At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from your
scrap pile.

In article ,
"Eigenvector" wrote:

At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from your
scrap pile.

I make small blocks and toys from my scraps, so if it is more than 3
cubic inches, it goes in the to be "toy" bucket. When the bucket is
full, I start making toys.

Saving cutoffs is directly proportional to your storage
arrangement and capacity, coupled with the quality of the wood
involved. Each person is very different. If you cannot envision
a project for the fall off, if you have never used anything "that
size" for a project, then get rid of it. Be aware, within one
week of tossing the fall off you will find something for which it
would have been perfect.

If you can't keep it straight, if you can't find it, if you have
to move tons of stuff to see what you have it has virtually no
value.



--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Eigenvector" wrote in message
. ..
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and
1/2x1x8 cedar strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half
dozen other bits and pieces. At what point would you start
tossing, burning, or otherwise getting rid of that stuff? What
would you consider a useful board from your scrap pile.

Sat, Jul 21, 2007, 9:19am (EDT-3) (Eigenvector)
doth wondereth:
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?
I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from
your scrap pile.

Ah yes, the mythical scrap wood. I've heard of it, but don't have
any. I've got sawdust, and small pieces of wood, no scrap wood, unless
you want to call the sawdust scrap, but I save some of that for
trasction in the winter, and sometimes to make wood filler. Anything
larger than sawdust is a small piece of wood.

If you want to get in good with the Woodworking Gods, you can send
along some of the so-called "scrap" wood you seem so anxious to get
rid of, as a sacrifice for them. As their High Priest I handle all
their administrative work, including sacrifices, don't try this at home.
I think they'd appreciate some of the cedar. Or, you can keept it, and
**** them off.



JOAT
I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do
them.
- Picasso

I keep anything that I think I would use again. This includes small cuttings
of thin plywood or sheet stock for clamp pads, various plywood thicknesses
that one cannot buy any more, rare items and expensive stuff.

I toss nothing, some gets cut up for garden stakes, some become small paint
stir sticks for 1 litre cans and smaller, the rest become kindling for my
wood stove.


"J T" wrote in message
...
Sat, Jul 21, 2007, 9:19am (EDT-3) (Eigenvector)
doth wondereth:
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?
I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from
your scrap pile.

Ah yes, the mythical scrap wood. I've heard of it, but don't have
any. I've got sawdust, and small pieces of wood, no scrap wood, unless
you want to call the sawdust scrap, but I save some of that for
trasction in the winter, and sometimes to make wood filler. Anything
larger than sawdust is a small piece of wood.

If you want to get in good with the Woodworking Gods, you can send
along some of the so-called "scrap" wood you seem so anxious to get
rid of, as a sacrifice for them. As their High Priest I handle all
their administrative work, including sacrifices, don't try this at home.
I think they'd appreciate some of the cedar. Or, you can keept it, and
**** them off.



JOAT
I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do
them.
- Picasso

Eigenvector wrote:
| At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?
|
| I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8
| cedar strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other
| bits and pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning,
| or otherwise getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a
| useful board from your scrap pile.

I have a whole web page dedicated to a project to use up 1x4 and 2x4
scraps at http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/Cyclone.html, and haven't had any
difficulty finding homes for cyclone parts with fellow woodworkers.

Glue up your 1x1 and 1/2x1 stuff for cutting/cheese boards, trays, and
turning blanks. If you don't have a lathe but accumulate a large
supply of blanks, you'll have an excuse to shop for an inexpensive
lathe to use 'em up.

Scrap is a short word for "opportunity to convert waste into good
will", a commodity rarely in oversupply.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

On Jul 21, 12:19 pm, "Eigenvector" wrote:
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from your
scrap pile.

Small pieces of hardwood, you soak in water, wrap in foil,
and toss on the barbecue with good, thick pork chops.

In article ,
"Eigenvector" wrote:

At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from your
scrap pile.



I have three Rubbermaid waste baskets in three sizes for different sizes
of scrap. When they are full, I look through them quickly and burn the
less useful pieces to make room for better new stuff.

I define full according to whether most of the pieces I toss from
halfway across the shop stay in or on the waste basket. I have to force
myself to not think too much about value and possible use so my scraps
will save me time rather than costing me time (Hi, my name is David and
....).

I usually still have **** on every horizontal surface in the shop, but
it was worse before I went to the waste basket scrap "system".

