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View Full Version : Sawdust, shavings and waste - what do you do with it?



Todd Burch
07-24-2015, 7:15 PM
Burn it? Bag it and sell it for bedding? Haul it to the dump?

For the slabs and end cuts, I suppose a good sized firewood stack could be produced. What's a good length to chop that stuff up into for firewood?

I think I'll have a lot of bark to deal with too.

I'll be working on the ground, at first, so the shavings (etc) will fall into the grass. It'll have to be a pretty good sized pile to be able to shovel it.

Todd

Tom Hogard
07-24-2015, 10:47 PM
Todd,

Most of my milling production is on-site so I don't have as much to deal with here at home. Of the material produced here, some will end up on the burn pile but I do have outlets. Scrap/slabs are piled on pallets which I sell for firewood at a rate of $20 per pickup load. If someone shows up when I'm in a cleaning mood, or I have quite a bit, I'll forego the $20 to get rid of it. Burning here requires a permit (free) so I only burn once or twice per year. Most of what I mill are hardwoods and I have a couple of people who want the sawdust. One leaves plastic, 55 gallon, drums and will pick them up whenever I send him a text - he makes pellets for his stove. Some want it for compost, mushroom culture, etc. It helps if you can separate by species, sometimes I can, sometimes not (pellet guy wants only hardwood, mixed is fine - composters want no walnut, etc.)

Bert Kemp
07-24-2015, 10:55 PM
The bark can be sold for mulch, slabs as pallet wood and fire wood and sawdust as a material for fire logs. its all good.

Danny Hamsley
07-26-2015, 9:00 AM
I sell the slabs for $10 for all you can load on a pick-up truck or $20 for all you can load on a 16' trailer. The sawdust and planer shavings are sometimes sold at $10 per pick-up truck load unless they have walnut in them. Then, they go to the woods to break down naturally on my tree farm.

Cody Colston
07-28-2015, 12:09 PM
I usually just burn my slabs and sawdust. I have cut Oak slabs into firewood but I'd rather burn split firewood and we don't use a lot with our mild winters, anyway. I do still cut a few hardwood slabs into firewood lengths to use at the lake when camping in cool weather.
I use planer and jointer shavings for mulching around my Blackberries and Cedar shavings for mulching around my Dogwood trees. All the Walnut sawdust and shavings go to the burn pile.

Tim Offutt
07-28-2015, 1:48 PM
I burn the slabs in my boiler. I have a large 16 foot long rack that sits directly behind the mill. It is basically a "U" shaped wooden rack with uprights every 24". I pile the slabs and strips in it as I cut. When it is full I saw them right in the rack then pile them in the loader bucket to move to the woodshed.

I cut all hardwoods and always have a few cord of slabs to burn every winter.

The sawdust is either given to people to use as mulch in their gardens or I spread it on the lanes in the woods to keep weeds down. Works real well for that.

Shawn Pachlhofer
07-30-2015, 9:58 AM
I'm a turner, not a sawmiller - but I still have considerable amounts of material to get rid of...

I have a friend out in the "country" that uses all my wood shavings (from turning, and from chainsawing blanks) for mulch. I'll bag them all up and when I have a truckload (6 or 8 large bags) I deliver them.

off cuts and wood I don't turn (too punky, no figure, too much checking) - I give away to my neighbors to use in their fire pits.

all walnut shavings are bagged up separately and put out for the city to pick up and take to the dump.

Robert Engel
07-30-2015, 6:10 PM
Burn it....

bill howes
08-04-2015, 5:34 PM
I burn the slabs in my boiler. I have a large 16 foot long rack that sits directly behind the mill. It is basically a "U" shaped wooden rack with uprights every 24". I pile the slabs and strips in it as I cut. When it is full I saw them right in the rack then pile them in the loader bucket to move to the woodshed.

I cut all hardwoods and always have a few cord of slabs to burn every winter.

The sawdust is either given to people to use as mulch in their gardens or I spread it on the lanes in the woods to keep weeds down. Works real well for that.

I'm not sure about the latter. A good friend builds canoes and used the cedar shavings to build paths into the words. Unfortunately a fire in the woods followed the path back to his home which was burned to the ground. I'd scratch that one off my options
Bill

John TenEyck
08-07-2015, 8:17 PM
I cut the slabs into firewood for my wood stove. I love free heat. The bark that falls off and the saw dust go onto a big pile out back that my wife uses as part of her feedstock for the chipper/shredder to make mulch for all our planter beds. Same for all the planer chips I make from the dried wood. Even as a hobbiest wood miller I produce hundreds of gallons of sawdust every year.

John

Larry Edgerton
08-09-2015, 7:42 AM
Not as coarse as sawmill shavings but my shop makes about 2000 gallons of chips a year. I have ten acres and I just spread it around in the hardwoods. I just disappears in a year or so. Poplar goes in the garden or compost pile.

