01The Philosophy — Nothing Wasted

Wood that is “scrap” in one workshop is stock in another. Pallet boards are real timber — typically 100 mm wide and 18 mm thick — and, sorted intelligently, they carry real loads. The philosophy of the scrap line is simple: the strongest member goes where the strongest member is needed, and nothing is cut until the computer has decided exactly what each piece is for.

This is not just economy — it is also the most sustainable way to build: reclaimed wood, zero waste, and a crate with a story. When you choose the scrap source, the engine reads your real inventory and does the woodworking arithmetic for you.

EX. 03Accordion zig-zag wall — horizontal scrap slats

EX. 05Armadillo — scrap slats + solid lining vault

02From Pallet to Stock — The Recovery Process

Every scrap build begins long before the generator — in a yard, a warehouse corner, or the loading dock of a business that goes through pallets by the dozen. The recovery process has three stages, and each one feeds directly into a field of the generator, so the computer knows exactly what timber you are putting on the table before it plans a single cut.

1

Recollecting Pallets

Gather the pallets themselves — from deliveries, neighbours, industry or your own stock. A standard euro pallet carries roughly seven metres of usable 100 × 18 mm board, so a small stack of pallets is already a serious inventory. Collect with intent: choose pallets with straight, crack-free stringers and clean faces, and set aside the damaged ones for the pieces that only need to become decking.

In the generatorThis is where you choose the material source. UnderMaterial, pick“I will recycle boards from pallets, disassemble them, and upcycle the material”— that single radio button tells the engine it must plan around your real recovered inventory instead of store-bought timber.

2

Pallet Disassembly

Break each pallet down into its raw boards. A good technique is the sledgehammer-and- pry-bar method: strike the stringer joints to pop the nails loose rather than cutting through them, which saves millimetres of board on every end. Sort as you go — keep the stringers (the thick, strong runners) separate from the deck boards (the thinner top slats). Remove every nail, staple and broken end now, while each piece is in your hand, so the pile you measure later is clean timber.

In the generatorDisassembly itself happens in the workshop — but it decides what you can declare next. The cleaner and straighter the boards, the more of them theSmart Sorting Enginecan route to load-bearing members instead of splicing them into decking.

3

Classification — Grouping the Same Parts

Now measure and sort the recovered boards into standardized families of identical dimensions. A pallet pile usually collapses into a handful of repeats: 1200 × 100 × 18, 800 × 100 × 18, maybe a run of thick stringers at 1200 × 90 × 40. Each family is one class — and the classes are exactly what the engine needs to allocate every member of your crate.

In the generatorTick“Enable Custom Wood Limits...”to open the inventory form, then use the+/− dialto set the number of different standardized sizes you recovered (up to 10). For each class, enter itsThickness, Length and Width in millimetres— e.g. one block for your 1200×100×18 deck boards, one for your 800×100×18 slats, one for your stringers. That is your whole recovered inventory, captured in three numbers per class.

From here the Smart Sorting Engine (next section) takes over — and the Blueprint PDF closes the loop: it shows you the final plan as a cut list per recovered class, so every board you collected, disassembled and classified appears in the build, none wasted, none unplanned.

03The Smart Sorting Engine

When you select a scrap source, the engine activates a mathematical allocation pass over your inventory. Each piece is described by three numbers — thickness, length and width — and the solver routes them with a clear set of rules:

Thickest and widest pieces are selected for the load-bearing frame — posts, rims and skids, where strength matters most.
Thinnest pieces are routed to the slats and decking, where weight matters more than strength.
Splice joints are computed where pieces must be joined end-to-end to reach full length, with scab reinforcement plates placed automatically at the seams.
Minimum segment rules are respected — every span keeps solid wood at its ends and centre spine, so no joint ever lands where it would weaken the structure.

In effect, the engine simulates an expert woodworker sorting the pile by hand — except it considers every possible allocation at once and chooses the optimum.

04Splicing — When Boards Must Grow

Short boards are not a limitation; they are an engineering input. Where a wall span exceeds the longest available piece, the engine computes a splice: the two boards meet end-to-end and are reinforced by a scab plate (200 mm overlap by default) screwed and glued across the seam. The blueprint marks every splice location so the workshop can stagger them between adjacent rows — never two seams on the same line, never a seam near a post or a rim joint.

DETAILDiagonal arm — reinforcing a frame built from short stock

DETAILThe frame — every member sourced from the inventory

DETAILA wall — spliced slats, staggered and reinforced

05Wall Modes From Scrap

The three wall modes work identically on scrap stock:

Slats only — the classic result: a crate that looks like honest, hardworking wood.
Slats + lining — scrap slats outside, a solid panel lining inside; the Armadillo vault is exactly this, and it is one of the strongest builds in the showcase.
Lining only — a solid box, typically from reclaimed sheet off-cuts.

Combine with vertical or horizontal slats and optional X-bracing; the engine allocates the inventory accordingly.

EX. 12Damocles — scrap cube, MDF-lined vault

EX. 16Phoenix — a dignified coffin from recycled wood

08Try the Smart Sorter — Your Pile, Live

Enter the recovered classes you have on the bench — up to the same ten classes the generator accepts — and watch the Smart Sorting Engine apply its three allocation rules live: thickest and widest pieces to the load-bearing frame, thinnest to the slats and decking, and splices computed wherever a span outgrows the longest piece.

Your recovered inventory

Each class = one standardized family of identical boards, exactly as the generator's inventory dial records them. Units are millimetres.

Engine's allocation

—

thickest → frame · thinnest → slats

Longest board available

—

spans longer than this get spliced

Splice estimate

—

200 mm scab plates at every seam

Engine rule: frame width = widest class, core thickness = thickest class, slats = thinnest class. Splice scab overlap is 200 mm by default, and the blueprint staggers seams so no two land on the same line.

06Preparing Reclaimed Wood

A little preparation makes scrap timber behave like new — and last like it:

De-nail and de-staple every board; remove broken ends and deep cracks beyond the computed splice points.
Check moisture — pallet wood that has lived outdoors wants time to dry; the joints in the blueprint assume reasonably dry stock.
Square the edges where the blueprint requires full-face joints; the scab plates forgive small irregularities, the frame joints do not.

Seal the reclaimed surface — Darawell

Reclaimed wood is thirsty: mix Darawell with water at a 1:3 ratio and apply two coats to every face. The first coat soaks into the weathered grain; the second seals it. This protects and seals the crate against humidity and evens out the patchwork of old finishes before the exterior coat.

07The Blueprint Package

Every scrap build delivers the complete engineering package by email: a permanent save of the parametric viewer from BuildCrates.com, so you can review the shape of the build online at any time — plus the blueprint PDF with the splice and scab schedule (so the workshop knows exactly where every joint goes), all render views and the complete design specification — the moment your Bitcoin payment confirms on the blockchain.