So...what do you do with your scrap wood.....

[Dull Knife]

from when you cut out your carving blanks??

I dump all my scraps in to a paper feed bag, and give it to a neighbor who then burns it in his garage stove during the winter. He's so glad to get it.

[Mitchell]

I ususally carve on it....

Great for practice and relaxing - just whittling them to shavings....

Sometimes I may even make something worth keeping.

[Dan Wegiel]

Don't have carving blanks, just grab a piece of wood and go so all thats left is chips, they go in the garden.

Dan

[Mark Dellinger]

I save the larger cuts for smaller projects and misc. little accessories for scenes. After looking at some of Forrest little carvings I'm thinking about saving anything under a 1/4" and shipping to him. But after reading Mitchell's post and looking at the stuff I have worked on lately I should probably leave the big pieces alone and practice on the scraps.
LOL.

Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark

[Graywolf71]

Most of my larger and workable scraps go into a plastic milk crate to be used again on future projects, but, when i cut out shelf elves i like to use the scrap from behind the beard to make smaller and smaller elves. It's fun to see just how small you can get them.
Chips and dust go into a large kitchen trash can, when it's full i mix it with wax and a wick to make a fire starter for wood stoves. These sell right along with my carvings at craft shows.

Michael Gray

[wildhare]

Larger scraps go into the big box and smaller ones into a small box. I sometimes dump out the boxes and see what shapes fall out. Here is what I did with some exotic wood scraps. I found like shaped scraps and put these together. Yellowheart, tulip wood,& ebony.

Only slivers or chips are thrown out into the garden.

Wanda

[mdallensr]

True scraps are fire starters for the Scouts. Saw dust and other shavings are mulch for our planting beds. Mike

[jmischel]

When I carve outside, I leave the chips in the grass. Inside, I've been sweeping up the chips and throwing them in the trash. I suppose I should put together a collection system so I can throw them into the garden or the compost pile.

Just spent some quality time with the bandsaw this afternoon and threw out some scraps. After seeing what Wanda does with them, though, I'm re-thinking that . . .

[wildhare]

Jim, I am glad you liked them. It's kind of like the ink blot test. Those butterflies are only about 1" wide at most. Why throw away something that you can use, give away to make someones day or sell?
Wanda

[lorax]

I have a big rectangular tub behind my band saw as I saw of little pieces they are easily brushed right into to tub. Some of the bigger pieces I like to use as practice pieces, so when Im carving I can work something out on scrap before i experiement on my finished piece. I also like to keep the softer pieces handy to check my sharpening with. If it is basswood though, it goes into a fire- a fantastic kindling.