I would appreciate some thoughts on what wood you keep and what you throw. I'm pushing bunches of scrap around trying to organize, one side of my brain says, throw it out its just taking up space, the other says, but you're going to need a small piece of that someday.

How do you handle this problem?

Jay

I have the same problem, Jay. I finally made myself a wood rack for largish pieces, and a wood box on casters for smaller cutoffs. When I'm building something, I toss the larger pieces under my workbench (I sometimes use them for jigs, test cuts, etc.), and the smallest pieces go in a large cardboard box at the end of the workbench: firewood.

Per suggested that it's not worth keeping anything under 3 feet. My cutoff size is smaller, and often depends on the quality of the wood, etc. I often use the smaller pieces for plugs, decorations, and Gillian's creations.

Basically I have too many little pieces around. Burning them in the fireplace this winter really helped!

__________________
I don't have as many Festools as Fred

Constant issue.
Everything bigger than a "ripper" I save until theres just too much to deal with. Then I clean house, chop it all into 16" pieces, and donate it to my FIL who has a wood fireplace. In the meantime, I always say "I can always use shorts" and rarely do. But if I do need something for a jig, a small piece, I've got it in 20 species.

Ah for a fireplace................. but we'd only use it a few times a year in FL

It's a lot easier to justify charging lumber to another job, rather than to keep moving or stumbling around on it. I won't keep sheet goods under a half sheet or solid wood that's not a full rip. I don't but you could date it and only keep for one month then toss (like an expiration date). It always kinda sucks throwing what seems like good stuff out, but I'm getting pretty used to it.

__________________
Chris...
www.brckitchenbath.com

Oh man, what a question!! I have several 5 gallon pails that I move around a lot and a few large trash cans in and above the garage. This is a touchy subject. Why, just the other day I found a replacement dining room table leaf, some table glides, and a box of hinges I picked up when the furniture mart's service dept. cleaned house......in 1985. Heck, the leaf is mahogany and I know I'll need it someday. What a question!!?? I am going to be thinking about this all day...lol

I think that Chris nailed it: you have to get used to getting rid of lumber that has potential, but realistically you'll never use in the next 5 to 10 years.

Jay, I live in SoCal, and in about 4 nights of running the fireplace I got rid of almost my entire small-cutoff stash. It was all nicely dried so it burned quickly...

__________________
I don't have as many Festools as Fred

In my shop, everything smaller then 12"x12" will go into the bin.... no matter what it is. Storage costs more then buying new stock...

__________________
Ok, guys I'm German, so please bear with my spelling
www.ecofurniture.ca is my company, focused on sustainable and healthy furniture.


2xCT-Mini, 2xETS125, TS55,OF1400, Domino,MFK 700, 2xMFT3, Kapex,MFT1080,Guide rails, Gecko,Sortainers, Systainers, Lots of Mirka

I sort my scraps into barrels and hang onto them until everything is too full to find anything usable. Then I give it away for firewood. That being said, when i go to the lumber yard, I always find myself rummaging through their scrap and take some of the good stuff home.

I hope I don't end up on that new show "Hoarders".

__________________
Wayne

Kapex, Domino, Trion PS 300, RO 150, ETS 150/3, Deltex 93, 2 CT 33's, OF 1400, MFT/3...

Almost nothing. I'm saving all the little stuff to play with on the JMPv2. I knew there'd been a reason for that all these years...

__________________
Water separates the people of the world; wine unites them.