Why didn't I think of this sooner? If you have a teacher in the family...

[joefrompa]

My wife came home on friday with a "bankers box" full of perfectly laid out 1x1s and 1x2s, scrap wood from the wood shop at the high school where she works.

This box is crammed to the top - probably ~80-100 individuals pieces in it. When she got home, I had a stove full of struggling large pieces (I went to quickly to the large).

After I shouted for glee, hugged her, and let me eyes return to their normal level of dilation, I tossed 4 small pieces of 1x1 into the stove - each about 9" long - to help jumpstart the larger pieces.

Boom - a solid wall of flame took over the entire firebox, temps started shooting up, secondaries started appearing. It was glorious.

...

I can't believe I never thought of this before, but if you have a teacher in the family - see if they'll grab you a box full of wood shop scraps for a junior high or high school.

My wife said she can get one of these boxes probably once every few weeks. I should never need kindling again

Joe

 

[oldspark]

Dont take much to make us wood burners happy, box of scraps :lol: , good find.

 

[woodchip]

+1

And that's a really original source of wood.

Brilliant thinking ;-)

 

[Gark]

Thank you for a great tip, Joe. I' ll ask our neighbor, a teacher, about the possibilities. Another source might be if you know anyone working in the cabinetry or furniture industry - some companies have to pay to dispose of the rejects/ends and the chunks-discards are 10% MC top species. Thanks.

 

[egclassic]

My wife came home on friday with a "bankers box" full of perfectly laid out 1x1s and 1x2s, scrap wood from the wood shop at the high school where she works.

This box is crammed to the top - probably ~80-100 individuals pieces in it. When she got home, I had a stove full of struggling large pieces (I went to quickly to the large).

After I shouted for glee, hugged her, and let me eyes return to their normal level of dilation, I tossed 4 small pieces of 1x1 into the stove - each about 9" long - to help jumpstart the larger pieces.

Boom - a solid wall of flame took over the entire firebox, temps started shooting up, secondaries started appearing. It was glorious.

...

I can't believe I never thought of this before, but if you have a teacher in the family - see if they'll grab you a box full of wood shop scraps for a junior high or high school.

My wife said she can get one of these boxes probably once every few weeks. I should never need kindling again Joe

We have a full cabinet shop where I work. I just realized how much scrap they have late last year. It is some good kinlin!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Great find Joe. I mean the wife, not the wood.

 

[Ken S]

There is a stair manufacturer near me and they put out scrap wood in a bin,they move it with a forklift,and it is empty in a few hours.If I need kindling I keep a few buckets in my truck in case it is out when I drive by

 

[bogydave]

Great idea.
Teachers don't just teach at school, some have husbands

 

[babzog]

When I took wood shop in HS, the teacher mentioned that he wanted to clean out the scrap bins as they were full. Told him I'd have my Dad bring in the van. Now, this was a 1970's era Dodge van. Cracked vinyl. No windows in the sides, bottom of doors rusted out, insulation hanging out, floor all scratched to hell. It was a true work van and she was worked. Hard. So, you know the kind of van I'm talking about. He brought it in to school empty. It left full. There were a few gems that he saved for projects, but mostly, that scrap wood heated our house for I don't remember how long it was now... quite a while, in any case. So, I second the OP's comment - ask at your local HS if you can take their scraps.

 

[firefighterjake]

HehHeh . . . I thought of this a few years ago . . . asked while I was at the local vocational school for high schoolers teaching a fire extinguisher class . . . problem is . . . here there are too many darn folks burning wood and the carpentry teacher said other teachers periodically raid the waste wood bin for kindling.

 

[Badfish740]

I saw this thread and got all excited-my wife is a high school teacher...but she told me they got rid of industrial arts years ago Seems all of the trade inclined kids in the county are shuttled to the local polytech high school now in 10th grade so no need for shop classes, plus they just don't want it because of budget cuts, insurance, etc... I have no connections at the polytech high school but I'm going to bet that the scraps are spoken for. It's a shame really-I had no intention of going into the trades but took woodshop and metalshop in high school and learned a lot. This could turn into a long rant about the state of our education system, too many kids going to college, people not knowing how to work with their hands, but I digress-I just want some scraps! :lol:

 

[PA Fire Bug]

Fortunately, our district still has a wood shop in our middle school and building trades in our high school. I help the teachers use technology in the classroom and have worked with all of them at one time or another. Once I told the shop teachers that I was burning wood, they offered me scrap wood. They have a barrel or two in each shop and have the students fill old feed sacks when the barrels fill up. Since they generate scraps from September to June, I can usually stock up before the burning season begins. I burn a lot of scraps in the fall and spring. The maintenance guys are also happy when I haul away pallets. If I don't take them, they have to haul them to a burn pile. I'm using the good ones to stack wood on and have used the broken ones in our outside fire circle. I would burn more pallet wood in our wood stoves but I don't want the nails in my garden when I dump the ashes. You can't beat free heat!

 

[Shadow&Flame]

Looking into cabinet and wood shops is a great place to get kindling and
some good wood for smoking. I gather quite a bit of hickory for a friend to use in his
smoker. Shops have got get rid of the scraps and most will be happy to give it to you.
I keep a couple of 55 gallon drums to throw the larger end cuts into and take all the
table-saw strips.