Stumbled on a stat about hardwood waste that made me rethink my cuts

Last month I was reading through some woodworking trade journal I picked up at the lumber yard, and there was a study in there saying cabinet shops waste around 12% of their hardwood on average. I had to read that twice because I figured I was doing better than that. So I went back through my job book from the last six months, tallied up my drop pile and offcuts. Turns out I was sitting at about 14% waste on maple alone. That surprised me because I thought I was pretty careful about laying out parts. Now I'm wondering if anyone else has actually measured their scrap rates or if you just eyeball it like I was doing.

2 comments

2 Comments

dixon.anthony17d ago

...and that's why I started saving my sawdust for the neighbors' gardens. No kidding. I was around 15% waste on red oak last year. Then I got to thinking about all those little cutoff pieces I was tossing. So now I keep a milk crate under my bench and once a month I dump it on my buddy's driveway. He uses the small bits for turning projects and kindling. Makes me feel less guilty about the whole thing.

terry_mitchell16d ago

Idk, seems like worrying about 12 or 15 percent waste is overthinking it. You buy hardwood to build stuff, not to optimize every last splinter. A little scrap is just the cost of doing business, and trying to squeeze every board dry just slows you down and makes the work less fun.