Scraps for Hand Tool Work

[lighthearted]

I'm cleaning the enormous hoarder woodpile in my shop today.  Discovering some beautiful scraps.

Question--what's the smallest scrap piece you would save for hand tool work?  assuming its 3/4"+ stock with interesting grain.

[Llama]

Not sure I understand what you're asking.

Stock size needed is driven by the project needs, hand tool or machine work.

 

[Eric.]

Depends on value.  Ebony or cocobolo?  All of it.  Walnut or mahogany?  A board foot minimum.  Cherry?  A little more than a board foot.  Poplar?  Minimum two or three board feet or it's garbage.  Red oak?  How the hell did red oak get in my shop?  Garbage.

[James Wright]

If I do not have a project in mind it is all determined by the quality of the wood or grain. I have a piece of bural white oak that I have been holding onto for 5 years. it is only 1/2' thick and irregular in size about 3-4" but the grain is amazing and almost sparkles. just this week i had a project that fit it perfectly! but then I have scraps of 2-3BF of strait grained oak that i give to a turning friend of mine. I rarely throw things out but find people that will use them and ask them to come over from time to time to help clean the shop.

[Brendon_t]

I've got a milk crate for small, scraps.  If the bin is full,  it goes. Under 3" wide must be 24" long.  Under 6"wide,  18" minimum. 

I sift  through the small scraps pretty often. So there usually isn't junk in there.  

[wtnhighlander]

Then again, I sometimes make very small items, like jewelry. If a scrap has nice color or interesting grain, it can still be useful down to a couple sqare inches.

[lighthearted]

1 hour ago, Brendon_t said:

I've got a milk crate for small, scraps.  If the bin is full,  it goes. Under 3" wide must be 24" long.  Under 6"wide,  18" minimum. 

I sift  through the small scraps pretty often. So there usually isn't junk in there.  

See that seems like a smart plan.

[..Kev]

I tend to save most everything until the Christmas projects are complete.  Then, I thin it all out and start over the next year.

[Keggers]

I keep the cherry for my meat smoker. The rest of the scraps go into a fire to cook beer brats. Of course, you have to have beer with those beer brats as well as a group of good friends......."to bring the beer!"

[Chet]

28 minutes ago, Keggers said:

 

I keep the cherry for my meat smoker.

 

Yea, I keep some of my smaller stuff that will go in the smoke too.  If it is real small it gets used to start the smoker. but nothing that is sappy. 

[Gilgaron]

It'll depend on what you like to make... rip offcuts can make picture frames, even small cutoffs can make knife scales.  Stuff that is useless for furniture can become tool handles.  If it is pretty or expensive I'm more tolerant.  Pieces of 2x4 get chucked more easily. 

[Tom King]

I had a milk crate full of Heart Pine offcuts from tenon cheeks that were about 1/4 x 2 x 2.  The only reason the guys that work for me didn't take them home for kindling was that they were "too small to mess with".  There were several hundred in the box I expect.  We used most of them on a reeded mantle project that had a bunch of little angled intersecting reeded pieces, and they were the perfect thickness and size without doing anything else to them other than mitering and shooting the edges.

[mikemenifee]

Took the Sam Maloof tour last week. Outside the workshop were three cardboard boxes of cutoffs. most looked to be 18" to 2 ft. 2 to 4" wide, different thicknesses. They were asking $40 a box.

[JimB1]

I keep a lot of little pieces for making plugs and sometimes small inlays or repairs. Usually down to about 3"X 3" if it's a wood I use a lot of like maple, an interesting looking piece with flaming or quilting, or is something unusual like Purple Heart.

-Jim