It's a great idea and would be a special path compared to just buying the stone. If you have enough that match run those down the middle and use the irregular ones to fill in around. That should keep it from looking jumbled.

You could stain or paint a few with products made for concrete. Add a few mosaic pieces, some bricks and misc. stones to make it special.

I use cinder blocks for raised planting beds.

I'm happy to hear your recovering well from your surgery. I say go for it! When I was working on my patio I had a couple of women at work who said their husbands were working on theirs as well. Mines finished.... Not only is your plan more economical it's also ecological. You're saving the old pavers from the dump and creating less demand on the resources required to make new ones. I think it'll be more interesting visually and more forgiving. If the new pavers aren't exactly straight or exactly level it'll be much more noticeable. I had mostly intact pavers for my patio. The broken ones I used at the edges, it helps it blend into the grass line. Have you looked up broken concrete? Not exactly what you want to do but could give you some ideas. Here's a blog I found when I was looking for ideas. I think her patio is lovely. Good luck and be sure to keep us updated!

Here is a link that might be useful: Broken concrete patio

Some years ago, at our old house, the church next door was tearing up all their sidewalks for a new foundation. My wife begged a punch of broken concrete sidewalk pieces, having seen them made into walks after the LA earthquake. What this has to do with your situation is that they looked fine. Mostly irregular edges and such. The few straight edges lose their straight appearance next to the adjacent irregular. Or you can just knock off a corner. You will be surprised how you can just kind of pick up the next random piece and find a good place for it against the last ones laid. I just brushed dry concrete readymix into the spaces and kept it wet with the sprinkler for a few hours while it set. At night, it kind of glowed. In the day, it looked a bit like a limestone path. Lay and pack a thick bed of sand first so you can more easily level the pieces.

I would do it again. However, I would not do it with four and five inch thick slabs. It was nearly the end of a hand truck and my back moving them.

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and suggestions. I feel validated in my idea, and am happy to see I'm hardly the first to find this a good way to go. Searching for "broken concrete" instead of "broken cinder block" retrieves so many more hits! I found a number of very helpful threads just now.

iamnotapirate-the link is awesome and provides fantastic help from one who has "been there, done that."

rock_oak_deer-you have me thinking about a new design look, adding brick and other smaller stones.

Gerald-you have opened my eyes to sand instead of stone dust, which is what we have always used in the past because our projects were all flat bottomed. I'll be watching craigslist and freecycle for sand now!!

In my area we h ave to pay to discard stone and concrete, so a lot of folks have piles in their yards, just waiting to become my new pathway!! I have to wait until next spring when I am strong enough to do this, but am giddy with excitement at planning and collecting pieces over the winter to get ready. If I can figure out this picture thing I'll post some when I'm done.

I really appreciate your help!!
Beatrice

You can get a lot of materials off craigslist especially if it's expensive to dump them. Some contractors might even drop off stuff if it saves them time and money.

Good luck, Beatrice! I think it is such a great way to recycle & looks so rustic & serves a good purpose! Jeanne S.