Offcuts

[fuse]

Is there an ingenious way of storing it?
As a hoarder I always need the piece I got rid of the week before!

 

[Phil]

I use 2 me-made boxes, on metal frame one above the other, on wheels.
2 Units like that.
Another 'tall' box also on wheels for long offcuts.
Also a dead vacuum drum which is on wheels.

 

[PAC1]

You could get a storage unit 5 times the size of your workshop racked out and catalogue every offcut you store so that you can find it when needed.
Or you accept that as nice as the idea is we simply cannot keep every offcut. That any racking you build will be the wrong size or grossly inefficient. Also invariably the offcut is 10mm to short in length, width or depth when you come to need it.
Even now I am still saddened at the thought of burning good wood but I simply cannot keep even a fraction of my offcuts.
I have four sets of racking dedicated to offcuts two for plywood and two for hardwoods. Sorted by size for plywood (up to 4'x2', 4'x1' and 2'x1'). A pigeon hole system(less than 12" long) and shelves (various sizes) for hardwood. It is all a massive waste of space.
I try to give away my offcuts but even that fails.

 

[duke]

You just need to know what you have stored and where it is. I try to not store anything less than 30 cm in length. It all goes into a burn bin for heating the shop in the winter. All my scrap is either leaning against a wall or standing in old job site boxes. What size is your shop and do you have ample storage area?

 

[Doug]

Anything under 400mm long that isn’t exotic hard wood gets cut in half & goes to the old couple down the road whos heating & hot water is via a wood burner.
Having the workshop cluttered up with offcuts is counter productive so I’m pretty ruthless when chucking out, particularly redwood.

 

[Windows]

Anything over 12” is leant against a wall.

Anything under 12” is thrown on the floor in a corner.

It’s not an ideal system, but I haven’t outgrown it yet.

 

[Raymedullary]

Good question, this definitely becomes an issue...
"shorts" (300 or less) on a shelf/rack so that you can see the end of each piece clearly (woodturning fodder) then vertical storage for up to about 600 between "grids" to prevent them being kicked over
Keep a box of very short bits to use as blocks.... eg for clamping etc etc. Keep a box of wedges cut from little bits.
Next one down the list is a woodburner!

 

[johnward]

I cut up my off-cuts to 150mm, bag them up and give them to a friend who has a wood burner in his living room.

 

[Cabinetman]

Plus on what @Raymedullary said the racks have their depth written on so you can tell at a glance if the off cut contained is longer or shorter.
Long thin bits I store in cut off tubes from carpet supply shops