Wood scraps vs. kindling

[Andy Denmark]

For years I've kept a box in the woodshop shop for "scraps" to be used for fireplace kindling in the winter. There's another larger box for small pieces of wood that I deem somehow "useful" and thus don't relegate to the kindling box. These small pieces come in handy when I don't want to rip a 3/8" X 1/2" X 3' trim strip from a 1/2" X 6" board, for instance. I can generally scrounge around in the "useful" bin and often find something that's just right.

The "keeper" criterion involves only expensive woods -- teak, ash, white oak, cherry and some pieces of mahogany. Large pieces of veneered plywood and Brunzeel are also saved. My Scottish instincts (for those who wonder about this connection, remember the Vikings invaded their neighbors when the urge to rape and pillage overcame their political correctness) doesn't let me toss a lot of wood scraps that probably should go to the fireplace.

Enter hurricane Irene --- 38 inches of water in the shop inundating all the power tools except the bench mounted drill press, the only salvageable machine tool. Both aforementioned bins were upended and their contents distributed through every nook and cranny of the shop in a mixture of mud, leaves, pinestraw, sawdust, mouse droppings, etc. Now I'm faced with separating all these relatively small pieces of wood into two categories yet again.

Thus my dilemna ........ I think I need to change the "keep vs burn" breakpoint. I don't need more kindling but neither do I need a large box of occasionally useful larger stuff, either. Do I simply bite the bullet and burn it all without worrying about the occasional few bucks in savings? How many more boats will I be working on, anyway at my advanced age? This was never a problem when I was building spars as the woodstove in the spar shop burned continually during the cold months with the abundant spruce scraps. That was expensive wood, too, but it was somehow easier to rationalize its destruction.

As age has overtaken me and fixed income has become reality the costs of this perfectly good wood somehow becomes more significant. When I use the kindling scraps to start a fire I see dollar signs going up the chimney. This causes me sufficient angst to resort to sheepskin slippers, recliner, and single malt Scotch to soothe my tortured soul.

This afternoon (77 degrees!) I was sitting on the ground with a water hose dutifully washing the muck from the "keeper" pieces and laying them on the grass to dry. My friend drove up and asked me what I was doing and I told him. When he finally caught his breath from laughing uncontrollably he volunteered his pickup for me to use to haul this woodpile to the dump. His accounting background came to the fore -- the time and effort to "save" and then use these small pieces of wood to keep from cutting up a larger piece is a huge waste and not cost-beneficial in the extreme.

This reaction caused me to wonder ...... about boats. If us sailors ever followed the train of thought about "cost-benefit ratios, etc, would we ever own a boat in the first place? Didn't I just spend an amount that was half the boat's book value to install a new engine? That new genoa was also a chunk of change and it's flown maybe six times in two years, equating to roughly $160 per hoist. My boatyard bill was sky high this spring, bloated by a bunch of smaller jobs that age prevents me from doing myself and thus had to pay the yard rate for. I can no longer work upside down and at arms length in my cockpit lockers but $68/hr for a guy who spends most of his time going after tools and supplies seems absurd. And I am worrying about saving a few cents on a wood scrap? Go figure? Misplaced priorities?

And I used to think the snowbound sailors up north got crazy just before the spring thaw ............. where's the Dewars !!!

[Russell]

I never ever throw out teak, if its big enough to cut a plug out of, I keep it. If I had a use for mahogany I would do the same (no mahogany on my boat). I have scraps of teak of varying size stowed all over my boat left over from various projects (I even have a couple 4' long 4"x4" "scraps") and they rather frequently come in handy and I dont begrudge them the stowage space they take, especially considering the cost of asian teak these days.

Any teak pieces you consider throwing away, toss in a bin labeled "Russell" and I will buy them all from you on my way north next year!

White oak, burn this of course, isnt this what you always burn anyway in the form of logs? I always burned oak back in my home owning days.

Plywood, I would think twice about burning because of the glues, but I imagine small amounts would be okay. I certainly wouldnt save anything smaller then maybe 2'x2' when it comes to plywood unless with a very nice veneer that it is highly likely to come in handy. Lay it in the street, those lovely neighbors of yours might conveniently steal it from you.

[tartansailor]

Sorry to hear of the flood and your loss.
Been there.
At my age keeping the shop neat and clean is better for my psyche than the hypothetical $$.$$
Don't have a fire place or a wood stove, so it's trash pick up. Why?
Looking back over the past I can not really recall salvaging anything of consequence that entered a financial benefit equation, except for assorted hole plugs.
Yes, youre right, that stuff can really accumulate fast.

[Gary M]

Experience has shown me that if I don't use a piece of scrap wood in a few months........

I will never, ever need it..........

Until I throw it away!!!

