What to do with bowl blank cut offs?

[jbburgoon]

Having recently read the "you know your addicted to woodturning" thread recently, I began to think about the volumn of scraps I'm saving. I know there has to be some great project ideas for using the corner scraps from blanks. I admit I never throw away any scrap that could possibly be useful for some project down the line. Lets hear you ideas about recycling those otherwise corner cut offs!

 

[john lucas]

I can't throw anything away. I have a few drawers full of the tiniest scraps. It's crazy. However every once in while they pay off. A friend brought me some really small odd shaped pieces of wood from Finland and wanted me to make his wife something. I was stumped. What do you do with a small wegde shaped piece of wood. Then I read an article on making pendants in Woodturning magazine out of England. I really liked them but decided I could step it up a notch so I designed these wedge shaped pendants and was able to use the scraps my friend brought me and then made up my own scraps from veneer to have even more fun.

 

[Curt Fuller]

I don't turn a lot of bowls, but on this cocobolo and canarywood lidded box I used one of the cocobolo corner cutoffs for the knob/handle for the lid. Being face grain it looks a little different than the normal endgrain knob.

 

[Mark Wollschlager]

Knobs, bottle stoppers, pocket mirrors, tops, small hollow forms, boxes, light pulls, finials, clocks.
Thats a few of the thing I have done with them.

Mark.

 

[waltben]

I've been giving a lot of mine to a local woodworker's club. They're great for marquetry and other inlay flat work.

 

[Rob Wallace]

Using the corners.....

When I band-saw a round from a square bowl blank before turning, I can never simply discard the "corners", especially when I have paid a premium price for an exotic hardwood. This is the 'frugal' [read: cheapness] gene being expressed, or over-expressed if the wood was really expensive!

If the corners are large enough, I will use the band saw to make 'micro-blanks' for use in turning earrings, small knobs, finials, or other small scale items.

If the corners aren't too big, or when the color or figure is particularly nice, I use a plug cutter to cut as many plugs (3/8", 1/2", and 5/8") as I can, using Vertias [Lee Valley] plug cutters on the drill press. I have an inventory of plugs over 20 species of different colored woods that I can go to if I need to accent a turned piece, or repair a defect. Contrasting plugs can also be used for flat work for those of us that still do that kind of thing once in a while (Can I say that here?). Forstner bits can work well on turned items to cut a clean hole, and the plugs can be an interesting addition (or even a focus) on "round pieces" too.

I try to follow the concept taught to me by my dad and other Scout leaders - "nothing goes to waste"..... I suppose we were 'being green' 35+ years ago, but we didn't know it!

Rob Wallace

 

[n7bsn]

All and any of the above, plus,

I simply toss them in the fire-wood box

 

[Steve Worcester]

All and any of the above, plus,

I simply toss them in the fire-wood box

Me too. I do save the exotics and give them to the segmented turners in the club

 

[Russ Fairfield]

I don't save the corners, but I do save the cores. Most people use a coring tool to make another smaller bowl. I do it because that is where the prettiest wood is, and make pens, pendants, and things from the better wood that is in the center of the bowl.

The corners are where the least colorful wood, cracks, and sealing wax are, and I save them in a bin for next winter's fire. .

 

[Nate Hawkes]

As people have already said, there are a lot of things you can do with the cutoffs. If there is interesting grain or burls, it gets roughly squared up on the bandsaw and re-coated with wax if its really green. I then can use it for anything I might want it for--stoppers, knobs, etc. If it doesn't have any special grain, I have a bin outside made of two pallets on the ground and a 4 foot tall fence full of firewood! I don't save small cores unless they are special. I have a lot of free wood from tree guys and friends. I still have a hard time throwing things out though....

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

I had boxes and boxes of cutoffs and shavings from all different kinds of wood. I got the bright idea that it might be interesting to cast them in clear polyester casting resin and then turn something from them. Filled a two gallon pail full of resin and cutoffs. Turned out to be a real learning experience.

1) Some types of exotic woods will prevent resins from hardening.

2) Trying to save a $5 pail by scraping out uncured resin requires a lot more than $5 worth of work. A lot more. And you still end up throwing the pail away.

3) It takes a long time to get over the fact that you dumped almost a gallon of resin ($$$$$$$) into the trash because you didn't try a small cup size batch first to see if it would work.

4) Heating a two gallon bucket of uncured resin that wouldn't cure because of oils from wood will not make the resin hard. It will stink up the shop, house and possibly the whole neighborhood if you heat it long enough. I can only imagine the catastrophe that might result if you get it hot enough.

Live and learn.

Ed

 

[Dave Peebles]

I make angel fish from them. Just a small cut off from a Bigleaf Maple burl. It is maybe 3 " in diameter.

I had this at a show and a lady asked me how I turned it to be an Angel fish. To tell you the truth, I had not seen it until she mentioned it. But it is available for 10.000 US. 🙂

Never throw anything away. 🙂

Dave

 

[Bernie Hrytzak]

I have made 2 styles of clocks and bandsaw boxes from bowl blank cut-offs. These are usually given to friends and relatives.

Bernie

 

[Bill Boehme]

I throw them over the fence into the neighbor's yard.

 

[Odie]

For a number of years, I had a large pot-belly stove in the shop.......threw 'em in there. At least I got a little heat out of them! 😀

Sure did feel like a waste......especially with some of those very expensive exotics, burls, fiddleback, etc.

I tried to interest some friends who had connections with local artist groups......hoping to find someone making jewelry, or something else that required little pieces of beautiful woods.......no luck there.

I have a neighbor that is a secretary at the local high school. I had her ask if the shop instructor had any use for them.....nix on that!

There is no more heating of my shop with wood, so I just toss them in the garbage can when they are getting in the way........

I'd be willing to bet woodturners would be the best friends of some artist types making jewelry or other little things........but, how to make contact?

If I found someone willing to pay the shipping, I'd be more than happy to give the corner pieces away........by the box load! 😉

ooc

 

[Barbara Gill]

Unless the scraps have remarkable figure, they get tossed into the burn pile.