Getting rid of sawdust and unwanted scrape

[Johnnyy Johnson]

What do you guys do with your saw dust and scrap? Will saw dust burn very good in a 55 gallon barrel?l

[Myk Rian]

What do you guys do with your saw dust and scrap? Will saw dust burn very good in a 55 gallon barrel?l
It will smolder, like underground coal mine fires.
Since none of my neighbors want my scrap pieces to burn, I put them in a paper grocery bag and throw them in the trash can. The DC gets spread in the woods.

[Mark Patoka]

I spread the sawdust in the woods or in my composter and save the scraps for our backyard firepit.

[Steve Kohn]

Like others, sawdust under the trees for mulch. The scrap wood goes to the local Boy Scout troop for kindling.

[Glen Butler]

Saw dust will burn in small amounts but piled in a barrel it will not be able to get air.


Like others, sawdust under the trees for mulch.

Oh what a site I would have if I did this. I think the trees would be buried under a pile of saw dust.:D Thankfully I have a dump trailer.

[Paul Atkins]

There is such a thing as unwanted scraps? I use the chips for the garden paths and a bit in the compost. A friend gets some for his animal pens.

[Myk Rian]

Just a warning;
You don't want Walnut dust or chips near animals or plants.

[Chen-Tin Tsai]

What about scraps of softwood like pine and fir? Can the shaving/dust be used as mulch as well? :)

[Quinn McCarthy]

I have a lady who comes to get my saw dust and uses it for horse bedding. Shop scraps go to somebody who uses them in their wood burning stove.

Quinn

[Jim Riseborough]

sell the saw dust on craigstlist, $5 a bag

[Matt Meiser]

Sawdust around trees in the side yard or out on the trails in the "back 7." Plywood, scrap with glue/finish/etc, or anything shorter than the distance from my saw blade to the the edge of the main table casting (maybe 9"?) goes in a drum to be burned later. Anything bigger gets cut into short lengths using the measurement above and goes in boxes to take camping.

Burgers grilled over cherry coals with small maple scraps added for smoke as they grill...mmmmm!

[Matt Day]

I put the sawdust out with the trash - landlord doesn't want it in the garden or trees.

Hardwood scraps go to friends who have wood burning stoves, and pine/ply/mdf goes in the trash as well.

Though I try to use all my scrap for something, it gets to be overwhelming every few months and I have to get rid of it.

[Joe Cowan]

I have a full size outdoor fireplace in the patio between my house and shop. Scraps are burned there and the sawdust is scattered over the ditchbank behind my house to hinder weeds etc.

[Jason White]

Why?

Jason


Just a warning;
You don't want Walnut dust or chips near animals or plants.

[Brian Greb]

Some scraps get glued up in to turning blanks... or if there long and straight I glue them up in to boards. Odd shaped scrap, or what I call crap wood gets burned... dc and sweepings get spread in compost pile out back.

ply-wood that is useless and small gets burned... and I let the city take a way MDF scraps

[Homer Faucett]

Why?

Jason

Myk's assertion is a bit of an overstatement. Horses exhibit a severe sensitivity to jugulone (the compound in black walnut and related woods that shows toxicity in some organisms), and only some plants show jugulone sensitivity--it's a defense mechanism that walnut trees use to prevent too much vegetation from competing with it within its drip line.

From the Purdue extension report found at http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/HO/HO-193.pdf . I have black walnut trees in my yard, and can tell you that there are plenty of plants that will grow just fine in black walnut sawdust, as well as near the root zone.


Plants Observed to Be Sensitive to Juglone
Vegetables: asparagus, cabbage, eggplant, pepper,
potato, rhubarb, tomato.


Fruits: apple, blackberry, blueberry, pear.


Landscape plants: black alder; azalea; basswood; white
birch; ornamental cherries; red chokeberry; crabapple;
hackberry; Amur honeysuckle; hydrangea; Japanese
larch; lespedeza; lilac; saucer magnolia; silver maple;
mountain laurel; pear; loblolly pine; mugo pine; red pine;
scotch pine; white pine; potentilla; privet; rhododendron;
Norway spruce; viburnum (few); yew.


Flowers and herbaceous plants: autumn crocus
(Colchichum); blue wild indigo (Baptisia); chrysanthemum
(some); columbine; hydrangea; lily; narcissus (some);
peony (some); petunia; tobacco.

Field crops: alfalfa; crimson clover; tobacco.

[Myk Rian]

Why?

Jason
It is toxic to them. Us also.
A Google search of "toxic woods list" brings up all kinds of info.

Did you know cherry releases cyanide?

[Matt Meiser]

I asked my next door neighbor who harness races and has anywhere from 6-10 horses at any given time about walnut because he said anytime I want to dump my sawdust on his pile I'm more than welcome since he usually has to pay to truck it in. He basically said I can't generate enough to harm them.

[Michael Heffernan]

I save all my hardwood scraps for my barbecue smoker. Nothing like a smoked pulled pork or spare ribs after a long day in the shop.
Sawdust from the DC and plywood, MDF goes in the trash.

[Stephen Edwards]

Wood scraps get burned in the wood stoves, house and shop. Large shavings from the DC separator barrel are used for kindling and sawdust goes on the ditch bank.

Sometimes a neighbor will want some shavings for their chicken coop.

[Myk Rian]

The way I understand it, the sawdust we generate and collect in the DC are the fines, as small as 1 micron, and of course the larger chips. When the fines are introduced into an animal environment it gets kicked up and breathed in by the animals, and their handlers. Walnut is an especially aggressive irritant, and also has toxic properties. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out the long term effects.

We don't want to breathe these dust particles because they are harmful. Why would animals be any different? If your friends still want this dust, at least tell them the dangers of it.

[Brian W Evans]

Solid wood scraps in the wood stove. Plywood scraps in the fire pit in the back yard. MDF in the trash.

A horticulturist once told me that sawdust, especially from soft woods, is good for acid-loving plants. I've never checked this with an independent source, but I do it and the plants seem to like it - my blueberries especially.

[Terry Hatfield]

Unwanted scraps? Never heard of such. :D

[Joe Wiliams]

Anyone make pellets?

http://www.squidoo.com/How_to_Make_Wood_Pellets

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Ask your friends at work. I have a few that want my turning scraps for mulch. But then, I don't turn truckloads....

Just a note, for you who use sawdust as mulch. It leeches nitrogen from the soil. It won't kill your plants/trees, but you may want to toss some fertilizer in there along with the sawdust to compensate. The fertilizer also helps the mulch decompose a little faster.

[Darnell Hagen]

I sell mine to a butcher, he uses them to smoke meat.

I keep a box around, especially at camping season. I look like a hero, a hot snapping fire of hardwood scraps while my buddies are splitting wet firewood. Nothing starts a fire like a handful of plane shavings, a bag of that goes in every box.

[Mike Henderson]

For plants, walnut is not as toxic as some people make it out to be. I use it as mulch around plants and it does not harm established plants. Folklore says that it will keep weeds from growing but I still get weeds around plants that I mulch with walnut.

My advice is not to use it with seedlings but beyond that, I haven't seen any toxic effects on any plants - and I've put a LOT of walnut sawdust and shavings on my garden.

Mike

[As Kyle pointed out, I also put a handful or so of fertilizer with the wood swarf.]