Bud Millis
08-10-2015, 12:27 PM
All of the shavings, sawdust goes into the compost pile or straight to the garden and tilled in. The scrap boards get burned for camp or backyard fires. once its ashes it goes into the garden. I don't care what kind of wood it is - I use a lot of walnut and I have tomato plants over 8" tall out there now.

Cody Colston
08-10-2015, 1:25 PM
All of the shavings, sawdust goes into the compost pile or straight to the garden and tilled in.

Do you have to add a lot of nitrogen fertilizer to the garden when you put un-composted shavings/sawdust in it?
I think I will begin stockpiling the sawdust from the mill and shavings from the woodshop for composting...except for the Cedar. It takes too long to break down into compost. My vegetable garden plot is very sandy and the soil could use some amending. I bought 16 yards of Black Gold compost last fall and tilled it in but that stuff is pricey.

Ryan Mooney
08-10-2015, 1:35 PM
Firewood and fire starter for friends (and for the fire pit to a lesser extent).

The green shavings from "safer" woods end up as mulch on the flower beds.

Recently found a potter who does pit fired pottery and can burn large amounts of wood that way as well.

Bruce Page
08-10-2015, 1:43 PM
Most cut offs & waste become kindling. Sawdust/chips from the DC goes to the dump.

Larry Edgerton
08-13-2015, 6:34 PM
Do you have to add a lot of nitrogen fertilizer to the garden when you put un-composted shavings/sawdust in it?
I think I will begin stockpiling the sawdust from the mill and shavings from the woodshop for composting...except for the Cedar. It takes too long to break down into compost. My vegetable garden plot is very sandy and the soil could use some amending. I bought 16 yards of Black Gold compost last fall and tilled it in but that stuff is pricey.

I'm not Bud, but yes. I do have a soil testing kit and keep an eye on it because it can become nitrogen deficient. I also add nitrogen to the compost pile to speed the breakdown of the sawdust in the pile.

Larry, not Bud.........

James Tibbetts
08-13-2015, 6:47 PM
OK, so what's the deal with some folks keeping the walnut stuff separate?

Cody Colston
08-13-2015, 7:02 PM
OK, so what's the deal with some folks keeping the walnut stuff separate?

Walnut contains a natural herbicide called Juglone. It is concentrated mostly in the leaves and bark and does not affect all plants but I don't need to take any chances with my vegetables. Once it is composted, it's safe.

Walnut can also be lethal to horses so don't use it for stall bedding.

James Tibbetts
08-14-2015, 10:09 AM
Thanks Cody. Nice to learn something everyday!

Dean Van Dolsen
09-23-2015, 1:21 PM
Walnut can also be lethal to horses so don't use it for stall bedding.

What he said.

AL Ursich
09-23-2015, 8:38 PM
Thanks Cody. Nice to learn something everyday!

Great Thread... Learned a few things...

AL

Zach Ware
12-03-2015, 10:12 PM
I primarily pine and I give all the slabs to my brother. he burns them or whatever. I don't care. they're out of the way

Mike Gresham
12-04-2015, 11:22 AM
Do you have to add a lot of nitrogen fertilizer to the garden when you put un-composted shavings/sawdust in it?

I always have because Mother Earth News said you should. I also put it in the garden when I put fresh sawdust in the garden in the fall. Theory is that the organisms that chew on the sawdust deplete the nitrogen.

Curt Harms
12-05-2015, 7:24 AM
Wildlife/animal rescues can use planer chips & shavings as bedding. I don't know that they'd care for a lot of fine sawdust though.

Mick Bennett
12-23-2015, 5:59 PM
Years ago, when I was a Boy Scout, a local sawmill donated slabs to us. They were cut about 18" long. We loaded them on a truck and drove around looking for homes with chimneys. We sold them by the rick pretty cheap and still made a lot of money. Win/ win.

Mason Hanson
09-05-2018, 3:38 PM
I often do the same thing with my leftover pieces of sawdust. It's wonderful for starting a fire. I found this article online that explains several helpful ways to use leftover pieces of sawdust... https://housetipster.com/housetips/9126/10-surprising-uses-for-sawdust
Instead of going to the store and having to spend money on weed killer or mulch, you can use sawdust. It's very effective and you avoid wasting your extra sawdust. Next time you finish a home improvement project and have leftover sawdust you should consider using it for chores around your home rather than immediately throwing it away.

david privett
09-05-2018, 9:31 PM
I have erosion ditch areas that I put it in to slow down the water coming off the ridge ,it catches sticks and leaves and also acts like a filter keeping stuff out of the pond. and a place to keep fire starter and fire wood for people who want stuff for free stay outta of my wood stove pile.

Aaron Rosenthal
09-13-2018, 2:09 PM
I'm not a gardener so my 2 pickup machines are a 1 HP Delta for the table saw, jointer & chop saw, and a dust deputy for the rest.
We have weekly pickup for recyclables, garden waste, food scraps etc. The municipality takes it all and makes it into composted soil for re-use.
It's where mine goes.