Uses for planer/jointer chips.....

[Mark Blatter]

It might seems strange to ask this question in the 'Off Topic Forum' but I see the uses for chips as off topic.

I am wondering what other do with the perhaps bags or bins full of wood chips. It doesn't take much milling of lumber to create a fair volume of chips. I have struggled to find a good use for them, but this year I have been using them as mulch around my tomato plants. Putting mulch down helps prevent bacteria and viruses from getting onto the plants, so lots of maple and other hardwood chips have been going down around my plants.

Other uses?

I try not to get other items like mdf or particle board mixed into my actual wood chips. Not always possible of course but I mostly am successful.

[Warren Lake]

not that simple for the garden, Ask Daryl and his other brother Daryl about the Fu.

some shavings will not be good in a garden.

Horse bedding for some woods.

I use it to start the woodstove.

[Dave Zellers]

I use it to start the woodstove.

Likewise..

[Prashun Patel]

Walnut gets thrown away or burned in my fire pit.

I try to compost the rest. It’s a great source of carbon as a compliment to nitrogen rich kitchen scraps.

[Curt Harms]

I drop off suitable chips here:

https://www.aark.org

They use them for bedding. I work with mostly domestics so no real concerns about toxicity. If I am planing walnut I empty or change the bag.

[George Yetka]

I drop off suitable chips here:

https://www.aark.org

They use them for bedding. I work with mostly domestics so no real concerns about toxicity. If I am planing walnut I empty or change the bag.

Did you also carve their sign?
I have a good amount of property, at least for my area, I throw my barrel on the quad and drive it to the back of the yard just into the woods and dump it. It would be nice if there were better uses for it. I do however use alot of walnut.

[Rod Sheridan]

Like Prashant, I compost mine…..Regards, Rod

[Stan Calow]

I use for mulch, or muddy spots in the lawn. Sometimes I will use chips and sawdust to soak up spills, or to solidify paint in cans that I want to get rid of.

[Kev Williams]

make coffee table tops out them with liquid acrylic resin...

[Lee DeRaud]

make coffee table tops out them with liquid acrylic resin...Sounds like DIY particle board. :)

Might work if we were talking about the output from a wood chipper...never mind, now I'm having a 'Fargo' flashback.

[Bill Dufour]

Use them to scrub off paint after the paint remover has soaked for a while. Saw that one on a PBS furniture refinishing show/series.
Throw them all over the floor before painting as a dropcloth.
Bill D

[Izzy Camire]

I use shavings to start the woodstove. I use a small pile of shavings from the planer in the middle. Then I put a couple long ones from a handplane on each end of the pile. Put a match to each end and it all lights right up and gets the twigs on top of going quickly.

[John K Jordan]

Did you also carve their sign?
I have a good amount of property, at least for my area, I throw my barrel on the quad and drive it to the back of the yard just into the woods and dump it. It would be nice if there were better uses for it. I do however use alot of walnut.

Mine mulches spots in our woods. I think we have about 15 acres of "wild" woods, plenty of space to spread them out.

Planer chips from poplar and pine I usually throw into the peacock cages. Bales of compressed pine chips are sold for this at the farm stores.
I've read many warnings against using walnut for livestock, especially horses.
https://www.savvyhorsewoman.com/2016/01/are-my-wood-shavings-poisonous.html

[Jim Becker]

I'm entering a new world relative to dust/chip disposal here at our new property because I can no longer just dump in in a big pile on the property. (same goes for tree/plant clippings) It has to go in the trash. Since I work enough with black walnut and non-solid wood products, it can't really be used for flower beds after composting nor for animal bedding. This is one small disadvantage of downsizing. :)

[Roger Feeley]

There are machines that take wood chips and extrude pellets for use in stoves and such.

[Curt Harms]

Did you also carve their sign?
I have a good amount of property, at least for my area, I throw my barrel on the quad and drive it to the back of the yard just into the woods and dump it. It would be nice if there were better uses for it. I do however use alot of walnut.

Carve their sign? I wish.
"Our beautiful Aark sign was created and donated by Donna Genovese."

