# What to keep?



## eaglea1 (Sep 8, 2014)

Whenever I'm cutting new call blanks and other items, I often wonder if the "scraps" and cutoffs
I'm tossing in the fire box are something I should be hanging onto. I don't know anything I admit
about casting etc. I do try to cut the wood that I can into pen blanks, that I know should be at least
3/4" sq. x 5-6" long, but other than that ??? Can anyone give me some idea as to what they may
use ? It always seems like the best grained stuff, is usually the stuff the ants got to and it sorta
ruins what I can use for call blanks.. I guess I see the beauty of the wood, no matter what else is
going on with it as far as defects.


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## JR Custom Calls (Sep 8, 2014)

I wish I had an answer to that. Just end up giving this away every week or two...


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## eaglea1 (Sep 8, 2014)

JR Custom Calls said:


> I wish I had an answer to that. Just end up giving this away every week or two...


 


EXACTLY!


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## MikeMD (Sep 9, 2014)

Randy, here are my thoughts about your question...

ANY and ALL figured/pretty wood is worth saving one way or another. Plain wood, well, that creates heat...and heat ain't always a bad thing.

When I have cut offs, I cut them into sections for pen blanks or bottle stopper blanks. I've never turned a call, so I don't even really know the sizes for those. And just because a piece might need filling/casting, doesn't mean it should be thrown away. Casters love them. Sure you can barter with/for them, but if nothing else, I'm sure there are casters that would love to have cut offs from burly, curly, figured, wormy wood. Save them, post a pic of them here, and help out a caster looking for some nice stuff to cast. They might just send you a blank or two...

Reactions: Like 1


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## Schroedc (Sep 9, 2014)

And for pen blanks, With the large list of single tube pens out there nowadays, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inch shorts can always be used too....

Reactions: Agree 1


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## DKMD (Sep 9, 2014)

Stoppers can be had from 1.5"square by as short as 2" although I usually cut them a little bigger. Also, natural edge stoppers are pretty cool, so that's a good use for those weird burl edges. I've turned ornaments from stopper sized scraps and pen blanks for a couple of years now, and we've got more than enough to decorate a full sized tree. If it's pretty, I save it... If it's plain, it goes in the fire.


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## MikeMD (Sep 9, 2014)

Like Colin said... I'm not a fan of the "pen blanks have to be X by X". 5"+ is a good rule, sure. But most two part pens are 2" for one section and 2 1/8"+ for the other. So just over 4 1/2" will work for even two part pens. And single tube pens can be made out of just over 3" blanks, easily. There are plenty of bullet pens that most people use antler in, but one could easily use a highly figured piece that are in the 1 1/2" range.


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## eaglea1 (Sep 10, 2014)

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the infomation. I will start keeping some of the really cool and gnarly stuff
that usually got burned. I may post some pics in the recent finds thread one of these days.


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## ripjack13 (Sep 10, 2014)

http://woodbarter.com/threads/list-of-nominal-sizes-needed-for-blanks.9499/

That's a list of sizes people like to use as a guideline. It's just to help other members quickly decide what size to cut to be usable. Take it with a grain of salt. (or pepper, if that's your thing. )

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## eaglea1 (Sep 10, 2014)

This is the kinda stuff I was talking about, this pic is mostly spalted hickory, with one chunk of catalpa in the upper left.....


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## pinky (Sep 12, 2014)

I hate to admit it but I know I burn stuff that would sell on this site quite easily. Sometimes it's just easier. BLASPHEMY! I know.


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