Thoughts on things to do with all those leftovers

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crashgtr

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Hi,

I have lots of little cut off pieces, some end grain, with and without holes drilled through them, slices of pen blanks that were taken off to make the blank square and pieces that used to be blanks that either got drilled off center or blew out.

I have some tools,I have a band saw, table saw, drill press, routers, sears belt and disk sander and a piece of crap jointer and a planer.

Does anyone have any suggestions and info on what I could do with these somewhat small and irregular pieces of wood?

If I tried to glue these small peices together what do you think would be the best way to get them flat so the glue sticks and what would be the best way/orientation to glue them based on the stange sizes and shapes?

Thanks,
Liz
 
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After reading that title I thought it was Thanksgiving already[:0] I'm thinking I must be having a heat stroke, but no, it's the start of a good thread.
 
Liz,
I would almost have to see them if they are irregular in shape. most real small pieces I simply throw out.
I do have a few things I do with balnk cut offs from making pens.
1. if they are long enough say inch and a quarter or larger I save them to make a key ring out of.
2. some smaller pieces I keep for making contrasting band material.
3. I will glue several cut off pieces together making a 5 to 6 inch long blank that I then turn buttons for bookmarks from. i don't even pay attention to where the wood transitions from one type to the other. I end up with some two tone bottons that way.
4. I have seen at least a couple of requests for the cut offs from people that make miniature turnings. you could think of trying your hand at that. real tiny cups, bowls, vases and other items for doll houses.
 
I glued them together to make a blank and turn it into a pen. It started as experiment on glue joints (wanted to start segmenting stuff) I gave the first pen to my wife for work and everyone wants it so now I make them to sell. Got a pic of one or two in my album its made of Dymondwood cut offs.
Nolan
 
take the cut offs that are 3/4 to an inch in lenght, drill the and mount them to some extra long tubes.
I then turn and finish as a display of sample wood types. I works well when a customer wants to see the diferent woods. I just started puttimg in scraps of veneer between the woods to give a visual seperation.
 
I (try to) throw them out. [:O] Yeah, there are a lot of things that could be done with them, but personally, I know I won't get around to doing anything with them. Already, I have a box that is growing from cutoffs 'too good to throw out' that is just taking up space. But if you like, they make great custom centerbands, 'oops' rings, accent pieces, and the like. You can use your disk sander to even the surface up for glueing, just be safe and keep your fingers out of the way!
 
I put them on a PEN SAMPLE box and surround the box by gluing on the various types of wood. This way I can show customers what their pen may look like.

-Peter-[:)]
 
I saw someone's web page, I can't remember who it was now, but they took all the scraps and cutoffs from acrylics and different resins and made glue ups from them. There was an entire page on their site devoted to these pens. They called them "End of the Day " pens. Most of them were Barons and such, I thought they were pretty neat, but now I can't find the site.I'll tell you this too .....they weren't cheap!
 
Since I also am a scrollsawer I make ornaments and jewelery. The small, odd-shaped pieces make great earrings and centers for bookmarks that I have found sell well at craft shows.
 
I have used some of my scraps/cutoffs to make new blanks. I took the pen (which I thought was XXtremely ugly) to work and found that most of my passengers loved it.

I was taking an 89 year old lady to the hospital for surgery, she loved the pen, so when I dropped her off I gave it to her as a pre-get well gift.

It's amazing the different looks you can get without even trying.
 
Liz, The nib pieces of a teachers pen are only 13/16ths long. The center piece is less than 2 1/2 inches I believe. Sooooo, if you went this route, you can make two pens out of one blank with the scraps. I got a pic in my album of a teacher's pen and a key ring pen, if you want to take a look. I use smaller pieces as centerbands too. I also like Marc's suggestion about the sample idea. In my shop, very little wood is not used for something! [:)]
Have fun!!!
 
I have taken my cut-offs and done like 4631 and made pens out of them. They are one of my top sellers. I have typically chosen mixes based on who I was making it for. Pink ivory and yellowheart in "the mix" for the ladies and they seem to love them. The mix, can be anything from cocabolo, blackwood, bacote, ziricote, amboyna redheart, purpleheart, etc. They have sold like hotcakes. I had one at a show and wanted kick myself for not having more. I could have sold 4-5 of those pens along. At the end of the day, I got tired of telling people that it was for display only and sold it too. Having more would have made a big difference in my profit.
Jay
 
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