Wood offcuts and scrap

[Worldway]

When does a piece of wood, whether it's part of a slab, a veneer or a plank, get thrown out.  I'm collecting a small pile of offcuts and I'm wondering if I should be keeping these.  Also the remnants of the sheets of the laser cut out parts (what's left over after you remove all the parts).  I have had use for a lot of the scrap including the leftover laser sheets. But I think that I'm keeping stuff that is simply junk.  Does anyone have a rule of thumb?

[grsjax]

I have a lot of scrap wood left over from projects.  I find that if the piece is big enough to handle easily I keep it.  Really small stuff gets tossed.  Also if I find that I am accumulating a lot of one type of material, like the left overs from kit laser cut sheets, I tend to throw out the less useful bits.  No rules, just do what works for you.

[Maury S]

If it's more than a couple of inches long, it goes into a scrap box.  It's amazing how much I've pulled out and used over the years. 

Maury

[Kishmul]

When you make as much scrap (through failures) as I do, the scrap box fills quickly. Come winter it is sorted- but then I have a wood-burning stove!

[mtaylor]

Everything goes into the scrap box.  Come winter and fireplace season.. the small stuff gets used as fire starter.  The problem is, I've not been able to clean the box out... it fills up too fast.

[genericDave]

I've got a dedicated drawer in my workbench for scraps.  I probably toss too much stuff in there, but it comes in handy.  I also toss any misc. jigs I make from wood in there when I'm done.  I've been able to repurpose a number of them.  I've realized that I reach for wood from the scrap drawer before I reach for the kit's material, and I've been finding that I often have a little piece that will work better than the kit provides (especially for all the little buildings on the deck!)

 

Unfortunately my drawer is a wire mesh material, so I'm constantly fighting the tiny pieces of brass that slips through the bottom of the drawer.