sawdust - uses?

[julie Graf]

does anyone have any good uses for sawdust?

i've used it for:
* mulching out weeds in the backyard
* given it away for rabbit cages
* made firestarters (melt wax, mix w. sawdust in egg cartons, use one to start fire, works really really well)

anything it shouldn't be used for?
*Walnut is BAD for horses, and will kill flowers/bushes if used for mulch

I don't like throwing stuff away, and like everyone here, i'm sure, i make tons of this stuff. ok, maybe not tons. but a lot.

[Eric DeSilva]

Soak up dripping fluids in a garage?

[Charles Wiggins]

Soak up dripping fluids in a garage?

Eric stole my answer.

[Jamie Buxton]

It can also go into compost piles. It balances the green stuff like grass trimmings. I bag it in 40 gal trash bags and give it to gardeners.

[Aaron Beaver]

does anyone have any good uses for sawdust?


* made firestarters (melt wax, mix w. sawdust in egg cartons, use one to start fire, works really really well)


Could you give the recipe for this. Any certain type of wax? Amount of wax, things like that.

Sounds like a neat idea for the fireplace and camping trips.

[Thom Sturgill]

Could you give the recipe for this. Any certain type of wax? Amount of wax, things like that.

Sounds like a neat idea for the fireplace and camping trips.

As an old ex-scout leader, just use Gulf parafin available at most grocery stores. Just make sure that it is WOOD sawdust and not MDF dust. Also works with lint from the drier.

[Greg Cole]

Someone with livestock might be willing to take it off your hands. I know back home in Vermont the old time farmers complain about not being able to get shavings-sawdust from mills anymore. All that stuff is used to make pellets for stoves now, where as it used to be free bedding for the calves etc etc etc.
Just an off the wall thought....

Greg

[Mark Valsi]

I'm not so sure about the Walnut being bad for plants.

I have used it in my veggie garden for years, and have HUGE tomatoes !! I empty my dust collection bag into a compost pile 2 times a year or so, and you should taste my tomatoes . . .. but it'll cost ya :D:D

[Hank Phillips]

I've actually used oak sawdust in the smoker when I ran out of wood chips and was too, uh, busy to go get more. I moistened a few heaping handfuls with some beer, and threw a clump or two in when it needed it. Pretty good results.

[gary Zimmel]

One of the ways I get rid of my shavings is to give it to a buddy who has a butcher shop and they use it in the smoker. (no ply or mdf)

As for the bedding for animals, we live on an acerage with horses, and the shavings are to fine for my wife to use in the stalls. I will spread them out in the pastures in the summer.

[Thom Sturgill]

The 'Furniture Guys' used shavings to rub down furniture when cleaning the finish with Napha. IIRC, they liked it better than steel wool because it would remove the finish without scratching the wood underneath.
I think they also used it to wipe off stains, but it has been years since I saw their shows.

[Bill White]

Do the tomatoes taste like walnuts?
Bill

[julie Graf]

interesting! i was told differently, and have never used it around plants i like/want to keep... i guess it's not true!

[julie Graf]

aaron, this is what i've used too - parafin.
no specific recipe, just grab an old egg carton - the paper kind
fill each section with sawdust
melt wax
pour wax into each section
be careful with the hot wax

then rip one off when you need it...

[mark page]

I have a high composition of clay in the soil here, that's why it's Clay county here in Missouri. Sawdust first goes into the flower beds and garden. Any left gets sprinkled into the lawn. Another note that I follow and I guess it is right, is that sawdust takes nitrogen out of the soil to decompose, so you have to supplement with nitrogen fertilizer, which I do anyways, so can't prove or disprove that statement.

[John Durscher]

One of my wife's hobbies is pottery. The craft center that she goes to takes all I produce. Evidently there is a kind of pottery called Raku. What they do is fill a steel garbage can with sawdust and newspaper. Then they take the pottery out of the kiln and put it into the sawdust while it is still red hot. It is pretty cool when the put the 1500 degree pottery into the sawdust - talk about a quick way to light a fire! Somehow the interaction with the sawdust makes a neat finish for the pottery. So, if you have any pottery studios around you they might be interested in taking some sawdust off your hands.

John

[Erik Oerter]

Anybody ever had any luck pressing the sawdust into bricks with some sort of binder (water, wax, coca cola...) and then burning them in the fireplace?

[Matt Meiser]

My neighbor will take mine for his horses. I asked him if there were any woods to make sure stayed out, like walnut. He said none are a problem. We're talking about harness racing horses here, so I'd assume he's pretty careful about them.

However, I've started spreading it on the trails I mow in the natural part of my property.

