If you have a band/scroll saw, you can turn them into pictures. Landscapes, etc.

 

One of the best uses I found for small pieces is to make small end grain cutting or cheese boards. See attached.
I usually make them about 2-1/2" thick and when done re-saw them in half so I end up with two boards just over 1" thick. That saves time and work gluing up two separate boards. I usually cut all the 2.5" pieces all at the same time and work from the pile of pieces. Creative clamping is also sometimes needed....LOL
It takes time to assemble because you can only glue up a few pieces of the more or less random sizes at a time. After gluing a bunch together I straignten and square up the line on the table saw as needed using a sled. I try not to make too many straight lines in the border to keep the random appearance.

 

Small boxes; there was a YouTube video on this same thing.

 

Oak ,hickory,maple or Alder are good to use in the barbecue. Alder is really good on pork ribs

 

I've made a couple of spokeshaves with pieces that were about 8"-12". I've made a mallet from scraps. I've got some scraps waiting to be made into a bench hook or two. I just need some time to get into the garage.

 

I mean, anything really. Glue them up into blocks or sheets, then use them as you would any other lumber. You could pick one or two dimensions as a standard so that these composites aren’t entirely random (like, make them any length but always resawn into multiples of 1 inch by 1/4 inch) or just fit them together any way you can.

 

Make wedges, dowels, and plugs.

Adding to @Aj2 comment, I just smoked a bunch of jalapenos with oak cut-offs. I'll dry them in an evaporator and make smoked pepper flakes.

 

Save them until you run out of space and then get more space.

 

I've been making decorative small puzzles with scraps. They make great gifts for those you want to frustrate! You can make both small puzzle boxes and puzzles that you disassemble and reassemble. You can use contrasting woods and the puzzles become quite stunning sculptures for those that don't want to attempt to solve the puzzle. Check out Stewart Cofflin's designs, Keenan Sound, or Karakuri for some ideas.

 

Keenan Sound

Kegan Sound?

 

Here is a picture of one I just finished. It is a challenge to make, disassemble and reassemble, but I really enjoy making these when I have some spare time.

 

I take the very nice woods and make slimline 🖊 from them.

 

Homer Simpson spice rack?

 

My solution was to marry someone who has a scroll saw and is ruthless with scraps. I put the cutoffs on her worktable. She'll separate out the ones she thinks are worth keeping and put the rest in the trash.

We generally dispose particle board, MDF, and small pieces of plywood scraps, especially strips or if they are too small for jigs. Hardwoods / exotics can get much smaller - they can be made into toys and other small scroll saw projects.

My partner organizes scraps by type. Long skinny pieces go with the dowels. Small exotic pieces go under her scroll saw. We have places for large scrap, a bin for small boards, and the sheet goods are bungied to the folded ping pong table in storage. I have some large olive wood tree burls and logs drying next to one of the parked vehicles.

Most scraps get smaller and smaller as we cut off pieces for projects, test cuts, jigs, etc. I save sticks under my bandsaw. I use them as bandsaw push sticks, crude scrapers for gummy crud, stir sticks for finish, mixing epoxy, etc. Lizard Chaser may filch one from time to time to use as a toy.

 

Sometimes...tain't worth the effort to save some of the scraps..

Other times..

When I have the time...

 

If you are a turner here is another idea. Got it from another posting.

 

The problem for us (and I assume everyone else) is that scraps accumulate faster than we can use them up.

 

I'm more into building dressers, cabinets, tables and furniture. Those are too small, so I would just throw them away.

I used to save small little cuts for smoking, but transitioned to grilling, so I haven't saved offcuts in many years. Bonus is it makes my garage less cluttered too.

 

Maybe use them for drawer pulls?

 

When they finally get too small to cut safely I throw them in a bucket and carry them to the beach house for the fire pit.

 

Scraps (not mine, but you get the idea)

 

I hate throwing out good wood, so many of my smaller scraps become end grain cutting boards.

 

You can ship em to me,lol

 

Isn't it ridiculous how difficult it is to throw away our wood scraps? haha. I'm trying to clean my garage and when I get to the piles and containers of scraps, I just can't seem to toss them. This is the last thing I made from leftover lumber and other things in the garage and yard. But I don't have enough big pieces to make something else like this.

 

One of the keys to having quality scraps is, having the right kind [insert snort here].

I live in apple and cherry country. In a given year, you'll see 100 acres of orchard pulled to plant the next latest, greatest thing. Accordingly, coming across apple wood is no great task. And having, say, a half cord of apple logs on hand, means I can make a lot of different things, even if a lot of the wood cracks.

Now comes the key: You need to own a BBQ and/or a smoker.

A lot of the orchard wood I end up with is too short to be used for furniture or other big projections, so, pretty much, could almost qualify as scraps before its even worked. Accordingly, a lot of it gets used for projects that only calls for small pieces. Things like:

(1) Small spindle turnings that can become decorative additions to a project. However, just because I can, I've dropped hundreds in various locations. Such as with tips I left and so on.

SIDE NOTE: I left some at the store my wife and her sister ran. She said parents and kids would fuss over the little freebies on the counter. Too, we go to the local bar about five times a year. One of the waitresses outed me - she was carrying three or four in her purse months after they'd been left. So goes the story of Kelly Spindle Seed.

(2) Not wanting to through nice pieces of wood that are too small to build even a bandsaw box or turned bowl from away, like the cutting board ideas, I resort to glue.

Pieces can be mixed and/or matched, glued together and turned into that bandsaw boxes.

I even used 1-1/2" wide pieces of varying thicknesses and lengths to make a walking stick.

For one version, I start by end gluing a layer. then the second layer comes with the pieces overlapping joints by several inches. When all done (I shoot for about 1-1/2" thick), I can tapper and sand that, or I can hit it four times with a 3/4" round-over router bit.

For another version, I save long cut offs to build up into walking staffs. I stay with the 1-1/2" thickness, but will go to about 3-1/2" wide for ones like the 5' long one in the photo.

(3) Kitchen utensils are a great use for the cherry, apple, sycamore and maple. We have spurtles pushing toward 20-years old now. Many of those came out of my stove firewood pile (an idiot who pretended to not know a cord from a pickup load delivered a load that stacked to far less than 128 cubic feet, or, for example, 4'x4'x8', but it was all highly figured maple he could have made some real money off of, if he'd known his business).

(4) I've made a lot of scoops using various methods. The ones in the photos were all via bandsaw work. One 6" diameter block gave me several, progressively smaller scoops thatI added backs and handles to (also bringing that lathe play time thing back into the shop).