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Where to Buy Exotic Wood Scraps

Updated: June 8, 2023
From making pens to jewelry boxes and inlays woodworkers are always looking for exotic wood scraps. Learn where to find these valued pieces of wood in this article.
Exotic Wood Scraps for Sale
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Where to Buy Exotic Wood Scraps

10 Pound Scrap Box

Various Exotic Woods 

TOP PICK: 10# Scrap Box

Buy

What are Exotic Wood Scraps?

First, exotic wood generally refer to woods that are found outside of your country. For example, in the USA woods from South America are generally referred to as “exotic”. 

So why is exotic wood sought after? 

Well, a few reasons:

  • Hardness
  • Variety of color
  • Grain patterns
  • Moisture resistance (eg. Ipe)

Exotic wood scraps, then, are cutoff from larger pieces of board. A number of large wood processors, like Bell Forest Products, collect the cutoffs from exotic lumber that runs through their mills and sells them.

Exotic Wood Scraps: Online Options

Visiting any local wood supplier for exotic scraps usually results in both supply and price disappointment.

However, a better option is to buy online from sources competing to sell scraps.  Online retailers like Amazon, Woodcraft, and Rockler have an abundance of scraps to fit your project.

Exotic Wood Pieces from Amazon

Exotic Scrap Variety Pack

See on Amazon: Exotic Scrap Variety Pack 

While some online orders of exotic wood scraps can be a surprise, this economy priced package will give you predictability with species like Padauk, Zebrawood and others.

And, you’ll have guaranteed sizes of 3/4″ x 2″ x 12″ that you can plan projects to.

Amazon “Big box of exotic wood scraps”

Exotic Wood Pen Blanks

See on Amazon: Exotic Wood Scrap Box (10#) 

Finding specific species of exotic wood scraps can be an undertaking. If you’re more interested in variety of wood, and less focused on species, you’ll find this sample box is worth looking at.

Contains:

  • 10 Pound Box of Scraps
  • Box size: 12.30 x 9.40 x 6.60 inches
  • Variety of species from Ebony, Cocobolo, Zebrawood, Lignum Vitae and more

Maragos Wood Zebrawood - Exotic wood for knife handles

Maragos Zebrawood

See on Amazon: Maragos Zebrawood 

These book matched samples are great for making paired knife handles or other book-matched projects.

Looking for something unique to use on a small project? An exotic wood that is book matched offers a distinct look at an affordable price.
  • Crosscut Zebrawood
  • Wood Scale 3/8″ X 2″ X 5″ 
  • Great for Knife Making
  • Bookmatched

Purple Heart Wood Pieces

Purpleheart Lumber Pack

See on Amazon: 3/4x2x12 Purpleheart 

If you're looking for scraps that are of a specific species, a purple heart scrap-sized order is a good starter.

With not all exotic scraps can be ordered of a specific species, but rather than ordering scraps you can buy species-specific wood to match to your project needs.

  • Purple Heart
  • Four pieces
  • 3/4″ x 2″ x 12″

Exotic Wood Pen Blanks

Exotic Wood Pen Blanks

See on Amazon: 12-Pack Pen Blanks 

One common use of exotic wood scraps is making pen blanks - and fortunately these blanks are available in pen sizes.

Mixed species of:
  • Purple Heart
  • Zebrawood
  • Walnut
  • Padauk
  • Sapele

Purchasing Considerations

Exotic Wood Ends

Exotic Wood Conservation

While exotic wood scraps are a great way to maximize every inch of the board, it’s worth keeping conservation in mind.

And the best way to support that is by purchasing your scraps from reputable wood dealers. For example, the following all use sustainable practices:

Wonder if it’s ever enforced? Well, you’ve probably heard of Lumber Liquidators. In 2015 they paid $13M in fines for importing hardwood from China sourced from eastern Russia in the habitat of the last remaining Siberian tigers.

Good reason to purchase your lumber from a trusted source, huh?

Check reviews before you buy

The great thing about sources like Amazon is the reviews keep the suppliers honest and produce a quality product. Or it should.

