Needed four more inches of 3/4 round bar to finish a joint and I was out of stock. Stopped the weld, stood there swearing at the bench for a minute. Then I remembered the offcut bucket under the table that I keep meaning to haul to the scrappers.

Thirty years of not throwing anything away finally paid for its rent. Dug out a piece of the same stock from some job back in the 90s, cut it, fit it, burned it in. The whole arc felt smoother than it should have. Took a photo of the finished weld to show the guy I apprenticed under. He'd have called me a fool for working with salvaged material, then pointed out where the puddle was off.

Anyway. Keep your scraps. The day comes.

That offcut bucket is overdue to be emptied. Maybe next week. Probably not.