No such thing

I have a lot of pieces of wood that are too good to throw away but too small to really be useful. We sometimes call pieces like this scrap, but I have always maintained that there is no such thing as scrap.

I have a lot of pieces of wood that are too good to throw away but too small to really be useful. We sometimes call pieces like this scrap, but I have always maintained that there is no such thing as scrap.

If it’s useful, it’s inventory. If not, it’s garbage. And yet, I cannot bring myself to get rid of these pieces of unused material that have a habit of piling up in the corners of the shop.

I’m always thinking about small items I could make with these little treasures. But every time I dig some out, I find the flaws that relegated them to corner storage in the first place, that awkwardly placed knot or the crack that extends just a bit too far from the end.

But I just can’t bring myself to throw them out. I guess the spiders have to have somewhere to live, too.

David DeCristoforo possesses an extensive resume as designer/maker of fine furniture, high-end cabinetry and architectural woodwork. His experience in professional woodworking spans a period of 35 years. For the past 20 years David DeCristoforo Design has been located in Woodland, California. During this time David's shop has ranged in scope from a "full on" cabinet production shop with as many as 15 employees to a small fine furniture and custom millwork shop, working with his son, David RBJ, a highly skilled maker in his own right.