Canoetripping Woodworkers: Post your scrap wood projects

[Murat V]

Lots of talented woodworkers are here on the forum. Hoping folks will use this thread to post some of their scrap wood project ideas. I'm looking to pass the winter by using up my pile of hardwood cutoffs.

Just finished making a sanding tool modeled after the "MacFarlane Bow Sander". Mine has walnut for the handles with a flexible strip of sassafras for the crosspiece. Some smaller sassafras pieces were shaped into squarish dowels to hold a standard 1" x 30" belt sander strip in place. Here are the pieces laid out for a visual and then assembled under tension.

Also been making some wooden camping tools for my boys. Figured they might need all their fingers in the future so made some dull wooden versions to play with and safely practice for the real thing. Made an axe, a bucksaw, belt knife, crooked knife, awl, chisel and a mini firesteel rod.

The wooden axe head and fake blade for the bucksaw were stained using a natural mixture of steel nails, vinegar and black tea found on this tutorial here. Seemed like a neat way to naturally darken wood.

What have you made or plan to make from your scrap pile?

 

[Mihun09]

Scrap wood goes into a pail and out to the fire pit in the backyard.

 

[Alan Gage]

I love the wooden tools idea for the kids. I have a 4 year old friend who would get a kick out of some of those.

Alan

 

[forest runes]

Murat, Try to get "Wildwood Wisdom / Jaeger & CacheLake Country /Rowlands ". Two books with loads of ideas for woodworking projects .

 

[GGTBod]

I mess about with offcuts n such, i also enjoy windfall branches, do they still count?

This was a branch brought down from a plum tree out the back when the wind was up, i really enjoyed carving through the transition in and out of the heartwood, sadly the other half was so full of knots i gradually carved it into a big pile of kindling trying to pull a shape out of it resembling another spoon



End piece of a 2x2 inch batton of African Zebrano



becomes spork for lady friend camper



These two came from an elbow out of a large willow branch







Kuska to be from a big chunk of really fancy African hardwood i currently can't remember the name of that they often use for ultra fancy kitchen worktops



Got more but maybe it's a bit too heavy on the images already

 

[Canotrouge]

No Title

Scrap wood goes into a pail and out to the fire pit in the backyard.

Some is worth using and not burning!!
Small spalted beech block smoothing plane, timber framing chisel sheet, divider thing, a spoon from fire wood, paddle holder, bottle opener, curve bow for paddle drawing(beavertail blade), a bench hook... all from pieces that could have been use to start the stove!!

 

[Abenakiregion]

Nice work GGTBod. I particularly like the plum spoon.
Dave

 

[Canotrouge]

I really like that sander!! It would be a great tool modified for wide belt sand paper to fair a canoe hull.

 

[Jim Dodd]

I really like that sander!! It would be a great tool modified for wide belt sand paper to fair a canoe hull.

I was just thinking the same thing ! I have some really wide stuff. But I'd have to make the flex strip beefy !

​ As For scrap ! I have a hard time throwing anything away. I'm constantly using wedges to make clamps. I'll have to mock one up for a pic ! Maybe tomorrow.

​Interesting Thread !

Jim

 

[Boatman53]

At our age we don't do much about gifts with the in laws, but I usually end up making something out of wood for everyone. I get a little production line going and have at it. Last year, was letter openers made from scraps of the years jobs.
This year I decided to 'chart weights', although for most of the recipients they will be paper weights. A couple of years ago (yes I saved the wood) I was asked to make a hollow spar for a small boat. Eight pieces are needed and I always cut an extra in case of disaster. So I had one 18' piece of Sitka spruce just a bit oversized from what I needed. I cut what is called a birds mouth on the edge then divided the 18' length into eight pieces. Cut and fitted a sapelle mahogany (again scraps) octagon to fit in the middle. Glued everything up, then sliced off sections. I'm in the varnish stage now so I think I'll make it.

I put a lead disc in the middle about half the thickness of the wood. It gives it a bit of heft. When I'm finished with the varnish I'll glue on a piece of pleather on the bottom. I have a lot of white, left over from a boat interior I did a long time ago. Does anyone want any white pleather? It will cost you postage, but that's it.

