Offcuts

[Marc]

I thought of posting this at risk of being mocked, but I am curious to find out if I am the only one.

I have a problem ... I cannot get rid of my timber off cuts.

Each time I make something, be it furniture, building, veranda, stairs, I end up with a big heap of short and medium lengh stuff that clearly belongs in the rubbish bin ... or does it?

I cannot bring myself to throw away anything that is longer than 100 mill and even those pieces I have a box full to use for clamping.

Am I sick? Is that the usual behaviour for a carpenter / cabinet / sawdust maker?

Once, after 4 years of accumulating bits and pieces, I took courage, filled the Ute to the brim and the box trailer to the very edge, and drove to the tip.

I am embarrassed to say that I came back with a few sticks of cedar I thought I could use for something.... And if you think I must be broke or on the dole, let me assure you that I am not, I could buy new timber anytime I want to, not even my wife object to it since she earns substantially more than I do.

Is it the same with you? Should I consult a psychiatrist?

[glenn k]

I use my off cuts for fire wood. I'm sure someone would like yours its better than using them for land fill. My green off cuts I chip for mulch and sell. But I to have a pile of off cuts and warped boards that may be useful one day.

[DanP]

Marc,

Take up pen turning. All you need is bits 2" long and 3/4" SQ. You'll be able to make millions.

Dan

[Tonyz]

IF ? you can find a kindy/playgroup without raging feminists/lesbo in charge they will SOMETIMES take your offcuts to teach the kiddies MAN hobbies and stuff

[AlexS]

I'm afraid I share your affliction..I even find it hard to throw my shavings bag into the compost - those lovely long, thin shavings!

But! A friend once asked me if I'd cut some offcuts up into even smaller pieces - about half matchbox size and less - which she then wrapped in fancy paper and sold in her gift shop as 'boxes of love'....and people bought them!

Being a friend, of course, she paid in red wine.

[Dusty]

Marc, we have the same problem.

To the point that I have hardwood scraps and softwood scraps in seperate bins. Which seems cool, but the truth is I have no freaking idea what's at the bottom of each bin. I just keep adding to the pile.

I also know, that as soon as I ditch the lot, I'll come up with an awesome idea that's gonna need the offcuts.

Scary stuff.

[DavidG]

I am lucky.
I have a friend who takes all the shavings he can get and also takes the offcuts for a neighbours fire.
He even picks them up.

All my own limited garden has been drowned in shavings and can take no more.

[DarrylF]

You gotta get brutal I keep a small scrap bin. Every offcut gets tossed in there. If it's too big to fit, it goes straight back on the wood rack. When the scrap bin gets full I grab only the expensive stuff, or cheap stuff longer than 300mm, and that goes on the rack. Everything else gets tossed into the big scrap bin, and that either goes to someone with a wood heater or gets tossed in the green waste bin as soon as it's full.

Even with that I gotta clean out the wood rack every few weeks.

[Wood Borer]

Every 6 months or so, I cut the scrap into wedges with the bandsaw and bring a box of them to work as give aways.

People use them for door wedges and some even ask if they can take 2 of them!

- Wood Borer

[Zed]

Theres nothing like having a little love box is there ? far better a small one than a big one....

[silentC]

I'm leaving that one alone, Zed.

Marc, compared to you, I must be bordering on the criminally insane. Two years ago, we sold our house in Revesby and moved into a rental in Lugarno before we came down to God's country. I had a shed full of timber of all shapes and sizes and a great big bin full of offcuts. My wife pleaded with me to throw them away but I refused and into the removal van they went!

Two years later, I've still got a lot of it and it's mine, all mine

My wife asks her friends if their husbands collect wood like her's does. Apparently, I'm a bit of a laughing stock amongst the lady golfers. But I don't care. When the great wood famine comes, they'll all be laughing on the other side of their mealy-mouthed, wood starved, faces.

[Geoff Allen]

I can appreciate your concern.
Last year my SWMBO insisted that I get rid of all the logs and old bits of furniture in the back yard. I had collected them over 2 years(after the previous cleanup) with the intention of turning them or otherwise turning them into furniture. I used to put the ones that had split beyond repair out on the nature strip but the cretin over the back fence would take them then send them back as smoke.

Well into the skip most of went so now I only have about 50 logs behind the garage where I built the orchid house (had to throw out the orchids to make room for the wood), oh and a few around the other side of the house (haven't been around there for years so not what sure whats there).

Of course I have a little more in the garage but that is mostly seasoned or part turned or waxed. I keep a few draws of exotic wood offcuts for turning miniatures so that pieces of ebony etc. would be kept unless they are smaller than say 30mm long and 10mm in diameter. Naturally over time it doesn't all fit into the draws so I have found that buying buckets from Bunnies at 79cents each is good for extra srorage. I do have a bit of a problem actually working in the garage since almost all the bench and floor space is taken up especially with the junk the rest of the family insist in keeping in MY GARAGE. Some people laugh when I tell them it is only 20 minutes to the other end of the garage. Wife is worried that I might die and leave her to clean up.

But I LIKE IT since I hardly ever start a project without having nearly enough of just about everything. So my advice is to not through it away 'cos you never know when it might come in handy. Now where was the lathe when I last saw it?

regards
Geoff

[Eastie]

Mine end up in a couple of 60 litre plastic creates and once a year they go camping. It’s great to sit by a fire with a cold beer and chuck bit after bit on and remember what timber it was, what I used it for, how the project progressed and ended up ….

My wife often looks at me a bit weird whilst I closely examine the next off cut before tossing it on the fire. I guess it could be used in a more environmentally friendly way but then I’d have to cut trees up for the fire – catch 22.

[Sprog]

Use your offcuts for intarsia and sell the results.
You will be suprised at how much money you have been throwing on the tip or fire.

Intarsia Info

[Ivor]

I think I have a worse affliction, not only do I keep my own offcuts, but I collect other peoples when they let me.

Went to Tasmania last year via the ferry and came back with 1/2 a boot load of offcuts that I found through a friend of a friend, blackwood, sassafras, king billy pine etc. Even the

I want to make some inlaid tables etc (When I get the time in the future) and want all the offcuts I can get hold of.

You people burn offcuts, that's a crime!