[CampD]

I have it stored alot the same as most, except each winter I sort thru the pile and I hate doing it but it has to be done, anything thats got a good layer of dust on it or is really not as good looking as when I first decided to save. Gets cut up for kindlin for the woodstove. I never get rid of exotics or say a good piece of oak or clear pine that may end up as a rail/style but other then that its up in smoke.

 

[Mogebier]

Well, seeing as I share my work space with the washing machines and the dog I don't have too much room. I have a corner full of long pieces, just stacked. I have a small space for molding. The rest I store in the ceiling between the exposed joists. I put in some 2×2's for holders and stack the wood up in the spaces between the joists. I saw someone else on TV do something like that and it really works.

 

[MrsN]

I do a lot of small projects, so I start with small pieces and end with smaller pieces. I have paid for smaller pieces then some of you have burned, lol. The husband of a friend of my mother's is a woodworker, he had done a scroll saw project and used some padauk and purpleheart. his wife was in the shop as he was about to thow the "scraps" in the burn barrel. She stoped him and said that she thought Katie might be able to use those pieces. I got a bag full of his scraps; he was cutting out circles, not super effectly, so I have some awesome 2 inch curved triangles to make into what ever I want.
I save almost every piece of "pretty" wood. I use plastic shoe boxes to sort out sizes and potential usefulnes of different pieces.
One day about a week ago I was in the shop and as I was cutting a piece of purpleheart it split off part of the end and landed on a piece of maple. The piece was maybe 1/4" x 3/4", but was calling out to be made into a pendant. So I sanded it up, cut a piece of maple to compliment the shape and color, then sold it to a co-worker for $40. So i guess my obsession with small scraps will pay off.

 

[Knothead62]

Toss it in a corner. However, I'm running out of corners and need to build a rack like the one shown.

 

[schloemoe]

I never met a piece of wood I didn't like or so you would think. I can't even seem to bring myself to get rid of saw dust. I'll sweep it up into a nice neat pile and then it will stay there untill it gets kicked around. I'm not absolutly sold on the idea that I don't like throwing any thing out I think my problem is pure laziness. Schloemoe

 

[Edziu]

Degoose: I'm with you. These crazy bins and storage units are just space-taker-uppers and time wasters. I use a wood stove and get rid of as much as I can. In the summer I box up my scraps in similarly-sized boxes and store them in the basement. I rationalize storing scraps this way because once they make it into a cardboard box they're no longer materials, they're a future heat source.

But I don't automatically burn every scrap I produce. I'll save scraps from a project until that project is done and out the door. After that- ADIOS!

I guess this is one of the things that differentiates woodworkers for hobby and woodworkers with businesses. Hobbyists don't mind a little extra hunting for that scrap piece they know is somewhere. Woodworkers in business for themselves need to work efficiently and quickly. There's money to be made here.

But I'll come clean. There are a scant few pieces of wood that just cannot make it to the stove. They're unique and destined for greatness. But they're not in some elaborate storage system. They are hung on nails and screws on the wall. They look good just like that.

 

[meme]

A topic near and dear to my heart! I am going to be acquiring more room in my workshop soon. Hubby moving his junk out!!! I see that most of you store your wood standing up - vertical? I have been told that wood should be stored laying down?????

Is there a "correct" way to store lumber?

Thanks!

 

[pvwoodcrafts]

I box all mine up in large flatrate boxes. Then advertise them on another woodworking/turning forum. They pay shipping and paypal charges and I send them a packed full of ends and pieces box. I'm coming up on the 300th box.

 

[Brian024]

All of my cut offs and scrap go into a box and every few months I empty the box and save what I think needs to be saved and the rest go into the fire pit.

 

[Bureaucrat]

I use several methods. Everything that is over 18 inches goes on my wall system. All sheet goods go in the sheet goods rack (holds 7 pieces of 3/4" sheets). Offcuts 10" to 18" from current projects go in plastic recycle containers (recently surplussed by our city). In between projects I move material from the recycle bins to "xerox paper boxes" and shelf the boxes. I sort the pieces by species and label boxes.

 

[thatwoodworkingguy]

The small pieces go in a bucket but the larger usable pieces go in a deep pine bin I made similar to some on here.

 

[woodsmith]

Scrap lumber grows to take up how ever much space you set aside for it and then it spills over on the floor untill you can't work in the shop and you are forced to throw some of it away. Then you think of how to use what you no longer have. At least that is what happens in my shop.

 

[BertFlores58]

I do a different way in dealing with scraps … I recycle them..
How?
As soon as I see the scrap, classify them and immediately plan where and what it will be.
When completed for a certain plan (most of the time, a jewelry box, a lazy susan sort of marquetry, foot of a table, cutting boards, etc), I normally bond it with a tape and set aside. During my freetime, I do the gluing, cutting, planing and many other parts preparations. Sometime, I do preservation by applying anti-termites. Endline will be the projects I posted. Just take a glance..
HOW I WISH TO HAVE YOUR SCRAPS NEARBY SO THAT I CAN SAVE THEM FROM THE FIRING ZONE.

