One of my pet peeves is when a person enters my booth, looks at my work, and says, “this is a good way to use scrap.”
In a cooler moment, I can reflect on the word “scrap.” In a cooler moment, I can say without reservation,
I. Do. Not. Use. Scrap.
At. All.
It’s all in the definition. Some people call anything that’s not an 8′ board … scrap. To them, you use lumber to make a table or build a house … and when you cut a piece, what’s left is scrap. Every time.
Hogwash.
When I get hardwood to use, the first thing I do is cut it. Typically, I cut lumber (which is generally somewhere between 9′ and 16′ long, and 4″ to 10″ wide) into 6′ lengths, which are easier for me to process and store. When I’m ready to cut those 6′ lengths (or the shorter lengths I get when I cut a 10′ piece into 2 pieces), I cut them into pieces no longer than 24″. Those are easiest for me to work with in my small shop.
I collect pieces that are between 18 and 23″ long in one cabinet, and those “end cuts” or “off cuts” are eventually made into pieces like these surfboards, Lazy Susans, or trivets.
They are not scrap.
I save shorter pieces, too, down to 12″ in length. The smallest pieces go to Dr H, who turns them into pens that are gifted to people around the world. And anything shorter than 12″ and narrower than 3/4″ … well, that’s scrap, because it’s too small to use.
I don’t use scrap. I start with lumber, and I end up here:
