Thread: How do people discard their timber scraps?

Hello John
I get rid of my offcuts a number of ways
1. I offer them to other people when they visit
2 Burn them (got a fireplace in the workshop as well)
3.Take them to the wood turning club (best way yet, all the old buggers, cheap asses etc love something for free.
4. Find imaginative ways of using them
Willy

I'm intrigued to hear from others aswell. Like you I throw small bits of manufactured material in the general waste, but with burnable stuff I give to my in-laws for kindling. Otherwise it's just building up in the shed.

Keep making smaller projects!

Port Philip bay in the middle of night but keep it quite shhhhhh.

Cheers Matt

We still have some wood fired BBQ's in public parks, so being community spirited I do a drive by and restock the firewood pile every now and again. This usually coincides with a trip for another purpose in that direction so no real added travel costs.

I am still trying to convince myself that it doesn't need to be the size of a toothpick before I throw it in the green bin.

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Originally Posted by John G

All the really small stuff just goes in the weekly rubbish bin but what do people do with the larger stuff? E.g. offcuts of plywood or melamine?

I use the plywood, MDF & melamine to make jigs, bench hooks, special fences etc. Smaller wooden offcuts are binned and the bigger ones burned. Having said this, I still keep long thinner pieces standing in a bucket which is a bad habit because they're rarely used.

mick

Any suitable sized pieces of good timber go to a men's shed for pen making. Other small off cuts go to neighbour for his fire as we have gas heating. Mdf, melamine, ply off cuts go into rubbish.

We heat the house with wood.

Originally Posted by Pagie

We heat the house with wood.

Ditto after I've massacred it beyond anything remotely usable

I am part of a group of Military Veterans and First Responders who are learning knife making under a program to help us with our mental health issues resulting form our service. This is a privately run program run by a former soldier and policeman who got on top of his own issues by learning knifemaking. He now teaches others to help them and I was fortunate enough to be chosen for his first course, in July last year.

This program receives no funding so most of the participants assist when and where they can. Whenever I go up there (nine hours drive away but worth every metre) I take a box of offcuts that are suitable for handles. That helps them and gives me a place to get rid of some clutter around the timber storage area in my own shed.

The bladesmith who teaches us is not a woodworker so I have also taken on responsibility for his bandsaw - tuning it up and providing blades as necessary.

It is a great program and has done a lot to help a lot of people. Two new participants join each month and support is ongoing. This is our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bolaroforge/

That's where a lot of my offcuts finish up - part of a very successful program helping veterans and first responders to help themselves.

I just realised today that I might be a hoarder. My scrap timber piles/s are bigger than I thought. I have been thinking of ways to use some all day.

Objects I have made in the past

Bakelite switch mounting blocks, frame for my screw boxes, and a doghouse in a similar style to our actual house.

Problem is these projects that used scraps justify keeping scraps.......


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Make jewellery with it or guitar picks or knife blocks or chopping boards or mushrooms.... the list is endless.

Originally Posted by Pagie

We heat the house with wood.

Yes, but I assume you don’t burn treated timber, ply or melamine.

I keep as much as I can for jigs, tool holders etc but it builds up faster than I can use it. I also have a bucket for long offcuts but it fills quickly.
To be honest, very little of my timber is so beautiful/exotic to be worth donating. Jarrah is about as exciting as it gets.

It sounds like people just put it in the domestic rubbish. I guess I can do that but I would have to chop it into smaller pieces first.