Where does it go?

[Jaze Derr]

What do YOU do with your sawdust/shavings?

The amount of shavings I'm making seems impossible to keep up with.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2682/4449666788_5c00c7450d_o.jpg

That's just a small sample from the EDGES of an 8ft 2x board!

If you choose "Other" in the poll...what exactly do you do?

[Chen-Tin Tsai]

I end up just bagging mine and throwing it in the trash. I'm also curious to see what other folks do with their shavings.

[Alan Bienlein]

Last three 42 gallon bags were pecan shaving I gave to a neighbor. He wanted to use them to smoke on the grill.

[gary Zimmel]

Mine ends up being spread in our back pasture.
Unless there is walnut in the bags. Then it will go to the dumpster at work.
I used to put in in our horses stalls but found the fine stuff made to much air born dust as the horses walked on it.

[John Coloccia]

I toss them over the big drop on my property. It sits there until the next rain, and then it goes away.

[Cody Colston]

I put a bunch of Cedar planer shavings around all my Dogwood trees as mulch. Some gets put in the compost pile but most of it goes into my burn pile...a washed out gully where I throw all my sawdust, wood scraps and yard waste. When I get a big heap, I burn it.

Using rough-sawn lumber, I don't know how you in-town folks handle the waste. I can easily generate four or five 35 gallon DC drums of chips in a day if I am jointing/planing a bunch of lumber for a fair sized project.

I've read and even started threads on this subject looking for a use for the sawdust I generate. I've read the tips about fire starter logs, grills, etc. but those solutions are for the weekender making very small projects. I have yet to see a solution for the mounds of sawdust and shavings that a serious, amature woodworker generates, not to mention a professional.

It seems a shame to burn it, but I haven't found a better alternative.

[Jim Terrill]

When I was in high school, we had one collector connected to the planers and jointers and the shavings that it collected were given to a farmer for use as bedding material. For the fine stuff, we used piles and piles of it to thicken epoxy for boatbuilding. Anything we didn't use was used in a compost pile, but we had to be careful with what woods people were using- fine for most domestics to use them as compost, but the exotics can kill off the plants you are trying to feed.

[Myk Rian]

I'm making a ski hill.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19721130&id=r1AiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8KwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5570,3301200

[Rob Holcomb]

I give mine to a friend for use as bedding in his barn. Sometimes I burn some but it doesn't burn very good so that's not very often

[Fred Perreault]

I offer mine to 3 families that raise poultry. But since I built my DC, I now have the material pumped directly outside from a 7' elevated duct. It comes out on the wooded side of my shop, and with the wind and mother nature, they disappear soon enough. If the families want some, they take it off the floor before it is sent outside.

[Bill Huber]

I put mine in the back of my pickup and drive really fast down the highway...:D

Not really, I take them out to a wooded area and spread them out so they will help make more wood so I can make more saw dust.

[Karl Brogger]

In the summer it goes into a cart and is spread out over the pasture. In the winter when the snow gets too deep to get to the pasture, I save it up a bit and then pile it up on a flat bed trailer and go for a drive.:D Once I'm in a new building and I'm able to move the dust collection outside it'll get pumped from a cyclone to a dump trailer, then probably to the landfill, or a possibly to a landscaper friend to mix in with soil.

Walnut dust/shavings mixed with urine creates an acid that can rot out the hoves of horses. I think it also applies to other hoofed livestock, but not 100% on that.

[Myk Rian]

Walnut dust/shavings mixed with urine creates an acid that can rot out the hoves of horses. I think it also applies to other hoofed livestock, but not 100% on that.
Thank you for that. I got called on the carpet because I said walnut was bad for animals.

[Peter Quinn]

the farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell....mine goes back to work. There is huge cyclone (two actually) that dump outside into a couple of garage type things that are kept empty by a local farmer. He uses them for bedding and trades bedding to others too. He collects the stuff year round. My little bags look like nothing when dumped into that pile.

Once in a while I'll save some clean pine or maple shavings for the neighbors rabbit hutch, and now and then they leave in a black bag in my trash barrel, but generally I try to give them a second life out of respect for the tree.

[Jeff Mohr]

I take all my shavings and then compress them and make my own MDF.....

I wish.....

I dump them out back in the compost pile and mix with soil and leaves.....weeds seem to grow with no problem on that pile but with the walnut and exotic wood dust in the pile I'm afraid to use it on my garden.....

