What to do with small cutoffs?

[Hy Tran]

I have a boxful of cutoffs from bowl blanks, in various "interesting" woods. Some are large enough that I can get a pen blank out of them.

What to do with the remainder? As I get more practice on spindles, could I turn finials on non-parallel grain? Little knobs (maybe marble-size?) for lids on boxes?

At what size offcut do you decide it's really good kindling, as opposed to "I can turn something from this?"

I consider myself a novice. I can sharpen (but not reshape) a skew; I'm comfortable using the skew to do a rolling pin (but it won't be the diameter that you specify ). I can use a bowl gouge and get gentle curves or straight bevel-rubbing cuts, but still have issues with transitions.

Thanks!

 

[dbonertz]

To me it is all kindling unless it is highly figured or really special in some way. You'll end up with so much of it if you're not careful. You will in short order forget what you have so only keep the special stuff and mark what it is with a sharpie. Your mind won't be that sharpie in a year or two where you will remember what it is and how long it has been there drying.

 

[hockenbery]

I burn most of mine too.
If it has a lot of figure I will use the corners for hollow balls got ornaments
Or solid balls.

The ornament balls can be rough turned and have a hole drilled to speed drying.

Al

 

[JRutten]

Celing fan pulls

Make ceiling fan pulls, or tops, or beads, or use them for practicing your small cuts. You have a treasure trove.

 

[john lucas]

As someone who turns miniature I rarely throw anything out if has even the smallest spectacular grain. I just moved and as I was loading all those heavy boxes full of small wood scraps I thought, "you know I just loaded 4 boxes of what everyone else would call Kindling" Heck it's hard to throw something away as small as a match stick if the grain runs straight through it. I know I have a bad disease and it''s probably catching.

 

[Bill Boehme]

How well do those small tops spin? And for how long?

Do you look for them if you drop them in the shavings?

 

[Hy Tran]

As someone who turns miniature I rarely throw anything out if has even the smallest spectacular grain. I just moved and as I was loading all those heavy boxes full of small wood scraps I thought, "you know I just loaded 4 boxes of what everyone else would call Kindling" Heck it's hard to throw something away as small as a match stick if the grain runs straight through it. I know I have a bad disease and it''s probably catching.

Thanks! That really topped off the discussion!

More seriously: I would love to be able to do something as small as the largest item in your picture. More work on the bandsaw making miniature blanks!

 

[john lucas]

For my smallest work I find riving the wood instead of cutting it down to size works better. You need straight grain running through the piece. I broke several mini goblets before I realized this.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Thanks! That really topped off the discussion!

More seriously: I would love to be able to do something as small as the largest item in your picture. More work on the bandsaw making miniature blanks!

Hy,

I'm with John here. I'm pretty new to turning and trying to find a direction. But I save just about everything that has a nice feature. I label it and sort by size in .99 plastic tubs from the Walmart.. It's come in pretty handy, especially for knobs I turn for cabinet work, jewelry boxes and other flatwork.

Mark

 

[john lucas]

I gotta get that organized. Mine all fit in 2 big drawers and you can never find what you want because i'm not willing to dig far enough. Since I moved all that stuff will have to be put somewhere so hopefully I will follow Mark's idea and get some sort of organization.

 

[Steve Worcester]

I don't turn minis, if I can get a pen blank, I cut it to sell or stabilize for my private collection. Otherwise, there's a trash can in the shop year round for cut offs. When it gets full, it gets swapped out with the one in the wood shed and used in the winter to start the fire.