[Aiden Pettengill]

Be careful with using wood shavings as mulch around the garden. As wood decomposes it leaches the available nitrogen (nitrogen in the form that plants can use) out of the soil and it can take a while even after the shavings are fully composted for it to return to normal. If you do use it as mulch just make sure to keep an eye on your nitrogen levels. I personally use some of my shavings and turn them into fire starters. All you do is take an egg crate, fill the spots with crumbled shavings(or smooshed depending on how dry they are), cut pieces of thin hemp rope and stick it upright in the center of each spot, and then pour the melted remains of old candles over it until its a rather solid mass. When they harden you cut each individual egg holder appart. They work great!

[Jim Becker]

Yes, it needs to be composted first before using in the garden.

[John K Jordan]

Yes, it needs to be composted first before using in the garden.

What about blueberries? A friend mulches her blueberries with mounds of oak leaves. I wonder if oak shavings/sawdust would work. Do both leaves and shavings provide an acid soil? All her bushes are thriving like crazy.

[Warren Lake]

depends on the Fu, ask Daryl and his other brother Daryl.

Ive seen stuff wrecked from red oak in the past but fine with pine.

I tried to find a clip of the brothers talking about PH however tons of many other of their revelations. Wise men that they are.

[Aiden Pettengill]

What about blueberries? A friend mulches her blueberries with mounds of oak leaves. I wonder if oak shavings/sawdust would work. Do both leaves and shavings provide an acid soil? All her bushes are thriving like crazy.
It would be wise to just use leaves. Wood takes longer to break down and therefor sucks more nitrogen out of the soil.

[John K Jordan]

It would be wise to just use leaves. Wood takes longer to break down and therefor sucks more nitrogen out of the soil.

Ok, I'll try that this fall. I usually blow them down into the woods but I could load the dump trailer full with oak leaves. I have a few blueberry bushes that are thriving and some not so much.

[Mel Fulks]

Don’t blueberries need acid soil ? I’ve heard saw dust is more acid than leaves.

[Jim Becker]

Some plants do indeed need more acidic soil, Mel. The concern with raw sawdust pulling nitrates out of the soll excessively may still be an issue. According to what I've read, nitrates in the soil don't contribute to acidity and may even take things the other way. (https://www.cropnutrition.com/resource-library/fertilizers-and-soil-acidity)

[Curt Harms]

Some plants do indeed need more acidic soil, Mel. The concern with raw sawdust pulling nitrates out of the soll excessively may still be an issue. According to what I've read, nitrates in the soil don't contribute to acidity and may even take things the other way. (https://www.cropnutrition.com/resource-library/fertilizers-and-soil-acidity)

True about a temporary nitrogen deficit I've read. Isn't there a recommendation when creating or adding to a compost heap to add some nitrogen fertilizer to counteract the nitrogen uptake? Presumably the same would be true of spreading un-composted materials.

[Aiden Pettengill]

True about a temporary nitrogen deficit I've read. Isn't there a recommendation when creating or adding to a compost heap to add some nitrogen fertilizer to counteract the nitrogen uptake? Presumably the same would be true of spreading un-composted materials.

Yes. However if you wanted to do things completely organically you can add greens like lawn clippings which are rich in nitrogen. The problem is when you just spread things that take a while to decompose instead of mixing nitrogen rich (greens) and nitrogen lacking (browns) which allows for more rapid decomposition.

[Rob Luter]

True about a temporary nitrogen deficit I've read. Isn't there a recommendation when creating or adding to a compost heap to add some nitrogen fertilizer to counteract the nitrogen uptake? Presumably the same would be true of spreading un-composted materials.

This is what I do. I don't create too much (maybe a couple 55 gallon drums annually) so I throw it on the compost pile with the grass clippings and ashes from the grill. If I'm not getting the rot rate I need I'll scatter a couple handfuls of high nitrogen fertilizer pellets on the heap. In a few months it's a big pile of black soil. If I have a bonfire scheduled I'll sometimes throw it on the heap.

[Prashun Patel]

I agree with the others about this. In fact, if you compost your kitchen scraps, they're nitrogen rich. And you need a higher volume of carbon (like 2-4x) to nitrogen for good compost activity. My compost pile is usually a little wet. With the sawdust or chips (no thicker than plane shavings) I can really add a ton to the pile without tipping things in the other direction.

But then again, I'm not making chips at the velocity of most. I probably get a bag or two during the summer.

[Dwayne Watt]

We spread them along the bottom of the fences surrounding our backyard to suppress the weeds and bermuda grass. Keeps trimming to a minimum.