What do you store your scraps in?

[Lee Reep]

I store small scraps in a 5 gallon bucket. These get hauled upstairs and used for kindling when I am finally willing to admite I'll never use them for any project. The longer stuff gets stored by species in more buckets. I suppose that most will get used, but I'm tempted to cut many of them down and put in the other bucket so they'll get used for kindling.

One of these days I'll have a really nice wood storage system.

[Brian Hale]

In my first shop i used the scrap to make scrap bins which I filled with scraps. As i got more scraps i made more scrap bins which I filled with scraps. When I moved to the second shop my friends convinced to get rid of them so I got a case of Yuenling and a 5th of Sailor Jerry. Piled all the bins in the pit and had the hottest bonfire you can imagine.

3 shops later and i still don't have a good solution but i admit I have a scrap problem , just can't part with those little treasures....

Perhaps there's a support group somewhere?

[Prashun Patel]

Rough trimming of the stock ends and sides makes things easier to stack. I do have a fiberboard drum that I toss tiny scraps into. That's intended for my fire pit but that potpourri comes in handy for test cuts and practice.

[Brian Henderson]

Rough trimming of the stock ends and sides makes things easier to stack. I do have a fiberboard drum that I toss tiny scraps into. That's intended for my fire pit but that potpourri comes in handy for test cuts and practice.

Agreed, a lot of small MDF scrap that I had in the pile had test dado cuts for sizing. Most of that just went into the trash but that's a really good use for scrap wood.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Hardwood scraps go into empty beer boxes, and go to friends for kindling. Not off-cuts with some potential furniture value I keep them as noted below. I have filled dozens like this with wood that cost $18 - $20/bf. The most expensive fires in metro ATL, I'd surmise. Damn near match-light - QSWO, HM, cherry, QS sycamore, curly maple, walnut....

The beer boxes seem to be like fishes and loaves - no matter how many I fill, there are always more. Its a complete mystery to me.

Then - other stuff - MDF, ply, hardwood pieces I am keeping - they get tossed on a shelf, in roughly species piles - 8' long x 16" tall. Every 3 - 6 months, I go thru that pile, sort, organize, stack neatly [in vain], and pitch 50%.

I realized, finally, that there was a pragmatic difference between "I could do something with this" and "I will do something with this" and "I have a use for this right now". I try to be brutal in culling the herd - have never been disappointed - there is always more where that came from.

[Pete Staehling]

Since I build small musical instruments, I use pretty some small pieces. I think some of what I buy is probably pieces others may consider scrap. Longer pieces typically stand in 5 gallon buckets. Small blocks go in another bucket or box. As it all gets picked over and there starts to be more junk than useful pieces I purge the buckets and burn what ever doesn't make the grade. It is kind of nice to have a fire in the evening.

[Jim Andrew]

It is really nice to burn wood to heat your shop. I store scraps in a 5 gallon bucket, then go to the furnace for kindling. When I used to buy lumber, I saved everything, now I cut my own, feel I can afford to burn some.

[Mac McQuinn]

I have a collection of 24" deep, wooden drawers salvaged from a 1950's lake cottage kitchen remodeling project. They're made from knotty pine w/ 3/4" ply bottoms. I left the metal handles on and fill them with cut-offs and scraps. Works pretty well as since they're only 8" deep, you don't have to dig far to find the piece you need. Stack nicely and slide under the bench well.
Mac

[Nick Coffelt]

Lots of good suggestions, and it seems like there are a lot out there like me. Looks like I'll be putting together a rolling cabinet. Hopefully this helps to keep me more organized. Thanks for the advice.

[Mark Patoka]

I bought a bunch of Rubbermaid tubs and sorted mine out by species, mostly oak, cherry, maple and walnut. Those tubs are stacked on a couple of shelves and a rolling cabinet I have and I find I rarely ever go in them. I usually have enough scrap still lying about that I end up using when needed. We did put in a wood-burning fireplace a few years ago so I don't feel so badly tossing as much now since I can now repurpose it as kindling. I keep telling myself that someday I'm going to use all that scrap on cutting boards, toys or segmented turning but still waiting for that day to come.

[Larry Edgerton]

Wood stove.

[Bill Adamsen]

+1 for the wood stove ... this is such a great topic. I was just thinking about this today. I get a lot of hardwood cutoffs that I simply cannot bear to throw away. Would love to find a better way to store.

[Yonak Hawkins]

For scraps that I don't consider for re-use, I store them in rolling trash barrels that get burned in the winter. For cut-offs I may have future use for, I have made a few long crates that I put on shelves which are shallow enough to dig through.

Above is my solution for solid wood. For plywood cut-offs and other panels there's a place above my radial arm saw :

plywood storage 001.jpg

There is a different place for full and half sheets.

[John Donofrio]

When I was setting up the shop I built this to hold the cutoffs and misc scraps I just couldn't part with. The rest goes to the firepit burn pile.

2012-03-09_21-01-16_706.jpg