And remember, check your expectations when purchasing a uniquely “variable” item. Due to the nature of scrap wood, there are very few purchases where you’re taking a bit of a roll of the dice:

    • Did a piece of wood arrive in a box that was split? Well, it could have been into two smaller pieces.
    • Didn’t get a larger 2×2″ block? Maybe that day, scraps didn’t deal in 8/4 lumber.
    • Wanted a different species or specific species? Well, consider buying a smaller board than what you wanted instead.

In many ways, an exotic wood scrap box is a gift box. Besides, you might get more than you hoped for.

Buying a surprise vs. buying a species

Unless you head to a local hardwood supplier, the odds of buying a scrap box with your species are, as we’ve touched on, maybe 50/50.

And as you consider purchasing a specific piece from a local supplier, remember they likely have it bar-coded and tagged with a price that might surprise you. Because these retailers know a small scrap can be cut into six pens, they are going to prevent a low-priced scrap bin from ruining their margins on other wood products.

I’ve done this myself when I’ve seen $ 1-a-stick hardwoods go on sale. I bought the bin and saved a ton versus even traditional US-based hardwoods. But I didn’t see them do that again.

Frequently Asked Questions for Exotic Wood Scraps

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some exotic woods?​

Five of the most popular exotic woods are Mahogany, Canary Wood, Jarrah, Bamboo, and Ebony. And the list continues from there with fancy colored wood like Purple Heart; dense Ipe used for exterior walkways, and even Cucumbertree.

Is bamboo an exotic hardwood?​

Yes. And due to its speedy growth, it’s a sustainable alternative to slow-maturing woods like Ebony.

Why are some exotic scraps sold by the pound?​

With every other wood purchase sold by the linear board foot or board foot, what’s unique about the scraps? First, consider that leftovers are precisely that. With no two pieces the same size, it’s a math mensa puzzle to piece together a box exactly five-board feet. And second, time is money. Consider how easy it is to put a box on a scale next to a scrap pile of exotic wood and fill it with an expert judgment of a fair deal.

What can I make from exotic hardwood scraps?

If you’re looking to buy exotic hardwood scraps, then chances are you have one project in mind. But when that box of scraps arrives, you’ll likely wonder what else you can do with them.

Here’s a list of popular exotic wood projects:

    • Make new file handles for your tools
    • Wooden coasters with waterproof finishes
    • Cutting board
    • Inlays in larger projects such as jewelry boxes

What’s the best way to cut exotic wood scraps?

Japanese saw for cutting exotic wood scraps

Now this is one of the tricky parts of dealing with scraps. Because of their size, you aren’t going to tackle cutting them with a table saw, or miter saw.

Here are a few possible tools to consider:

    • A bandsaw can split smaller  pieces with greater control
    • Scroll saw
    • Oscillating multi-tool for making small cutoffs
    • Jigsaw
    • Japanese Saw 

With safety first, it’s up to you on the size of the piece and the saw in question.

Summary

So now you know where I would look first for scraps, and with the guide to local hardwood, you can find suppliers in your area. Finally, my last trick is to look up a local woodworkers guild, masters at wood purchasing. And link to local exotic wood suppliers on their websites.

  • About the Author
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( Woodworker )

Eric has been a professional woodworker for over thirty years and has worked in small cabinet shops making everything from kitchen cabinets to hand-made furniture. Now working from a home woodworking shop Eric is sharing his passion for woodworking, tool advice and how-to knowledge from his Minnesota-based woodshop.

4 thoughts on “Where to Buy Exotic Wood Scraps”

  1. My wish is that people that make/have project ideas would share their ideas. Ideas from the type of project to the type of tools that work the best on given hardness. A lot of people could also use a guideline for hardness and how that can effect the ease or difficulty of using given exotics’ for projects. As well as updates. Like the fire in Asia that destroyed so many of the trees that give us blue colored wood. Now it’s about impossible to find at any reasonable price, and quality. I was going to make a patriotic knife stand in reddish, whiteish, and blueish exotic wood, with a few inlays to finish it out as an obvious patriotic stand. I’ve decided to stain a given material blue now so I can move forward. Example here is that: The news about the fire saved me so very much time in not continuing my hunt for the blueish colored wood.

  2. Mark, these are excellent comments on how to handle the unique hardness and grain of exotic woods. I will keep that in mind for future articles. Appreciate!

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