Jim

 

[Murat V]

Appreciate the responses so far. CanotRouge, thanks for posting the plans for your bungee paddle holder. Got lots of little blocks that would be perfect for this. Also like your thickness calipers. GGTBod, looking forward to seeing your kuksa when complete. I carved two, one from green birch another from kiln dried cherry and they both split after the first few uses albeit in in different places. So frustrating after all that hard work carving

 

[dougd]

Jim, that is a ton of work on the chart weights, I can't imagine having the fortitude to try that many cuts and then assembling them, boggles my mind. I've made my share of paddles but they all broke so I gave up on that endeavor. All I'm good for these days is making a toothpick! Can't go wrong there!

 

[Guest]

Wow, Murat, GGT, Canoetrouge, Boatman et al, that is some very cool stuff. And some very interesting woods.

I don’t have a lot of scrap that isn’t of burnable by the time I’ve finished whatever project. Pressure treated yes; I don’t burn that ick, but I eventually find some use for it in the shed, shop or yard.

I do still have a box of new ash gunwale scrap from wood regunwalings. What to do with 8 or 10 inch pieces of unfinished ash gunwale remainders has mostly escaped me. Some of it went here:

http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=40923

The only good woods I have holding dear in the shop are foot long pieces of (kiln dried?) 10-12 inch wide lumber, mostly ash, cherry and walnut. Or larger, one ash piece is 16 x 20 and near 2 inches thick, and there is a block chunk of walnut stuck up there somewhere.

A friend who worked as a timber surveyor for a lumber company would show up on group car campers with his pickup bed filled with that stuff from the mill. Folks would descent on his truck, picking out the best pieces to save for some shop or craft use, before he even opened the driver’s door.

Cool scrap wood ideas. There is a lot of time and craftsman ship in some of those unique items.

 

[Boatman53]

Doug the woodwork is not what you think. I made a long section then cut it up like making cookies.

This is one of the two logs I glued up, it then gets sliced into the discs you saw in the first post. I think the varnishing is the most time consuming.

Jim

 

[Canotrouge]

I agree that the birds mouth shaft are pretty easy an quick to make, I made a few paddle shaft that way keeping them hollow thinking I would save weight!!

 

[Mihun09]

Some is worth using and not burning!!

Well, I don't have much time for other projects with a boat or two always on the go. The cedar shavings from the thickness planer make excellent fire starter too and if Christy gets bunnies next year it could go for bedding as well.

 

[Odyssey]

Really cool stuff. I dig those spoons.

 

[sailsman63]

Ohh, cool topic. I usually end up spending way to much time sorting stuff out of the cut-offs for parts of my larger projects. Scraps have ended up in my paddle, canoe decks, and anything else that came out of the shop.

​ GGTBod That plum spoon is lovely. I like the rest as well.

Canotrouge Liking the shop-built tools. How well did the hollow paddle shaft work out for you?

Murat V That sanding tool looks incredibly simple. Please let us know how well it works out for you. I also could see a larger version being used to fair a hull. If anyone actually tries it out, please report your results.

An interesting variant of the vinegar-tea-nails thing happens when you work with red oak. The wood has a fairly high natural tannin content, and so reacts to the dissolved iron without pre-treating with tea. Depending on the exact content in the wood, you get anything from a light bluish-gray, through a federal blue, on almost to a midnight navy. The medulary rays tend not to react, so you can have a lot of variation in one piece.

 

[Canotrouge]

Ohh, cool topic. I usually end up spending way to much time sorting stuff out of the cut-offs for parts of my larger projects. Scraps have ended up in my paddle, canoe decks, and anything else that came out of the shop.

​ GGTBod That plum spoon is lovely. I like the rest as well.

Canotrouge Liking the shop-built tools. How well did the hollow paddle shaft work out for you?

Murat V That sanding tool looks incredibly simple. Please let us know how well it works out for you. I also could see a larger version being used to fair a hull. If anyone actually tries it out, please report your results.

An interesting variant of the vinegar-tea-nails thing happens when you work with red oak. The wood has a fairly high natural tannin content, and so reacts to the dissolved iron without pre-treating with tea. Depending on the exact content in the wood, you get anything from a light bluish-gray, through a federal blue, on almost to a midnight navy. The medulary rays tend not to react, so you can have a lot of variation in one piece.

Pretty good, I did 2 that have been used, and I have t that I never took the time to finish. I like the idea, but the time and the complexity to attached blade to shaft is not worth the minor saving in weight!

 

[Jim Dodd]

Not nearly as cool as others ! Great ideas guys !
​ My contribution.
A Hammer handle, and a very simple clamp, using wedges from deck cut offs, and seat frame cut offs..

​ Simply a couple of C-clamps, and. I used this clamp system, but with a much longer stretcher boards. I assembled a new door for my carriage house

Jim