What do you do with your saw dust?

[Tom Henry]

I was wondering if anyone does anything creative with there saw dust. Can it be used for gardens or grass?:rolleyes:

[Robert Mickley]

Berries like it, not to good for the rest of the garden it doesnt let enough moisture through.

I compost most of it. Walnut goes in its own pile. it produes a chemical called juglone that kills off the competition.

Some plants are tolerant of it. Heres a list I keep bookmarked for referance.

http://wihort.uwex.edu/landscape/Juglone.htm

I've also taken walnut sawdust from the sawmill and made a non selective weedkiller out of it.

If I get a drum full of planer shavings those go in the outdoor boiler. Fines from the sander and the saw burn but not as well

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Feed it to the worms in my lawn. Wood has lots of nitrogen.

[Ted Baca]

I save it in 30 gallon trash can till it's full then throw it away and start all over. I like to keep some around for spills. Since I do some of my own mechanic work on my old truck there is the occasional oil spill.

[Joash Boyton]

I give it away, sell it, donate it...whatever!! Get rid of it!!:D

[Jim Becker]

It goes in our compost pile and is also used on the pathways of our veggie garden. Raw sawdust/chips shouldn't go directly into the garden as they will suck the nitrogen out of the soil. Compost first...

[Doug Gilluley]

I give it to my wife. I say "Here Honey, I've got some sawdust for you!" She seems really happy about it and a couple says later I get to see her again.
When women are happy, don't ask why. Just shut up and be happy too.

Doug

[Mark Rios]

Feed it to the worms in my lawn. Wood has lots of nitrogen.


Cliff, far be it from me to disagree with you but, in this case I must. Sawdust pulls nitrogen fron the ground in order to decompose, it doesn't provide it. If you, in fact, have lots of worms in your lawn, they are decomposing/composting it for you but it is still pulling the nitrogen it needs to break down from the soil.

Sawdust (not including treated wood sawdust and woods like walnut) is good to use in a compost bin and then into the garden but, on it's own just thrown out on the ground, in the lawn or garden bed, it is actually hard on the plants. That's why it is very good as a mulch, better in fact than wood chips. In a compost pile, there are other materials in there that provide the nitrogen for the decomposing/composting process.


To answer Tom's question, I've used it, and do now use it, for weed control, especially when I use a lot of walnut. But I only bother with spreading it around when I have a lot of it like when I use my planer. Otherwise I just throw it into the garbage can or the green waste can.

[Mike Henderson]

I use it as a mulch and add a handful of fertilizer to help it decompose. I've always heard that it requires nitrogen to decompose and that's why I add the fertilizer.

Mike

[Earl Reid]

We decompose some and use it for mulch. Most goes in with the rubish. I us ammonia on the compost pile.

Earl

[Joe Trotter]

I dump it in the calf pens.

[David Klug]

I put most of it in my horseshoe pits.

DK

[Henry Cavanaugh]

Mark you are right about robbing nitrogen to break it down. But I would think Cliff is also right that it adds nitrogen back to the soil, after its decomposed thus adding more than it robs. Just a guess though.If the worms are breaking it down and they are adding castings and aerating (sp?) then its a good thing. My saw dust goes to the compost. The best thing to add nitrogen to the soil is not killing off the clover which is a legume that adds nitrogen to the soil. Free fertilizer.

[Matt Calder]

All,
If I may reinterpret Tom's original question. Is anyone doing anything -creative- with their sawdust? I just milled a whole lot of blood wood and cherry. I have to admit I stared at those piles of red and amber shavings, the jugs of epoxy, the red and amber,... I've certainly used wood flour and epoxy to make fillers of various sorts. Sawdust would present challenges but it might give interesting results. Has anyone done homemade hardwood OSB?

Matt

[Greg Sznajdruk]

About ten years ago I bought ten acres of maple bush. A sawmill that is still in business owned this land. The bush was harvested last 90 years ago. There are large mounds in a corner of the property about 5 feet high. Took a shovel to discover what these mounds were, you guessed it they were saw dust from the on-site milling that was done 90 years ago. Looks like it may take some time for saw dust to break down.

Greg

[Bob Spare]

My daughter took my sawdust, last christmas and made rendieer terds glued the saw dust up in small balls and package them. She printed her own cute sayings from her printer and stapled them on the small packages of terds.

I thought she was NUTS.

She sold $300. worth of terds that x-mas.:eek:

Now you could do the same with rabbit, skunk, etc.:D

[Mark Singer]

add a little milk....a sliced banana..... It is high in fiber...you will be a regular guy:rolleyes:

[Mitchell Andrus]

I put it on my corn flakes in the morning.

Mitch

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Sawdust pulls nitrogen fron the ground in order to decompose, it doesn't provide it.

Hmmmm. Had to check that one. Yep. It's true.

Oh well, the worms seem not to mind anyway.

[Ted Baca]

Bob, what an enterprising young mind your daugther has. I suppose the Christmas season is good for reindeer turds. But I would imagine business is pretty crappy the rest of the year. May bunny rabbit turds for Easter, huh! Much smaller turds though, never understood that, Rabbits are on high fibre diet.

[Mike Holbrook]

I have pretty major experience with wood chips/dust and thought I would add my real life experiences for those interested in composting/mulching with it.

My parents house was near the edge of woods that had an old saw mill located on it. It started out at least a half acre pile peaking at 30-40 feet in spots (probably illegal to leave now). I have hauled many loads to the house to use as mulch. Now I live on 12 acres with lots of paths and mulched areas. I have two tree companies who drop truck loads of sawdust and wood chips on my property, frequently several loads in a week. I have a tractor with loader so it is easy to move around.