[Corey Wilcox]

Julie,

"Technically speaking", walnut sawdust is bad for your plants because walnuts and other members of the same family (butternut, hickory, etc.) produce a toxin in their leaves, roots and bark that's designed to kill off other vegetation around them. The toxin is called "juglone" and it's basically a way for walnuts to ensure they have less competition for light, nutrients, etc. The theory is that if you put fresh walnut shavings in your garden some of the toxin can leach down into your soil and kill your plants. However, not all plants are susceptible to it and theoretically the wood itself doesn't contain nearly as much of the toxin as the other parts of the tree. Last summer I put well over 10 cubic yards of free mulch in my rosebeds only to find out afterward that the stuff was laced with walnut leaves, wood and bark. So far none of my plants are showing any signs of distress, but we'll see what happens this spring. I guess that's what I get for being cheap. I've read that if you let the shavings compost slightly before adding them to the garden it reduces the chances for any problems.

[Jamie Siegel]

I usually throw my saw dust into the garden.

I just recently used some to dump outside on the sidewalk by my shop where the snow and ice were slippery.

The smoker idea is great. I saw that used once on an episode of 'Good Eats' on the food network. You may want to think about this since different woods will impart different flavors. (for example, I'd not want to use a bunch of pine saw dust in a smoker).

[Michael McCoy]

I don't put it in my beds next to the house because of termites but I so put all my wast out in beds in the yard.

[John Bailey]

I save my bandsaw dust to use as epoxy filler. Dust from the random orbital sander is good also.

John

[Craig Feuerzeig]

I give mine to a local farm co-op. They use it to line the horse stalls.

Now if I could just figure out what to do with all these eggs ...:D

[Steve Clardy]

Woodstove starter
Mulch
Goes into the compost pile for the garden
Soak up oil on concrete after working on the ol truck.

[Christopher Pine]

I have not heard of the parrafin was fire starter before. (I like it). I know I might get some responses saying this is not a good idea and I have not done it lately but years ago someone told me you could make a firestarter with about a coffee can worth of sawdust and 4 or 5 tablespoons worth of used engine oil. It does work well. Don't know if there would be any problems about the burning of oil in the fireplace? Anyways that is another version of firestarter with sawdust.

[mike wacker]

30 to 1 Brown to Green Composting is the Holy Grail. I make alot of saw dust/shavings but the lawn is bigger. Makes VERY good compost mixed with Grass clippings.

[Hank Phillips]

The smoker idea is great. I saw that used once on an episode of 'Good Eats' on the food network. You may want to think about this since different woods will impart different flavors. (for example, I'd not want to use a bunch of pine saw dust in a smoker).

Isn't that the truth. A friend of mine had gotten his first small smoker a few years back, and he smoked some nice country style pork ribs, but they tasted terrible.
Oak, mesquite, apple, and a lot of others are great, but a word of caution... don't use cedar in your smoker! :eek:
I took maybe three bites, and after each one I felt like I was going to have a coronary.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Not for livestock~!! Never Never Never~!! The dust from a hobby shop is not the same as shavings from an industrial mill. The hobby shop saw dust is fine enough to harm the animals. Shavings are fairly large.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Not for livestock~!! Never Never Never~!! The dust from a hobby shop is not the same as shavings from an industrial mill. The hobby shop saw dust is fine enough to harm the animals. Shavings are fairly large.

It'd be about as bad as giving your horse lawn clippings from a mower.

[Michael Panis]

My sawdust has a good amount of sawdust from plywood. Anyone know if that should be avoided for mulch? I'm concerned about the glue. I always heard not to use plywood in the fireplace?

[Warren Clemans]

Some cities that collect yard waste will take shavings, with the usual caveats--no paint, no mdf, etc. I had to call the city to find out for sure, since it wasn't obvious from their web site or the materials they pass out. I use all the shavings I can on the garden, in the worm bin, and in the compost, but the rest gets bagged (in paper leaf bags--no plastic, obviously) and put out with the yard waste.

[Jim Becker]

We compost it as well as use it to cover the paths in our veggie garden.

[Robert Conner]

A number of years ago I went on a tour of Winnebago Industries in Forest City Iowa ( in fact I went a few times while waiting for service on my RV). The tour included the cabinet shops where large amounts of Sawdust was produced most from MDF, particle board or plywood the same material any cabinet shop would produce. Their dust and scrap collection was impressive
Piles upon piles were left outside. It was explained that Pig Farmers would take all they could as Food for their pigs. I questioned the composition of the waste and was told that since the company was formed in the 50s, this was how they disposed of their sawdust.
Robert

[J D Thomas]

Woodstove starter


Steve,

Do you just throw in some sawdust, or do you have a particular method. I'd like to try it in my stove.