PDX David

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

On the sixth Tuesday of every month ending in "g", but then only during the
second vernal equinox.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/1/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

"Morris Dovey" wrote in message
...
Eigenvector wrote:
| At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?
|
| I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8
| cedar strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other
| bits and pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning,
| or otherwise getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a
| useful board from your scrap pile.

I have a whole web page dedicated to a project to use up 1x4 and 2x4
scraps at http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/Cyclone.html, and haven't had any
difficulty finding homes for cyclone parts with fellow woodworkers.

Glue up your 1x1 and 1/2x1 stuff for cutting/cheese boards, trays, and
turning blanks. If you don't have a lathe but accumulate a large
supply of blanks, you'll have an excuse to shop for an inexpensive
lathe to use 'em up.

Scrap is a short word for "opportunity to convert waste into good
will", a commodity rarely in oversupply.

--
Morris Dovey

Well that's an interesting option I hadn't thought of - cutting boards,
shame cedar's so soft, but still a bunch of 1x1 strips glued together into a
nice board or serving platter even.

Honestly most of my scrap is incorporated into my workbench, minor repairs
and filling in gaps and whatnot.

"Eigenvector" wrote in message

At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

When it takes more time to wade thru it than you are willing to invest.

Lew

On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:19:01 -0700, "Eigenvector"
wrote:

At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from your
scrap pile.



Hey, I confess. I have a load of scrap lumber. I start tossing it
out when I need more room. For the most part, I toss out anything
smaller than a cucumber, PT cut offs, 2x4s shorter than 6 inches,
pieces older than 2 years, or oddly-shaped pieces. If you don't sort
your scraps it can take too much time to get the size you need.

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
. ..
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from
your scrap pile.


Yep, pretty subjective based on storage space, estimated future need and the
degree of your obsessive/ compulsive disorder. I wait until I'm too swamped
with them and then I throw whatever is too short or anything I've already
used as a backer for drilling, etc. I keep a little of everything but just
a little. The first couple of weeks are usually traumatic with occassional
trips to the burn pile for visits and exercises in restraint (from
'rescuing' a few).

"C & E" wrote in message
...

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
. ..
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from
your scrap pile.


Yep, pretty subjective based on storage space, estimated future need and
the degree of your obsessive/ compulsive disorder. I wait until I'm too
swamped with them and then I throw whatever is too short or anything I've
already used as a backer for drilling, etc. I keep a little of everything
but just a little. The first couple of weeks are usually traumatic with
occassional trips to the burn pile for visits and exercises in restraint
(from 'rescuing' a few).

I know the feeling

Anything that has potential as a turning blank or stock for toys that our
Guild builds for needy children goes into a bin that I take to a Guild
meeting for the turners and toy makers to forage through. None of that goes
back home with me. The rest of it - well, we have a free day at the
landfill twice a year. So, twice a year I go through the scraps and toss
what I don't think I'll ever use into the pickup for the trip to the
landfill. The rest gets lucky and is recycled for another 6 months. I hate
to take it to the landfill, but I have no other outlet for it. Down here in
the deep south we don't have wood burning stoves in our shops! I work in
December and January with the shop door open.

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
. ..
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from
your scrap pile.

On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:19:01 -0700, "Eigenvector" wrote:

At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from your
scrap pile.

Murphy's law seems to state that I will not need a piece of scrap until the day
after I burn it..

After years of battling Mr. Murphy, I have a sorting system which still doesn't
work, but makes me feel better:

If it's firewood for sure, it goes in boxes in the yard by the BBQ and fire
pit...

If I think it's probably firewood, it goes into a stack under the band saw, in
case we run out of firewood and being a firebug, I run into the shop looking for
"something else to burn"..

Most of the other stuff goes on racks and shelves and is burned selectively when
the other 2 options are exhausted..



mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Do you have any woodworker friends who make small projects? Some of it might
be just what they are looking for. Maybe you can make a trade or at least
make another woodworker friend very happy.

Charley


"J T" wrote in message
...
Sat, Jul 21, 2007, 9:19am (EDT-3) (Eigenvector)
doth wondereth:
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?
I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from
your scrap pile.

Ah yes, the mythical scrap wood. I've heard of it, but don't have
any. I've got sawdust, and small pieces of wood, no scrap wood, unless
you want to call the sawdust scrap, but I save some of that for
trasction in the winter, and sometimes to make wood filler. Anything
larger than sawdust is a small piece of wood.

