weirdbeard

This has always been a problem at my shop. We generate a lot of waste plywood and solid wood scraps that are to good to burn but not something we can use often. They really mess up trying to organize the bigger usable plywood pieces.
3/4 Plywood scrap is normally about say 11"x13" in a lot of nice random veneers. The solid wood is more like random width x 12" These are a little bit more usable, but still a nuisance
Any suggestion on what to do with this stuff would be great!.

skymaster

Make a LARGE box, put it outside, mark it FREE WOOD

weirdbeard

Well the problem with that is the shop is out in the woods. That would not be so easy..
I had been thinking maybe donating to a school or something. At least maybe then it could be tax write off. I don't think schools really do wood shop anymore.. Probably to many lawsuits.

Leo G

I have learned after collecting scraps for many years it is more productive to just throw them away after an allotted amount of time. After it has been in the shop for a while and is only taking up space and not providing you with a useful function, get rid of it. When I price out my jobs I also price in the waste factor. The waste is paid for. If you have the space, you can save it. If not, chuck it.

__________________
Measure Twice Cut Once -- It's a lot easier to cut more off then it is to cut MORON.
TGIF just means two more working days until Monday http://lrgwood.com

drcollins804

Contact your local High School and ask for the Vocational Agriculture Department. You probably know it as the FFA. I am sure that in Alabama they would be glad to have materials like these. I know that the one in my home town really likes donations like this. It could help some of the students who have a hard time being able to afford materials for a project.

weirdbeard

Yes this is the conclusion I am coming to. It is paid for and the space is valuable.
It just seems like there would be a way to sell this or make some use of it. When I was a kid I would have loved to have had access to these scraps. Or some retired fella taking up wood working could use this stuff.
I really am not a pack rat at all.

Seriously!

weirdbeard

Our local high school I went to (7 years ago) had no woodworking program. I would have taken it and taught them something.

johnep

No woodwork in schools, dreadful. All the practical classes like domestic science for the girls and metalwork/woodwork seem to have vanished.

Practical chemistry also gone following an accident where a girl was blinded putting metallic potassium in water.

At my old school, one boy spilt concentrated nitric acid on his hand which was shielding his face so could have been worse. Prompt action under the tap and sprinkling with baking soda saved him from serious injury.

When I think of the risks I took as a boy, makes me shudder.
During the war I used to raid my fathers cupboard where he kept his rifle and ammo. I would put a live cartridge in a vice and twist out the bullet to access the cordite threads inside. Laid end to end, they made a good fuse to some gunpowder to blow up my toy soldiers.
johnep

TS3660

Build Bluebird houses and give them away or sell them cheap. Bluebirds are having a hard time anymore. Their numbers are dwindling.

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Bud

"Capitalism is the unequal sharing of wealth: Socialism is the equal sharing of misery"

weirdbeard

Hey thats funny we have built a good bunch of blue bird houses from this waste. I would have to build bird houses for weeks to use all this wood. I just need to find someone else that wants to build the houses. Maybe boyscouts or something?
No. When I was in the scouts they gave us bird house kits that were ready to go. All you had to do is nail it together. They even had pilot holes for the nails. I wanted to use some power tools! They probably make those kits it China like everything else these days.

MrRodeoCC

Geesh, get the scouts involved, I bet they would like a day at the shop to make a bird house from scratch. A lil one on one training using power tools MAKING their own kit, then building it. A great chance to teach woodworking skills. Making the kit would be half the fun.

dbhost

No wood shop or metal shop in high school? And people wonder why young guys get out of high school only to see what jobs are available going to guys with no English skills...

Not picking on new arrivals at all here guys... Just stating how sad it is kids aren't being taught how to work and how to create... Just how to regurgitate... Why am I paying property taxes?

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-- Trying to follow the example of the master...

weirdbeard

When I lawyer dies why do they bury them 20 feet under?
Cuz deep down they are good people.


I think it all comes back to lil Timmy's folks that sued because he stabbed his Hyper active eye out with a screw driver.
The good kids suffer

Cdat

Give 'em to me. Either I donate them to programs in my area or glue 'em all together and cut them, glue them in again and turn 'em on my lathe. No such thing as useless wood.

coffeetime

If you just want somebody to haul it off for free you might put it in your local freecycle. Or you could put it on Craiglist for barter.

Mike

woodman42

I agree with donating it to a scout troop. When I was a scoutmaster we used to build things with my scraps. The boys loved it and would proudly display them at our banquets.

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Did you say tool sale?

woodchip

If you have a lathe cut them into pen blanks or something like that.