Swarf

Okay kiddo, imagine you had a big block of cheese and you wanted to cut it into small pieces. When you use a knife to cut the cheese, little bits of cheese will fall off and make a mess on the table. Those little bits of cheese are like swarf.

But instead of cheese, imagine a grown-up is using a machine to cut metal. The same thing happens: little bits of metal fall off and make a mess on the floor. These little metal bits are also called swarf.

But swarf isn't just a mess – it can be useful too! Sometimes, people collect the swarf from cutting metal, melt it down, and turn it into new pieces of metal. So even though it looks like a mess, swarf can be recycled and made into something new.