Regal remnant
I’ve stated categorically before that there’s no such thing as scrap. Here’s proof.
I’ve stated categorically before that there’s no such thing as scrap. Here’s proof.
Woodworkers tend to hoard favorite stock, using it only for special projects. I’m no different, and I have several like that in my lumber rack. But by far the oldest, continuously used piece of wood I own is a remnant – not scrap! – of a hefty zebrawood plank. If memory serves correctly, I got the board sometime in the mid ’90s, probably around 1994 or so.
I keep going back to it when I need something special, resawing and using a little bit of it, and then squirreling it away again. In planning a Christmas gift for my daughter, I knew immediately what wood I wanted to use and so I dug it out once again.
I’ve never actually counted the projects I’ve used this for, but I know I’ve made three boxes with it, used some thin strips for accents in a laminated workpiece for a couple other projects, turned probably a dozen pens, and some really tiny offcuts became a set of earrings once. That’s just off the top of my head; I’m sure there are many more.
After 25 years, that remnant measures 5" x 23" (ignoring the missing chunks), but I think it was originally a bit more than 7" wide and maybe a full six feet in length when I got it. So, I now have less than a third of what I started with. Even so, I think there’s still a lot of woodworking life left in this small treasure.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.