What to do with scraps?

I was given some very nice and large (12" x 36" up to 12"x 8') scraps of

3/4" poplar plywood. Any ideas what to make out of this. I was thinking about Christmas presents.

Thanks, Kevin

Reply to
Kevin L. Bowling
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Glad you asked. See my _Using Those Woodscraps_ site.

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Reply to
Lawrence L'Hote

I got a wad o' plywood scraps, and I made a bunch of jigs out of it. I built lots of jigs that have been on my someday list for years, since I had the material available, and the price was right.

I also built a small catapult out of it. :)

Reply to
Silvan

Those aren't scraps -- way too big for scraps. Those are referred to as 'offcuts'. Scraps fit in a medicine bottle.

What you've got are future shop-jigs: table saw sled, router/DP/BS fence, wall-hung tool cabinet, grinder stand, out-feed table...I could go on.

Buy the entire back-issue collection of ShopNotes, you'll never run out of stuff to build with your 'offcuts' :)

Reply to
Chris Merrill

Reply to
Jim K

Jigs are good as others have mentioned, but not for Christmas presents (unless you'll be the recepient of your own gifts!).

I guess you could make some nice things from Poplar plywood, but I typically think of Poplar as a utility wood. If your friends or relatives are "handy", perhaps they would find these boxes to be useful:

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got the bright idea for these > I was given some very nice and large (12" x 36" up to 12"x 8') scraps of

Reply to
Steve Turner

Steve,

I tried plain miter joints on oak veneer plywood and figured out that didn't work worth a darn.

They remind me of the wooden boxes that were in hot demand in South Dakota in the 1970's when I was growing up. The DuPont explosives delivered to Homestake gold mine in Lead, SD, through the 1950's, were about the same size as your boxes but made of plain, finger-jointed wood. Very strong and lightweight. My brother got one and filled it to the rim with fossils. No problems.

Maybe you should stamp or brand your name on the side to help create the same demand.

Do you also use the lock-miter on the bottom joint?

-- Mark

Reply to
Mark Jerde

I like the jig idea. It's probably too late for me to get started on Christmas prsents anyway.

Not in SW Ohio it's not. Probably because the home-builders are too cheap to buy oak. Used to be they'd buy poplar for painted projects. Now it's gotten to where the poplar gets the stain and painted stuff gets MDF. The poplar actually looks very good. They use all the crappy pieces for the inner plys.

Nice boxes. I could probably use a couple of these. I need to build a couple of benches to use at work too with trays in the bottom to carry a few tools. I need some circular saw jigs since at least half my work is done with one. Router jigs! Now theres something I really need. Seems like every year I do more and more work with a router. Come to think of it I could use a tool box as well but I think it'd be too heavy to carry into the job. Maybe I'll wait on some 1/2" scraps for that one. To all who said there is no scrap wood: I know that but they were scrap to the builder who put them in the burn pile. You should see the pile of scraps I'm getting today. (2' x 8', 3' x 4' and that kind of stuff) Does this qualify as a gloat?

Thanks, Kevin PS: Silvan, I don't really need a catapult. The kids could have a lot of fun with one though.

Reply to
Kevin L. Bowling

I ended up with a bunch of western red cedar cutoffs and they ended up being bat houses. I also made some phone boxes for neighbors with phones by the pool. (very similar projects).

Reply to
Gfretwell

Yes. I usually cut the joints so the sides go together first, then the bottom goes on last to tie it all together. If the joints are cut accurately enough, it all slides together quite nicely and you almost don't need to clamp it during glue-up.

Reply to
Steve Turner

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