Wood makes up about 6 percent of the waste stream in the United States. Get tips on how to find scrap wood and make simple scrap wood projects. Learn about my favorite artists who make items from scrap wood.

You can listen to my podcast episode about using up your scrap wood in this YouTube video. It originally aired in August 2017.

Great Sources of Scrap Wood

• Wooden shipping palettes – Is this wood pallet safe to use?
• Clementine boxes
• Construction, demolition and renovation projects
• Trash Day
• Your Garden
• The Beach
• Hockey Sticks
• Old Mattresses and Box Springs – Tips from Trashmagination’s podcast on taking apart mattresses & box springs
• Bamboo
• Old Barns being deconstructed
• Cabinet & Furniture manufacturers
• Habitat for Humanity ReStore
• Freecycle

Fun Scrap Wood Projects

• Trashmagination Pinterest Board for Wood Scrap project ideas
• Trashmagination Pinterest Board – Projects made for Nature Items including branches

Project #1: Planter Box from Recycled Fence Wood

Project #2 – Ornament Tree from Taiko Bachi (Drumsticks) and Scrap Wood

Project #3 – Block Prints – Craft Foam on Scrap Wood

Project #4 – Scavenger Hunt in a Corn Maze

Project #5 – Nail and String Art

Other Nail and String Art Inspirations

• DIY Bar in Portland, Oregon – offer craft projects you can do while socializing. One project is a map of the United States. You put a red yarn heart in the places that are meaningful to you.
• Agnes in August is a Canadian artist who specializes in Mountain String Art

Project #6 – My Mom’s Sailboat Bird Feeders

Project #7 – Isaiah’s Scroll Saw Handiwork

Learn more about his work in this Trashmagination blog about scrap wood scrollwork.

Project #8 – Bookshelves and Lamp from Broken Rowing Shells by my Sister

See how we cut the rowing shells into manageable lengths in this earlier Trashmagination blog.

Artists I Admire Who Use Scrap Wood

Thomas Dambo

Remake Christmas Video

Happy Forest Video

Kirsty Elson

Kirsty Elson Designs from Studio Wallop on Vimeo.

Lee Borthwick

Lee Borthwick – Installation Artist from Ryan Evans on Vimeo.

Zeke Leonard

Balwen Wood Works – buttons, cufflinks and other items from wood scraps

Getting Rid of Scrap Wood

• Reclaimed lumber companies, such as Dakota Timber Company
• Organizations with a woodshop, such as Kid Museum, Tinkering Schools or Maker Spaces.

Show Details

• Script for this podcast episode about creative reuse of scrap wood (not a transcript but gives the main ideas)
• The Trashmagination podcast theme music is Kitchen from the Marian Circle Drum Brigade.
• What size hole to drill in your bird house?