[David Helm]

First, I don't use exotic woods. I only use local Big Leaf Maple, CVG Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and Yellow Cedar. When I had chickens it was used for bedding and ultimately went into the garden. Now it gets composted (needs to rot for at least a year) and ultimately goes into the garden. My garden is quite large and uses organic amendments rapidly.

[Bruce Page]

I'm making a ski hill.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19721130&id=r1AiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8KwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5570,3301200

That was fun reading through that old newspaper. The TV & fridge ads brought back memories!

[Tony Shea]

I use most of my shavings for my compost piles. I very rarely work with exotics and therefore don't have to worry about that issue.

Walnut... what exactly is the issue with walnut in compost piles? I don't use walnut much but did not realize that this was bad for the compost. What exactly is the problem?

[David Helm]

Walnut produces a chemical that inhibits growth. I think it is a part of the trees evolution to ensure propagation of the species.

[Zach England]

Walnut produces a chemical that inhibits growth. I think it is a part of the trees evolution to ensure propagation of the species.


This is juglone. Adequate composting should break it down, but it will take a while.

I am using sawdust for vermicompost (in addition to traditional compost) and chicken bedding. The next step is "humanure", but I think my .09 acre lot (that includes the house) is lacking the space to do this properly.

[Tony Bilello]

I have local potters pick up my sawdust and shavings. It is used in low temperature firing to make Raku pottery. The nice part is that I dont have to remove things like lost nails and screws. When the sawdust/shavings are burning it will heat up the metal and make colors on the pottery. Jus t sweep and bag and have the potters pick the bags up. They like shavings better than sawdust because the shavings flare up.
Check with local galleries and potters and you might find that they will want your 'stuff'. It is better to have the tree recycled one more time than end up in landfill.

[Jaze Derr]

Tony, I think that's a pretty cool way to dispose of your shavings. Nice to see that even the "leftovers" can be used to create beauty!

[Gary Breckenridge]

I figure that since wood comes out of the forest that is where the sawdust and shavings go. Kind of laughs in the face of the quote, "You can't go home again.":cool:

[Jaze Derr]

Oh, David, I see you are in Bellingham! I just moved from Bellingham 2 years ago, and I'm impatiently waiting for my relatives in this horrible state to die so I can move back home.

Lived in Whatcom County for 10 years, and it became home in my heart! Miss it so very much...

[Mike Heidrick]

Burn pile.

[Terry Hatfield]

Always compost unless there is a bunch of mdf or such.

t

[Vince Shriver]

[QUOTE=Jaze Ficarra;1379279]Oh, David, I see you are in Bellingham! I just moved from Bellingham 2 years ago, and I'm impatiently waiting for my relatives in this horrible state to die so I can move back home.

Classic! (Wiping the coffee off the screen.)

[Curt Harms]

at least in suburban areas. I've gotten rid of a few bags of oak/ash/pine shavings that way.

[Mike Cruz]

Since not all woods make good shavings for horses, I end up putting mine directly into the manuer pile. Its will decompose with the rest of the poop, urine, and bedding, and eventually gets spread across fields as fertilizer by the farmer that comes and removes it from my property.

[Rod Sheridan]

Most of the sawdust and shavings I use go to Diann's parents, who use it for chicken bedding.

The remainder is used for mulch and composting.

Regards, Rod.

[David Helm]

Oh, David, I see you are in Bellingham! I just moved from Bellingham 2 years ago, and I'm impatiently waiting for my relatives in this horrible state to die so I can move back home.

Lived in Whatcom County for 10 years, and it became home in my heart! Miss it so very much...

I've now been here for nearly 40 years and wouldn't think of living anywhere else. Don't know if I would wish for your relatives to die so you could move back. Maybe they can come with you.

[Dan Gill]

Mulch with some, throw some away. If there is more than about 10% walnut, I don't mulch with it.

[Jason White]

Compost bin, as long as there's no plywood or MDF dust mixed in with it.

Jason



What do YOU do with your sawdust/shavings?

The amount of shavings I'm making seems impossible to keep up with.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2682/4449666788_5c00c7450d_o.jpg

That's just a small sample from the EDGES of an 8ft 2x board!

If you choose "Other" in the poll...what exactly do you do?

[Jaze Derr]

Classic! (Wiping the coffee off the screen.)


well, it's true! I only moved back here for the family, and I'm starting to wish I hadn't. I really really hate it here.

After the oldies kick the bucket, I'm kidnapping my aunts and making them move with me.

Hope you didn't ruin your screen! :)