I have found that the composition of the material and the size of the pile have a pretty major effect on it. Pilled up high with just a little vegatative matter (which is usually in what I get) add a little rain and it heats up faster than you can imagine, there is even the danger of fire you have to be aware of. I spread most of mine out to prevent the risk of fire. I find it only takes about a year for it to decompose enough to start supporting plant life, after that the plants quickly take it over. I made a "road" several hundred feet long, about 6 inches deep, around the edge of a field with that stuff about 1.5 years ago. You probably could not even find it now.

My point being that if you mix some trash weeds with wood chips or saw dust, it decomposes faster than you might think. I have had large areas coverd for quite a few years. We train dogs and maintain some large areas in chips/dust for training. They have to be touched up every 4-6 months due to decomposition. If left for a year the weeds start taking it over and the worms move in unless it is quite deep. You can see pretty clearly when it starts decomposing & turning black.

My thinking is when the worms move in it is pretty safe in the garden. I toss a little commercial fetilizer and lime in it to off set any ph/nitrogen inbalance. I have clay and clay/sand soil and the decomposing vegetative matter helps. The favorite local commercial "soil improver" "Nature's Helper" is very similar to what I end up with in not much more than a years time.

[Matt Meiser]

Either take it to the next door neighbor for his horses or spread it on the paths in the back of my property.

[Nancy Laird]

We give ours to a friend for his chicken houses--great stuff for that purpose.

Nancy

[Gary Herrmann]

I keep thinking about mixing it with a some sort of liquified wax to use as a fire starter for my fire pit outside...

[Ron Blaise]

I gave it away to friends, they don't want anymore. Burned it, takes too long & smokes like crazy. Tried to use it for mulch, my wife don't like it. Next, I am going to dump it in the pickup & do an 80 mph aerial dispersal.

[Robert Mickley]

Mark you are right about robbing nitrogen to break it down. But I would think Cliff is also right that it adds nitrogen back to the soil, after its decomposed thus adding more than it robs. Just a guess though.If the worms are breaking it down and they are adding castings and aerating (sp?) then its a good thing. My saw dust goes to the compost. The best thing to add nitrogen to the soil is not killing off the clover which is a legume that adds nitrogen to the soil. Free fertilizer.

Actually legumes only add nitrogen to the soil if you plow them down early before they reach maturity. If left to mature they take out more than they put back in the season. Soybeans where origionaly designed to be a plow down crop to add nitrogen to the soil. I plant winter rye every year in the garden to plowdown for a green manure.

Sawdust it self will take a while to decompse. Mix in greens, grass clippings, vegtable waste from the house. The greens provide the heat needed to start the cycle of decomposing. A little high nitogen fertilizer helps too.

[everett lowell]

My daughter took my sawdust, last christmas and made rendieer terds glued the saw dust up in small balls and package them. She printed her own cute sayings from her printer and stapled them on the small packages of terds.

I thought she was NUTS.

She sold $300. worth of terds that x-mas.:eek:

Now you could do the same with rabbit, skunk, etc.:DYOU WIN! lol,I have a basement shop,don't clean up the sawdust right away, and I have two cats in the house! Guess what my shavings smell like?:eek: Im always cussing up a storm while sweeping up instead of enjoying the wood aroma!:(

[Jerry Olexa]

Push it aside, and keep makin more...:) Occassionally, I clean the shop whether it needs it or not (at least 1/yr.). :D :) and dispose of the sawdust although I love the smell...:)

[Frank Hagan]

All,
If I may reinterpret Tom's original question. Is anyone doing anything -creative- with their sawdust? I just milled a whole lot of blood wood and cherry. I have to admit I stared at those piles of red and amber shavings, the jugs of epoxy, the red and amber,... I've certainly used wood flour and epoxy to make fillers of various sorts. Sawdust would present challenges but it might give interesting results. Has anyone done homemade hardwood OSB?

Matt

I've used sawdust as filler in epoxy, and it works, but is a bit harder to sand than epoxy and wood flour. I was also surprised at the color of the mix; pine and Douglas Fir sawdust make a light brown paste, but maple sawdust makes a dark brown mix.

Most of my sawdust is just used as sweeping compound.

[Ernie Hobbs]

I dump mine in either the flower beds or garden as mulch or spread it around the base of my deck for weed control. My dog also loves to sleep in a nice fresh pile of shavings.

[Benjimin Young]

I vote for Bob. His daughter wins the most creative use. I wonder if we can make beaver turds in Canada and sell them across the pond.:rolleyes:

As for using it to kill weeds, do you put in right on the weed leaf or wait until it flowers:eek:

On the serious side, we have never got the mixture of sawdust and fine chips to break down in the composter however my wife likes to spread it aroung under the spruce trees in our yard. She also uses a little to start her chimnea fires.

I once heard that wood chips can encourage fungus in some cases so I guess some types of wood chips might do the same... hmmm.

[Alan Turner]

I have made arrangements with a local horse carriage company, which will pick it up when I have 12 - 15 bags. Free to both of us. Seems like a winner.

[Kent Cartwright]

Sawdust goes to SWMBO who composts it and uses it around the bushes and flowers.

Kent

[Mark Patoka]

Most of it gets dumped in the woods behind my house, along with the grass clippings. If I'm generating lots of bags of it at a time, it might go to the dump. I don't have a large enough compost bin to use that much of it in.

[Al Willits]

Reindeer turds huh?
Have to admit I'd of never thought of that..:)

Seems like most of you live in the rual area's, living in town I'm afraid I don't do anything exciting with it, other than drag it down to the thrash and let the city have it.
I do use a bit of it with glue to patch every now and then though.

Al ...who's thinking the reindeer things might not go over well in the inner city where I live...