mountboard shredder?

[kev@frames]

is there such a thing as a shredder that will handle mountboard?

[John]

I know that there is such a thing as a cardboard shredder, perhaps that is what you are looking for.

Try here

[kev@frames]

thanks John.
Ouch... they are a pricey bit of kit, eh!

btw: I have recently heard rumblings that many UK councils/refuse services will not now take shredded paper/card because it clogs their alleged recycling machines. ( alleged machines referring to their hidden policy of taking away recyclable material, charging extra for the service on the grounds of recycling and being "green", then incinerating it or putting it in landfill anyway)

[Keith Hewitt]

I suggest you phone your local school art dept. They usually are glad of mount board off cuts. Your waste maybe their gold!
I know of one framer who cuts it all to about 10 x 8 ins and puts it in poly bags and sell sit for £1.00 bag in the local art shop.
Both ideas worth a try before you buy a shredder!

What do other framers do with their off cuts?

Keith Hewitt

[Roboframer]

What do other framers do with their off cuts?

I have two tote boxes, one for neutrals, one for colours, if it fits in, that's where it goes and not back in the storage - so - about A3 down (about 16 x 12")

Apart from the odd smaller job I dip into them for slip-flush-making and supports for needlework stretching.

Now and again Mrs Robo comes and sorts them in to sizes and does as the framer mentioned above does, bags up anything up to 8 x 10 (but much smaller than that mostly gets binned) and prices individually above that 10 - 50p a board, depending on size and/or finish, as there are, suedettes etc included.

When it gets silly we fill the bags they originally come in and give them to our local schools - 3 within a one mile radius, they LOVE them. That is we wait until a teacher/assistant from any of the schools come in and ask them if they want some offcuts, they always do!

We stick a warning on the bags about paper cuts, as fall outs with bevelled edges are quite hazardous in small hands. Two of the schools ensure us that they trim the edges off on a guillotine.

[kev@frames]

thanks for the tip keith, we used to do that when the kids were at school.

there is no shortage of people saying they are wanting offcuts, including schools etc. But they ALL want it delivered round here...... otherwise you are sitting on boxes and boxes of board stored and underfoot till people can be bothered.

believe it or not we can get rid of about a quarter of it easier by bagging it up and selling it in the shop in bundles. If we try to give it away they dont want it, but at a quid or two quid a bundle it whistles out, albiet at a slower rate than we produce it.

I generally bundle up same-size dropout from the CMC into 50s and 100s and sell em at 50p or £1 a bundle, and bin the rest.

Selling Holes. Or as a pal said about the website "Selling Holes in Cyberspace".

To be honest im not too keen on supplying schools etc any more (as mentioned by Robo, some boards will produce a nasty paper cut) and you only need a stray blade or bit of glass chipping in there and the litiigation would start.

We tried giving it to modelling clubs as well, and an architect often takes a bag for architectural models, but even when we find someone who says "ill take all you have got" they generally wind up saying "I had no idea there would be that much..." I suppose this reflects the public's idea that a framer with three staff can make a living by making two frames a day and ought to be charging fifteen pence for a frame, including VAT when the reality is thousands of frames and tens of thouands of mounts, with say, 15 to 20 percent waste.

A big photographic company locally, who use a CMC for photo mounts manage to return all their offcut to the manufacturers for recycling, with the exception of black boards.

I used to have 2 morso woodburning stoves in the old house, and they took care of some of the wood chippings, but even then with some emafyl in there you end up producing some pretty toxic fumes.... then you get accused of illegal disposal (incieration) of "trade waste".

[Keith Hewitt]

I have just visited a contract framer who has "pallets" of off cuts. He has founda novel way of recycling.........

He chops them into small pieces and they are used for "horse bedding" !!

But the framer doesn't know what happens after the horses have finished with it!

Keith Hewitt

[Roboframer]

Oh man, you couldn't use my offcuts for horse bedding - next day you'd have no horse - just a pile of harmless salts!!