 

[Cato]

I think we all probably end up with too much because we think if we get rid of it, then the next day we will need a piece of this or that. I do and I don't do near what you guys do.

I need to organize some good lumber storage, and get rid of the scrap I do have and clean up a bit before I make an organized scrap bin.

If I don't find a use soon for my scraps, besides some shelving in the storage shed for my wife and a dog house for my neighbor's dog, its going out, as I get tired of tripping over the ricks of it on the floor and stacked against the wall.

 

[SteviePete]

Get serious about wood storage. Find LJs with mass quantities-- they store air dry, rough, flat, with weight. Usually by species. Always indoors unheated after the first winter. Off the floor. If not completely dry store on stickers (square 3/4" or so) indoors unheated. It takes a long time to air dry thick hardwoods-years. Bring into heated area for a some days-rough plane hit and miss both sides, stabilize for some days. Finish plane just prior to construction. Always do a cut list for a project. Have one or two alternate projects. When your primary project is cut-from the cutoffs cut parts for the alternate projects-box'em up and label when a full set is cut. (I have nearly a dozen precut projects, bagged or boxed.) Small fruit and nut wood cutoffs become smoking wood. I own many 20 and 30 gal metal garbage cans for vertical storage of narrow pieces, branches for sticks, processed waney edge for use on projects, standard trim shapes (table saw or router) ready to use. Think what you might need for picture frames, trim pieces on clocks, boxes and games (stick with standard shapes). Restack shorts flat with weight as above. Keep track of conditions in your wood piles-deal with insect problems when noted. Restack occasionally just to remind yourself what treasure you have. Be ready to give something away to visitors. (the precut projects knock them out). Make bent laminations out of thin stuff. Glue up carving blanks out of basswood, nut and fruit wood. The only things that go in the fire are swept from the floor or checked board ends. After all the work and love no hardwood should be burned.

I have more wood than I will ever use. I'm insulted when asked what I will do with it. Why must people know what we will do with our wood?

"It's mine. I have it. I'm perfectly happy just having it." Certifiably out of my mind, but of course. Go plane a board square and flat. Wood gloating is a virtue. Value, respect and use local, underutilized stock (urban trees, storm damage, orchard trimmings, legacy wood (any wood with a story)) and keep a few crotches around. Oak, maple and birch that is. Make as much joy in the world as you can.

"Espirit de lignin"-French for something like Spirit of the Wood Stash.

 

[allthunbs]

This module has six bins. Each bin accommodates woods of different lengths. The first bin is 6" deep. If you stand a piece on end and you can close the cover, it can stay. If there isn't room, you now have to decide if this is a better piece of wood than one in the bin. You have to remove one to make room for this one. Which is better to keep. You cannot keep any more scraps than will fit into this module. The second bin is 12", the third is 18", there are two 24" bins and one 48" bin. If it's longer than 48" it goes into long storage, outside and drying under tarps. I'm looking for suggestions on improving the outside storage.

If the stick doesn't fit into the bin it is immediatelyl broken up for kindling and is put on the fire wood pile.

Of late I've been getting more involved with router templates. I'm changing one of the 24" bins over to "battens" that I can use for template making.

You will notice that it is on casters with a rolling lock on each end. This module also serves as my primary workbench. Now, if I can just figure out how to clamp a project to this module and be able to open it to get that bit of scrap for a clamping block.

 

[Blake]

I found this old rack for sale at a second-hand store. I think it was originally for trays of flowers or something.

But this is my most-used system:

 

[reggiek]

Even though this is an older post, I thought I would add my take to it.

These systems are much more organized then mine….I just throw stuff on the shelves or stand on the floor if it is too big for the shelves. My wood burning stove (that heats the workshop in winter) gets the majority of my very small cut offs (I turn pens from anything over 1/2" or so)....I also take the bigger chips of the hardwoods to use in my smoker or in a smoke tray on the bar-b - the dust from my collector goes on paths in the garden for weed control (the paths are many different colors…makes for an interesting conversation piece when folks see it for the first time) the dust will then break down into compost over the years. The construction and treated scraps smaller then I can use to make dowels, go into the yard waste bin that gets picked up once a week….I find that I typically use wood down to the smallest size (especially the more expensive hardwoods)....my stove gets only very small cut offs….like 1/2" or smaller…although I have started doing small inlays and am using more of those for decoration…I hate waste so I am always on the lookout for ideas on how to use the smaller and smaller cut offs.

 

[meestajack]

I've been wanting to start a system where I cut my scrap to specific sizes and create something large out of them…

scrapwood flooring, siding, fencing or some other such project with a mix of materials would be a cool way to use piles of offcuts.

 

[live4ever]

It's amazing to me how some of you are able to just burn scraps. For me, the stuff is like gold because I have to buy it at relatively high prices, and I save almost every little scrap (except for pine and ply/mdf) and try to find a use for it, however insignificant.

That being said, I don't have a good organization strategy for it but there are some great ideas in this thread.