Everyone has a pile of scraped projects .. some call it the bucket of shame.. 

I occasionally melt a few especially annoying failures  down in a crucible and make "wootz " from it. I have seen others and i have also wadded up a bunch and welded them up into a Damascus billet.. and every once in a while ill pull one out and finish it ..but  mostly the pile gets to big , gets in the way and I scrap it ..  

MP

I have always said that I judge the progress, and potential, of a smith by how many "buckets of blades" they had accumulated.  It really isn't how about how many blades you have made, it is how many you have thrown away that really counts.  When I visit a smith's shop and they show me a few blades presented on velvet pillows, regardless of how good they appear, I am not that impressed.  But when I see those piles of scrapped blades, that actually look pretty good, tossed aside with apparent disdain for the smallest of problems, I know I am dealing with an entirely other level of bladesmith.      

I too have my stack of shame. The bucket of shame got moved out to the steel yard……..

some I have cut up and tried to weld back together into a Damascus billet, but I prefer making Damascus under control. Using scrap blades in a billet can yield some interesting random patterns though.

I say that one of the best things about forging rather than stock removal is those bad blades can always be forged into something useful. Reforge a blade into a hole punch or a scribe or a coat hook.

I have a pile of scrapped projects as well.  Sometimes its fun to dig through the bucket just to gauge improvement

Thanks for the great responses guys!  Guess I am going to be trying Damascus then.  Gow do you guys make your scrap damascus? Cannister or just cuttimg up and layering?