Cheers,
Gary

[Neil Gordon]

If you over do cost/benefit, you always eat at home, buy everything at the thrift store, wait until that first run movie is on tv for free and you never buy a boat.

The joy of wood scraps is not in using them but rather in the dream that someday you might use them. That can't be measured by an accountant.

[tjr818]

When I cut a piece of fine wood I simply cannot throw away the left overs. I agree that if you can cut a plug out of it - save it. I have two old drywall buckets that I use, one for the good pieces and one for the fireplace. One seems to gather all of the teak, walnut, mahogany, and cypress, the other mostly pine, cedar, and unknown softwoods.
I have burned a lot of scraps, but I won't burn plywood or treated lumber.
There is an artist here in Saint Louis that make some wonderful furniture out of some VERY small scraps of many different varieties of wood. I wish I had his insight. I seem to lean more toward cutting boards and trivets.

[Dick Villamil]

OMG - as I was cleaning out my basement while waiting for the paint on my CD10 to dry I actually started thinking about the scrap bins. I am starting to lean the way of saving the valuable wood and discarding the pine - even though I have a lot of pine I still keep the small pieces for the grand kids to make boats out of when they visit. The skills they learn by hammering and sawing are well worth having the pine scrap bin. Now, maybe I should even save the sawdust so I can use it for filer............
Perhaps we save the scraps because the wife wants them gone!

[Bob Ohler]

I have a small shop. Longer pieces hang in a rack from the ceiling. Smaller pieces go into buckets or boxes. I always save teak, mahogany, walnut, cherry, and larger pieces of oak. I have one box dedicated to teak, and one box for oak. Cut-offs and everything else is saved for kindling.

Over the years, from "scrap," I have made everything from cutting boards and shelves for the boat, to knife blocks, flower boxes, and tool trays for Christmas gifts. Some of you may remember the old C9 outside lights. I take pieces of scrap and turn them on the lathe in the profile of C9 bulbs and give them as stocking stuffers. I hate to see good hardwood thrown in a dumpster. I still have cut-offs of oak flooring and some stair treads from a remodeling job years ago.

I just wish I had more shop time.

Fair winds!

[Parfait's Provider]

Andy,

You have delighted me this morning. That is not unusual when you write, but this morning it was particularly poignant as I have acquired another CD-14 project boat and am anticipating refurbishing two over the Winter. Only a few of my scraps will be helpful.

Amongst my treasures is a single peanut butter jar nearly full of teak sawdust. I am about to rip a lot of white oak for gunwales, but I doubt I'll save the dust.

I expect to get down your way in December; maybe we can have lunch, brunch or something.

[Parfait's Provider]

Andy,

You have delighted me this morning. That is not unusual when you write, but this morning it was particularly poignant as I have acquired another CD-14 project boat and am anticipating refurbishing two over the Winter. Only a few of my scraps will be helpful.

Amongst my treasures is a single peanut butter jar nearly full of teak sawdust. I am about to rip a lot of white oak for gunwales, but I doubt I'll save the dust.

I expect to get down your way in December; maybe we can have lunch, brunch or something.

[Steve Laume]

Oh boy, this one hits home!

I have collected more wood than my great grand children are ever likely to use if I ever have any. There is the Quonset hut style building full of whatever in lengths of ten foot or less. Then there is the barn with dedicated wood racks for stacks of local ash, cherry, walnut, butternut, red an white oak, some nice pine, hickory and a few others I am sure I am forgetting. I have far more wood than time and projects to use it on.

With all of that in stowage I still save the small pieces in the shop. There is no wasted wood. Cut offs from a board that have interesting grain get converted to turning blocks. Scraps of birch plywood get made into carry boxes when there are enough of them to make a run. All teak is saved. There is a rack for short pieces of hard and soft wood. All cut offs and strips left over from ripping boards get cut short on the band saw and go into the 55 Gal. kindling barrel. Saw dust from the dust collector goes on the flower garden as mulch. Saw dust from the floor gets swept up and packed into a paper shopping bag which is then thrown in the shop stove to make a very nice hot and slow burning fire.

Exterior plywood does not seem all that useful in small pieces and pressure treated wood is problematic. Larger PT cut offs make great blocking. Some can be made into garden stakes.

Hey at least I gave up on ever saving sheet rock, Steve.

[Neil Gordon]

Two small scraps, each about the size of my little finger (and from what sort of tree I can't remember), were crafted into quite serviceable sailing ship hulls. (Each little ship sails on a private sea, well protected inside a bottle.)

[rtbates]

Hi Andy:

what does a 'bean counter' known anyway? I don't know about you but I can justify doing things like scrap retrieval simply because I work so so cheap....And when I retire in two years the time/money ratio will
make it even more so...