get used up pretty quick on jigs, templates and bog mixing boards.
20230214_150543.jpg 20230214_150456.jpg
Storing jigs and templates that you will need again becomes a problem of its own!
20230214_150745.jpg
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14th February 2023, 03:57 PM #7
I used to be quite diciplined about discarding small offcuts when we had the cumbustion stove. Now we have gas the outlook has changed and I am becoming a wood packrat. At least I have a firewood shed to store it in.
Regards
John
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14th February 2023, 06:37 PM #8
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14th February 2023, 09:29 PM #9Senior Member
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Small MDF is used between the work and my clamps.
Small Ply pieces are currently used for kid school projects.
Unfortunately I have little space so have not managed to collect a lot of random piece but I am aspiring to improve my pack rat inclinations.
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14th February 2023, 09:32 PM #10
I'm a turner so scraps are smaller than 15*15*50, but then again I have laminated end cuts of pen blanks into full size pen blanks, so I don't have scrap timber, I have stock for laminating.
I too have officially (So I say) ran out of storage room for timber . . . but why listen to such negativityPat
Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain
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15th February 2023, 08:32 AM #11Senior Member
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Same - until I watched Richard Raffin turning beads (YouTube in the last week or so). With several granddaughters who like to make stuff I think the demand might be high. But the actual amount used is tiny.
But seriously my workshop is tiny so I have a few defined spaces for scraps. I only keep a few small pieces of MDF - it is not really wood for my purposes - just occasionally useful for packing.
Bruce
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15th February 2023, 10:48 AM #12SENIOR MEMBER
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I have no such problem. I give all my off cuts to a woodworking friend of mine, he is a true artisan, guy appeared on NZ's local magazine sometime back. he built a bicycle from wood.
one exception, MDF will go in bin. I dont use MDF anyhow but sometimes they are here.SCM L'Invincibile si X, SCM L'Invincibile S7, SCM TI 145EP, SCM Sandya Win 630, Masterwood OMB1V, Meber 600, Delta RJ42, Nederman S750, Chicago Pneumatics CPRS10500, Ceccato CDX12
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15th February 2023, 01:44 PM #13
My scrap wood / offcuts / mistakes are kept in a pile up in the corner just inside the back gate, and are used to keep the shed warm when I am working out there in the colder months.
IMG_2989.jpg IMG_2994.jpg
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15th February 2023, 04:57 PM #14SENIOR MEMBER
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I have 2 huge boxes full of Qld Maple/Acacia off cuts bound for the tip tomorrow
Wish some of you folk lived closer...does seem a waste
BUT...I am starved for storage atm
The container and every other spare bit of room brimming with wood...dang
Log Dog
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15th February 2023, 07:35 PM #15
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