What do you Stock Removal guys do with scraps?

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petah

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When you cut out your blanks what do you guys do with all the spent odds and ends?
 
mostly the few scraps i have just lie around, but i have used them for making small keychain sized marlin spikes before, as well as testing different patina recipes and different dremel fittings for different effects. i have also done things like testing heat coloring and filework patterns.

but i only have a few scraps from when i use a bandsaw that i don't own, which isn't very often. sadly, almost all of my blade shaping is done on a course wheel on my bench grinder. i only borrow the bandsaw for the pieces that have alot of metal to remove and grinding would go from annoying to ridiculous. i hope i can get a bandsaw soon...
 
Well, here is what I generally do with drops:

I deburr them so I don't get cut on them later.
I set them on a shelf organized by steel type.
They set on the shelf for years and years, waiting until I need a piece of a certain size.
That piece of a certain size gets shuffled, moved or otherwise I forget what what type of steel it was.
I end up needing a piece of steel of a certain size, but I'm unsure of the alloy of that piece I have, so I order more steel, generating another drop.
The process repeats.
 
We don't usually have much in the way of "scraps". We try to lay out knives so that we get the maximum amount of usable steel out of a bar, but occasionally we do have a sliver of something left over. The knife below is what we call our Slim Jim it is made from a piece of steel that is left when we make a filet knife. It is bead blasted, 1/16th inch CPM S30V with a 4 inch blade that can be either flat or hollow ground, and has maroon micarta handles with brass pins. The knife is about a half inch wide, weighs dang near nothing and cuts all out of proportion to its size.
340274637.jpg
 
here is a few pieces of scrap I used up and the rest will go into a 5 gallon bucket to haul to recycler.
 

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Nathan the Machinist said:
Well, here is what I generally do with drops:

I deburr them so I don't get cut on them later.
I set them on a shelf organized by steel type.
They set on the shelf for years and years, waiting until I need a piece of a certain size.
That piece of a certain size gets shuffled, moved or otherwise I forget what what type of steel it was.
I end up needing a piece of steel of a certain size, but I'm unsure of the alloy of that piece I have, so I order more steel, generating another drop.
The process repeats.
Click to expand...

It's good to have a system that you can rely on
:D
 
Geeze, we have a "poop load" of cut offs from 1' down. Lots of it with less than even dimensions. Wish I could find someone with a skinny blade pattern.

Marilyn says you could also make a quilt. :)

Rob!
 
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Actually, I stack my cutoffs behind my grinder and use them (with the burr) to refresh Norax belts. A quick run across the belt with a scratchy piece of cutoff steel gives a real boost and makes my belts last at least twice as long, probably much more. I've had some with most of the abrasive scratched off before I hung them to toss. ;)

Lately I've started grinding some of the edges on those pieces square and sharp again to reuse for that purpose, and thinking about HT some of them. We'll see.
 
They drop on the floor, I dont know what happens then :) I guess I have to clean the shop someday, it will be something like treasure hunt....
 
I throw all mine in a bucket. Sometimes I'll pull something out of the bucket to make a guard. I often use scraps for backing metal when drilling holes, so the bit doesn't grab. I also practice filework on the scraps.
 
I mark them all and put them in coffee cans. If they are to big to fit in the can i make a knife with it. But at least i know what i have in the cans.

Bob
 
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