If you want to get in good with the Woodworking Gods, you can send
along some of the so-called "scrap" wood you seem so anxious to get
rid of, as a sacrifice for them. As their High Priest I handle all
their administrative work, including sacrifices, don't try this at home.
I think they'd appreciate some of the cedar. Or, you can keept it, and
**** them off.



JOAT
I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do
them.
- Picasso

"Charley" wrote in message
...
Do you have any woodworker friends who make small projects? Some of it
might
be just what they are looking for. Maybe you can make a trade or at least
make another woodworker friend very happy.

Charley


To be honest I'm the person they run to when they finish working projects.
So I typically end up with my very few project scraps (I just don't do a lot
of wood working), plus all theirs - any they are much less efficient with
their projects than I am. Nothing I hate more than buying a new piece of
lumber when I could salvage something from the stack - but sometimes the
stack is far far too big.


"J T" wrote in message
...
Sat, Jul 21, 2007, 9:19am (EDT-3) (Eigenvector)
doth wondereth:
At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?
I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from
your scrap pile.

Ah yes, the mythical scrap wood. I've heard of it, but don't have
any. I've got sawdust, and small pieces of wood, no scrap wood, unless
you want to call the sawdust scrap, but I save some of that for
trasction in the winter, and sometimes to make wood filler. Anything
larger than sawdust is a small piece of wood.

If you want to get in good with the Woodworking Gods, you can send
along some of the so-called "scrap" wood you seem so anxious to get
rid of, as a sacrifice for them. As their High Priest I handle all
their administrative work, including sacrifices, don't try this at home.
I think they'd appreciate some of the cedar. Or, you can keept it, and
**** them off.



JOAT
I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do
them.
- Picasso

I use up most of my scrap. "If you don't practice on scrap, you're
practicing on your project."

After any adjustment to the router bit, bit height, or fence, I make a
quick test cut.

Any time I'm going to cut a dado, a piece of scrap goes through first.
Likewise rabbits.

I generally don't trust the depth adjustment on the drill press. I
drill a test hole first.

Cutting repetitive pieces? Always try a piece of scrap.

When I'm going to be gluing exotic woods, especially if they're
dissimilar I usually do a test glueup with scrap. When gluing cocobolo,
ebony, or other difficult-to-glue woods I've settled on a quick sanding
with 100-grit paper followed by a swipe with acetone, after doing a
number of tests using several techniques.

Whenever I'm going to use an unfamiliar finish I test it on a piece of
scrap. This saved me from using a finish on padauk, I think it was
wipe-on poly, that bled out the red color from the padauk all over the
adjoining piece of curly maple.

I usually keep the test pieces around. They make interesting
conversation pieces and remind me of a project that I was fond of.


In article , Eigenvector
wrote:

At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8 cedar
strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other bits and
pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or otherwise
getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful board from your
scrap pile.



--
Vince Heuring To email, remove the Vince.

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 13:12:33 -0400, "Charley" wrote:

Do you have any woodworker friends who make small projects? Some of it might
be just what they are looking for. Maybe you can make a trade or at least
make another woodworker friend very happy.

Charley

Very good point...
Miniatures jewelry boxes and segmented turnings come to mind..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 17:55:21 -0600, Vince Heuring
wrote:


I use up most of my scrap. "If you don't practice on scrap, you're
practicing on your project."

After any adjustment to the router bit, bit height, or fence, I make a
quick test cut.

Any time I'm going to cut a dado, a piece of scrap goes through first.
Likewise rabbits.

I generally don't trust the depth adjustment on the drill press. I
drill a test hole first.

Cutting repetitive pieces? Always try a piece of scrap.

snip

Glad you brought that up...
I use a lot of my small scrap for backup blocks on the drill press and quick
clamp-down jigs..


Also, I keep scrap around that I've used for dado tests... always something I'm
gluing drilling or sanding that fits in the dado for a hold down or jig.


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

"Eigenvector" wrote in
:

At what point would you toss out scrap lumber?

I'm looking at my work area and I have a ton of 1x1x4 and 1/2x1x8
cedar strips and little odds and ends 2x4's and a half dozen other
bits and pieces. At what point would you start tossing, burning, or
otherwise getting rid of that stuff? What would you consider a useful
board from your scrap pile.



There is no such thing as "scrap" lumber. There's useless pieces, but
it's all good stuff. (For the really obsessive, you can get ice shavers
to make your small 1"x1"x1" piece of wood into a bunch of shavings.)

My general rule of thumb is that if it's smaller than my hand, it's
probably going to be faster to cut a piece that size than it will to find
one, so they're not worth keeping track of.

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm