A few months ago I discovered the wood scraps box at The Joinery, a local manufacturer of handcrafted solid wood furniture.  The Joinery makes the most beautiful high-quality furniture, but unfortunately it's pricey. The scap wood box is more in my price range: free.  Below are projects made from various wood scraps found in their box. (Not shown are the various pieces of cherry and oak that serve as building blocks for Eli and Ian.)

Toy helicopter (June 2014)

The helicopter was made from a variety of Joinery scap wood and features two movable rotors, skids, and a cartoonishly round body with a 1 inch hole for a window.

Frame for a Knightia fossil (June 2014)

We bought the twin fossil fish a while ago in Santa Fe, NM. (According to a sticker on the back, they are from the Green River fossil bed in Wyoming.) I was thinking of framing it for a long time. When I saw the roughly 2x2.5x6 inch chunks of (I believe) walnut, I found them perfect for a more unconventional frame. After a bit of cutting to size and chiseling, it turned out nicely, I think.

A high-resolution scan of the fossils. (Reduced to 1800 pixel width here. Click image for larger version.)

The almost-finished back of the frame. The cross-bar is screwed into the main blocks to provide stability and to allow for hanging the frame onto a wall.

The finished frame, not on a wall yet.

Toy glider plane (May 2014)

Made from small, long pieces of cherry, this plane turned out to be a big hit with the boys. After cutting a (crude) mortise through the fusilage, the wing was fed through, glued in place and then shaped with a chisel.

Wooden toy plane, finished with John Boos Block Board Cream (unbleached beeswax combined with food grade mineral oil).

The toy plane in use.