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My Christmas present from my son was to help me clean my shop. I much appreciate it. There is certainly a desperate need.

It does, however, trigger a question: when is a piece of wood too small to save? It depends in part on the species of wood, of course. I seem to be saving pieces of African blackwood and other exotics no matter how small they are. I am less possessive of cherry, walnut, etc. Trimmings from guitar tops can be used for center seam reinforcement, and if a guitar top cost $300, one is reluctant to throw any of it away even if there is no obvious use for the particular piece of scrap remaining. Same for side and back trimmings. One might get a head cap out of a scrap from a side or back, for instance.

So what do you folks do? What are your criteria for keeping or throwing wood scrap?

I'm with you; I keep most of the cutoffs. There is always a need and many times over the years I've been able to make repairs because I had just the right piece of rosewood or ebony, etc. Now for minor restorations on seconds that I get from the local factory, the saving practice is paying off again. I've even convinced my wife to think twice about burning the stuff after I expire. ;-)

ps: if the wood piece can't serve as a clamping caul or as a part, etc., it gets turned into ash.

I use them down as far as I can. Even tiny pieces can be worked into rosettes . I hate to see the rare woods wasted.