Saving Balsa Scraps: OCD or not?

[mikemech]

Should I be upset or relieved that I don't know what you're referring to here?:blush:

Shhh - it's BBQ.

 

[Winston]

Is it a symptom of OCD that I want to hang onto my scraps of balsa flashing that have come off earlier lazar cut fins and kits?
How often do you find or even look for a piece to repair, shape or make do, from your earlier scrap wood?

I save the sheet remains from laser cut kit fins which have occasionally proven useful for custom designs and kit bashes.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Should I be upset or relieved that I don't know what you're referring to here?:blush:

Very relieved. Pyro knowledge is a dangerous thing and you have to be a member and pay a fee to be on that forum. I just give them my scraps and recite the NAR rules, trusting in my single use certified motors that are safe and will never CATO! They just laugh at my overtures. I tell them their rockets need fins on the back and a recovery systems. That building your own black powder rocket motors is insanely DANGEROUS! Just look at the old Estes publications with all the scary pictures. Then they say I should remember it was a Pyro guy that started it all in his garage here in town.

Balsa charcoal is used in comets - it makes for a good sparky mix. You need lots of scrap balsa and bake it just right.

BP motors are made from a modified, ball milled whistle mix and the charcoal used is from willow. Went to a Pyro shoot and my inner RSO was scared beyond rational thought, and that was just in the prep area. Your building what on your tailgate using a mallet? You ground what in your ball mill? Is that my old scrap you are going to fly on a stick? Is that a strobe rocket? Is that a girandola? Could I launch those at Tripoli Research Day if they had a recovery system?

 

[Kirk G]

Very relieved. Pyro knowledge is a dangerous thing and you have to be a member and pay a fee to be on that forum.

OK, I guess I get the general drift of what you're hinting at now.
And I'm OK with using my Estes motors that I buy in a 3-pack.

You can't tempt me to the dark side...:smile:

 

[mbecks]

I guess I'm the weird one here. I throw stuff away all the time, literally some days I just grab my pile of supplies and chuck them. I like buying new sheets and supplies and while I'm at the hobby store I get to browse at other stuff. I also hate messy clutter and don't fine balsa wood to be that heavy of an expense on my wallet.

 

[adrian]

I have to admit to also keeping scraps of balsa. And expended Estes, not Quest, motor casings. And then doing something scary with them.

This, to be precise.


Note: it is perfectly legal and safe to reload an expended Estes D12, albeit not to full power. You just knock out the nozzle and then stuff a C6-5 into the empty casing.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Saving scrap wood is not OCD and is completely natural. Tell the wife if mankind would not have saved scrap wood and learned how to properly process it (pulp for paper casings) and burn it (for charcoal) we would not have black powder motors or rocket science. Henry Ford saved all his scrap wood from making car wheels, teamed up with his Father-in-law Mr. King, and founded KINGSFORD charcoal brickettes. So every time you grill in the back yard think of saving your scrap wood and turning it into riches. So step one is saving scrap wood. Then you can inform the wife of step two which is also completely natural: "Honey, we are now going to save all our Pee!"

 

[Daddyisabar]

I have to admit to also keeping scraps of balsa. And expended Estes, not Quest, motor casings. And then doing something scary with them.

This, to be precise.
View attachment 283366

Note: it is perfectly legal and safe to reload an expended Estes D12, albeit not to full power. You just knock out the nozzle and then stuff a C6-5 into the empty casing.

With all that protective casing that looks like the safest rocket I have ever seen. With all that scrap finnage it looks totally not scary!

I bet you could stuff a Quest C6 motor inside the D12 casing and feel completely safe - no burn through guaranteed!

 

[Daddyisabar]

OK, I guess I get the general drift of what you're hinting at now.
And I'm OK with using my Estes motors that I buy in a 3-pack.

You can't tempt me to the dark side...:smile:

GOOD! When it comes to Pyro ignorance is truly bliss. I tell them model rocketry is so much more than just tying it to a stick and blowing it up! And stay away from those South East Asian and Greek Island Pyro event videos, they only lead to the Dark Side! As we have seen, only stick your scrap balsa fins to CERTIFIED motors.

 

[Trident]

It's really only OCD if you start numbering the scraps and cataloging them in a spreadsheet.

Excellent idea! I have all my unbuilt kits catalogued in a spreadsheet, plus items like nose cones, motors, body tubes on their own tab. I need to add a tab for "BALSA". Maybe a separate one for basswood (or that could just be a column identifier). And why not one for the Evergreen and Plastruct styrene pieces ...

 

[Trident]

It's really only OCD if you start numbering the scraps and cataloging them in a spreadsheet.

Excellent idea! I have all my kits catalogued in a spreadsheet, pulse items like nose cones, motors, body tubes. I need to add a tab for "BALSA". Maybe a separate one for basswood (or that could just be a column identifier). And why not one for the Evergreen and Plastruct styrene pieces ...

Oh yeah, decals too.

Gotta go ...

 

[watermelonman]

Definitely OCD.

I determined that because it is something I do.

 

[jqavins]

I have to admit to also keeping scraps of balsa. And expended Estes, not Quest, motor casings. And then doing something scary with them.

This, to be precise.
View attachment 283366

Note: it is perfectly legal and safe to reload an expended Estes D12, albeit not to full power. You just knock out the nozzle and then stuff a C6-5 into the empty casing.

Admit it: you just threw that together so you could post the picture in this thread. Well done, sir.

 

[georgegassaway]

FWIW , here's a pic of left over and scrap balsa (and some thin plywood) that I just removed from the build table so I could have room for a totally clean surface to do something else with.

That all accumulated in the last 6 days as I built a small B/G and a larger R/C balsa Rocket Boosted Glider. Some as "new cut scrap", and some as pieces taken from the scrap bin which were used as a source for cutting some other parts (some were on "standby" and not cut, but available on the build table to use if needed).

Pic of main scrap bin below (I have a smaller 12" long bin box for some smaller scrap). Key thing is that the scrap DOES get used, it's not squirreled away.

For those who are curious as to the two gliders being built, which are definitely related, see this thread:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?132422

- George Gassaway

 

[Winston]

Pic of main scrap bin below (I have a smaller 12" long bin box for some smaller scrap). Key thing is that the scrap DOES get used, it's not squirreled away.

For those who are curious as to the two gliders being built, which are definitely related, see this thread:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?132422

- George Gassaway

That looks familiar.

 

[adrian]

Admit it: you just threw that together so you could post the picture in this thread. Well done, sir.

Sorry to disappoint, but in fact it was built last year. This is the original thread about the rocket:
Random Junk

 

[Daddyisabar]

I would post of picture of my scraps but all that would prove is that I have a slightly bigger bag of S**T than George or Winston. The guy who makes the charcoal got a huge bag of S**T from a nose cone manufacturer. That was the biggest bag of S**T I had ever seen. I wonder if the wind turbine factories keep their scrap, that could take the cake for the biggest piles of S**T. Why, we might even have to go hang out at those kind of places by the dumpsters.

 

[McKailas Dad]

I chuckle every time I see this thread. I don't have a huge pile, but I've saved my scraps from all my kits too.

This thread makes me feel relieved, not about the scraps, but the fact I'm absolutely convinced a large majority of rocketeers, including myself...

ARE AN ODD GROUP OF PEOPLE, WITH EITHER OCD, ADHT, OR BOTH!

I am -totally- okay with that!

 

[tmacklin]

Old 100% cotton T-shirts make an excellent, fast burning charcoal as does balsa wood scraps. But unlike balsa scrap, they make lousy fins. (Kids, don't try this at home.) :wink: