What do you do with your wood scraps?

[Ralph Sarc]

I was just reading a reply to a post I made and Geoff Simpson mentioned wood scraps and that got me to wondering what everyone does with their wood scarps from projects. I have considered burning them in our fireplace but I'm fearful of the residue that it would leave within the chimney liner. So what do you do with your scraps?  

[Ralph Sarc]

Yea I think mine are all headed to the fire pit, lol!

Jens Jensen said:

I have a 55 gallon plastic barrel next to my saw stations and toss all stuff in there and use it for whatever I need for some snall jig or whatever but mostly kindling wood for I heat with wood in shop.Come summer  just burn outside evening weenie roasts and marsh mellows with grand kids

[Ralph Sarc]

I agree I think mine are going in the fire pit. I use all I can for jigs etc but the rest is fire fuel!
Jim Bontrager said:

Depending on size, I use them for kindling in my wood burner.

[thetoolnut]

Depending on the size i'll use scraps of ply for small saw horses and the like, anything too small to be useful goes in the fire.

[Robert Brennan]

 

Scraps,

In my shop they are usually less than 500mm, (otherwise  they are held as stock) 

Scraps are something that I find I can use for all sorts of activities, for example I have Six five bins for scraps

1 Plywood, 2 Pine, 3 Hardwood, Tallow wood but containing mostly Silky Oak, 4 Oregon, and 5 a mixture of sheet material and 6 A Rubbish bin (which I do not empty until Its too full, as I always seem to go ferreting through it for all sorts of sacrifical roles.

 

What do I do with it all?

The Plywood pine and sheets usually gets incorporated into Jigs when I decide to make something

 As I enjoy producing "diamonds" from rubbish most vary rarely end up in the rubbish,

For example the "Aurora's Table" in the picture gallery is an example of what you can produce with a bit of effort.

Any nice scraps can also end up as veneer inserts, small triangular bits become wedges  to support glueing

[Ralph Sarc]

Great step stools!!! With a short wife I've made a few that get lots of uses!

thetoolnut said:

Depending on the size i'll use scraps of ply for small saw horses and the like, anything too small to be useful goes in the fire.

[Brian Briggs]

I use scraps, especially hardwoods, to make small items such as this bulldozer clock.  I also use some to test adjustments on router, etc.

 

[Ralph Sarc]

Beautiful workmanship Brain!

Brian Briggs said:

I use scraps, especially hardwoods, to make small items such as this bulldozer clock.  I also use some to test adjustments on router, etc.

 

[James P. Cottingham]

Scraps are useful for all sorts of things. Technically, all my wood can be considered scraps since I usually scrounge for wood. I found a block of wood that was being used for supporting shipping pallets. It was solid cherry. After cutting it up into usable pieces, I still had some thin scraps left so I made my daughter a jewelry holder from them.

 

[Dan Thompson]

If I kept all of my wood scraps I would have to double the size of my shop (currently 1000 sq ft) and hire a helper just to manage them. I always keep a good supply for testing but the rest goes into keeping the shop warm when the outside temps are single digits or lower

[Robert W Kanters]

make bird houses

[Jeff Kittmer]

I usually use my scraps for testing my router setups.  And for the really small pieces I use for blocks between my clamps and the piece of wood that I'm working on.  To prevent the clamps from marking my project.

[Jonathon Hubbert]

You're right! ... burning treated scrap in a fireplace doesn't do the flue any favors.  It can be burned safely in a firepit on the patio or one of these portable open fireplaces.  I keep some around for blocking, spacing and setups.  Cedar and other aromatics are used in the areas frequented by our pets.  Labs & Pointers love being wet, but we have to suffer for a couple of hours afterward ... Cedar & Pine cured that.