Help requested from OCD affected and scary smart engineers to sort offcuts

[BarrySumpter]

Respect to OCD affected and scary smart engineers who keep a pristine shop.

Hoping to get a step by step procedure to implement.

I've been kidding myself about how much room my wood storage, offcuts, scraps and save for a later project just in case are taking up.

During a moment of clarity this morning from my foggy Festool addiction my acceptance of the fact that instead of just 10% of my shop space for this type of storage, it's actually more than 50% of my wall space in a single car garage.

Before I return to my foggy haze of Festool addiction, I was hoping to get a step by step procedure of how one begins the arduous journey of sorting out their scrap pile.

Beyond the fact that spending a few hundred dollars on a bin instead of on tools that will last me the rest of my life.

I know the first step is being prepared to be ruthless.

My next thought would be to separate into hardwood, pine and ply.
Then sort into sizes somehow.

Then I get lost in my next step.

Any positive constructive suggestions would be greatly appreciated by me and my utterly frustrated lady.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MaineShop]

Build some sort of rack for longer pieces and a cart for small stuff, give the cart wheels. Get rid of the stuff that you will never use, you know the stuff, we all do it, we hold on to some stuff too long. A local builder that had been in business decades passed away a few years ago and it took months to haul out the barns full of old hardwood lumber he had accumulated. Let the junk go, keep the realistically usable, you will always make more scraps with every project.

 

[WillAdams]

Decide on the smallest piece of wood you would want to use (say a block in an end-grain cutting board) --- everything gets cut and sorted by lengths which match up with that + saw kerf in suitable increments --- arrange in suitable stacks by those lengths --- any stack which exceeds a certain height sort through and cull/cut up the least desirable pieces. The stack of the smallest pieces should be sized to make a project --- when it gets too tall, make one or more.

 

[demographic]

Install a wood burning stove and never trip over a small offcut again.
Well, not during winter anyway.

 

[six-point socket II]

Hi!

I have a box filled with scraps of "round material".
I have a box filled with scraps of "sheet material". There is a small container on top of this box with scraps from construction grade material.

I installed some brackets high up on the longest wall, there I store some long scraps.

I have a designated space where I do keep some bigger sheet-type scraps.

I only add to it, after material has been used. Or if it is a highly specific scrap, like a couple of leftover floor boards, that I keep in case I have to make a repair. Otherwise, out it goes.

I had to sort through what basically was 3 generations worth of scraps & materials, I never want to do that again. Stuff that serves no purpose and is waiting for the day when Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas fall onto the same day - get's trashed, no more questions asked. I do not keep it.

I'm a DIY'er, not a commercial shop, not a "pure breed" woodworker. So my actual use for scraps/ cut offs is highly limited when compared to many others.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Svar]

You can sell scraps of domestic and exotic hardwoods on e-bay. Look it up. I've done it myself. There is a demand from people who make small wooden items and gifts. Chop it up if needed to fit a flat rate box. There was no money in that, only covered shipping and hassle. But I'm happy it didn't go to waste.

 

[RKA]

The best offcut carts I have seen have a thin area on the back to store plywood sheets vertically, then multiple bins up front to store the 4 ft or less scraps vertically.  You can separate the bins into hardwood, softwood and plywood.  They typically put casters on these so it can be moved out of the way easily enough. 

The issue is the one car garage.  I think you have to decide whether you have the floor space to commit to a cart like this.  If not, plywood may need to be kept against a wall and the rest could be stored in a rack against the ceiling maybe?  It makes it hard to see what you have, meaning it's more likely you create more scraps rather than use the ones you have.  Obviously goes against the grain of what you're trying to accomplish. 

Another option is look at the fixtures already in your garage (table saw, miter saw station, workbench?, router table).  If those already exist, can any be modified/rebuilt to add storage for the scraps?  If you have already committed the floor space for those things, it's very possible you can rethink them with the option to add the additional storage. 

And as you mention, every shop has a trash bin which periodically gets emptied.  If you're moving scraps out of the way multiple times, that's your sign.

 

[Alanbach]

I guess that I am ruthless. I would separate into three piles. 1. Definite keepers 2. Definite trash 3. Not sure. When I am done sorting I tape a date onto the not sure pile and after Three to six months I get rid of what I have not used. After that I would be very restrictive for what construction lumber I keep. If it’s not close to a full size piece It’s probably gone. Same thing for sheet goods. If it’s not two Or three square feet or bigger it’s probably gone. Hardwoods I allow myself to keep a few more pieces but if they are small (under three feet long) I probably only keep a small box full. One of the keys for me is not to add more than I am using or getting rid of. Determine a reasonable amount of space to dedicate to this and then keep managing it by improving the sizes and quality as you go along.

 

[mkasdin]

1 Start by separating  the cutoffs - softwood the hardwood from the softwood.
2 Anything smaller than your hand and some pitch. I use small off cuts to check depths and widths etc. lining up blades and bits.
3 use the off cuts larger pieces to batch some Xmas presents. Cutting boards, butcher block end grains. Paneling - glue off cuts to a sheet of mdf varying the height and width. Ganahl lumber in Torrance has a wall with that treatment. It’s nice if done properly...

 

[BarrySumpter]

Many thanks to each and all.
Much appreciated.

 

[Godhelm]

I did some analysis on this problem a little while ago. The first thing to say is that my calculations were only for sheet material (ply, MDF etc.), which was multiplying in my workshop and starting to fill all the space. I could never throw any away. It seemed a waste to throw away even small pieces. This is what I found:

1. When you need a piece of sheet material of a particular size, you take a piece from your store that is large enough, and you cut the first dimension (on your MFT, naturally). Then you cut the second dimension. This means that most of the time you have two pieces to put back into stock for the one you take out. This, for me, is why I was getting more and more pieces cluttering up my workshop. The natural state of using sheet material is that you will accumulate more and more, smaller and smaller pieces. Random requirements are never enough to use up all these small bits. You don't need to keep them all.

2. I ran some computer simulations to work out the optimum number of pieces to keep. The remarkable result was that if you ruthlessly only keep the four largest pieces of each material thickness, the total amount you use is only about 20% higher than if you keep every single piece. For me, it's worth a 20% increase in costs of material to keep my workshop tidy. e.g. I start with a 2400x1200mm sheet of 18mm ply and cut it into four (I never usually need anything larger). From them on, I only ever keep four pieces until I buy the next sheet.

Julian

 

[BarrySumpter]

Nice!
A methodology I can understand.