Shavings, shavings...

[Fred Oliver]

What do you do with your shavings, or wood chips from turning?

I started out thinking I'd compost them, but quickly overwhelmed the area available for that.

Fortunately, my gardener-wife doesn't mind me dumping them in the bare spots of the backyard near the edge of the tree line. I'll feel better about that when they (eventually) turn grey and don't stand out so much. Especially since I have a six-inch layer of cherry shavings on 50% of the backyard. :D

I understand some of the production turners have horse owners or kennels that come pick up bags of wood shavings.

What do you do?

Fred

[Judy Kingery]

Hi Fred,

We generally use ours in the grill - Mesquite. Some of the few other woods I turn, I use for garden mulch, but have heard avoid Walnut, for horses and flower/vegatable beds. Something about the tanic acid in it kills stuff. Anyway, the majority of my wood turnings are Mesquite and it's a great wood to turn and also to grill steaks or ribs. Jude

[Greg Just]

I put mine in the mulch pile

[Greg Ketell]

heh, we have taken some of the more interesting shavings and cast them into resin to become pen blanks. Someday I have to turn one of them to see how they come out.

But that only gets rid of a cup or so of shavings. ;)

GK

[Steve Schlumpf]

Fred - I have a number of compost piles and as they break down and shrink in size I just keep adding more. After about 2 years in the compost the shavings break down into an almost black dirt. Plus, my wife and the ladies on either side of us are avid gardeners and use the shavings as mulch. I am sure if the shavings are a problem for you - there is a gardening club nearby that would take all you can make!

[William Bachtel]

Mix Nitrogen with your wood shavings, and they will melt down to a nice rich black dirt. It will speed up the decomposition. Get it at a Feed Store. I believe it will be 0-0-45 fertilizer. I have 3 huge compost piles, I have tons of sawdust from my sawmill, wood shop, and all the turnings.

[Scott Hubl]

I burn mine.

I have one of those backyard "firepits" that are Black porcelain enameled on wheels. With screening and a porcelained metal lid.

I live in the suburbs, SMALL lots. We can't burn leaves by law at any time of year. But burning firewood is legal. I let Green wood shavings dry a day or 2 on the shop floor with a fan on and AC, dries them up that fast. I toss a log or 2 in the roll around pit and start tossing the shavings in .

That usually yields a call to the Police by one of the nosey neighbors, the police come by ask what I'm burning, I explain, they ask if they can look at the pit in the backyard, I say sure can officer, he goes and looks says everything looks fine to me carry on sir and sorry to have botherd you.

I toss another few 16 gallon wet/dry vac loads of shavings on the fire.
55 gallon drum of shavings reduced to ashes is less than a grocery bag full, burning them up in the pit really reduces the Bulk Volume.
Neighbors around here are just nosey busy buddies, I have had the cops called in winter while burning regular old firewood in my family room natural fireplace. Long before I ever had a lathe.

I can't wait to move to a semi rural area with a much bigger lot size and bigger shop.

[Richard Madison]

Just for ref., the first of the three numbers is the nitrogen percentage. Just think N-P-K, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. You can probably find something like 15-0-0 at the feed store or garden center.

[William Bachtel]

Thanks, I use 45-0-0 Like I said it really melts leaves, sawdust, shavings, down fast. I also burn a lot of lathe shavings after one day they burn real fast. l5-0-0 will also do the trick. I have one compost pile that is 25 by l00 feet, I layer sawdust, then a few cups of 45-0-0 then more sawdust, then more nitrogen, it doesn't take a whole lot of it. When organic matter is breaking down it uses nitrogen. If I saw 2000 bd of lumber from say a job it creates a lot of sawdust. I also sell some to a locate feed store.

[Jon Lanier]

I don't cast pens. But I would like to see some of this spalted maple shavings be turned into a pen blank. You've got the normal curls mixed in with the black striping... looks kinda cool.

[Paul Gallian]

Black Walnut have Juglone not tannins as stated in an earlier post.

Juglone is an allelopathic compound, meaning it is synthesized by one type of plant and affects the growth of another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglone

Black walnut also secrets juglanic acid...
Notice that the black walnut is a member of the Juglandaceae family --- see the similarity in the name..

The Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is a common species in its native eastern North America, and is also widely cultivated elsewhere. The nuts are edible, but have a smaller kernel and an extremely tough shell, and they are not widely grown for nut production.

More than you wanted to know --

Paul - a botanist

[Curt Fuller]

Somebody keeps stealing mine. I put them in the back of my pickup and by the time I get home from work they've usually been stolen.;)

[Steven Wilson]

Garden mulch pile, kids playset area (we use woodchips), haul in the trash, or burn. Mixing some fertilizer helps with the breakdown.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Black Walnut have Juglone not tannins as stated in an earlier post.

Juglone is an allelopathic compound, meaning it is synthesized by one type of plant and affects the growth of another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglone

Black walnut also secrets juglanic acid...
Notice that the black walnut is a member of the Juglandaceae family --- see the similarity in the name..

The Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is a common species in its native eastern North America, and is also widely cultivated elsewhere. The nuts are edible, but have a smaller kernel and an extremely tough shell, and they are not widely grown for nut production.

More than you wanted to know --

Paul - a botanist



Also interesting to know, the nut husks and bark used to be used in a brew where they were boiled down into a poison that was used for fishing; dump some in then grab the fish as they float up. It has been outlawed for decades, if not a century or more. A similar practice is unfortunately still in existence with Quinine, and quinaldine in the south pacific when fishing for ornamental saltwater fish. Most suppliers won't support this practice anymore, because of the huge losses, but it is cheap and easy for the uneducated islanders to employ. Sorry to get off topic. I have a few walnut trees that have a literal band around the trunk where almost nothing will grow.

Walnut also can lead to a very bad contact dermatitis--(an itchy poison-ivy like rash) in many people. I'm unfortunately one of those people.

[Jim Underwood]

Somebody keeps stealing mine. I put them in the back of my pickup and by the time I get home from work they've usually been stolen.;)

I read that twice before it made me bust out laughing....:)

[Martin Harris]

What LOML can't use on the garden (which isn't much) I give to people who gave me wood. The deal is: if you give me a nice piece of wood I will make you something (of my choosing:)) AND you have to take a 30 gallon bag of shavings.

Seems to work.

Martin

[Chris Stolicky]

Somebody keeps stealing mine. I put them in the back of my pickup and by the time I get home from work they've usually been stolen.;)

:D:D:D

So you're the guy who leave me in the dust??? :D

[Mitchell Cholewinski]

Fred
Don't waste them shavings mix them with your grass clippings, either use them for mulch or let them compost. If you compost seriously get a few bales of straw and either shred this and mix keep moist and see the nice stuff you made. I have 16 yews I planted 40 years ago and I make this mulch and lay down around these yews and they are beautiful. When you first start doing this you need to add nitrogen that is used up when the shavings etc break down. I always root feed my shrubs with miracid and this is all I ever did to these baby's and they are huge. Use them shavings. Mitch