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Jason Christenson
07-27-2008, 4:36 PM
My wife thinks we should do something with all of the wood shavings generated at the lathe. She would like to try paper making but when I google it all I find are directions for making paper out of other paper. :eek: Does anyone have any experience with this? If you know of a website a link would be great!

Thanks.
Jason

Toney Robertson
07-27-2008, 4:54 PM
I would think that you would have to dissolve the wood and put it into a slurry much like how they make paper. Can't imagine what would be involved.

Why not use them for mulch or give them to someone for bedding of animals. I have a lady that has chickens that loves to get the shavings. Just don't use walnut for horses.

Toney

Andy Hoyt
07-27-2008, 5:08 PM
We tried this years ago. Ground some sawdust as fine as we could. (This included destroying a prized blender).

The result was something akin to construction paper on steroids.

We gave up. Of course that may have something to do with the daiquiris coming out of our new blender.

Jerry Gerard
07-27-2008, 7:17 PM
Try searching Youtube you may find some information there about it . They have videos about everything .

Lee DeRaud
07-27-2008, 7:59 PM
I would think that you would have to dissolve the wood and put it into a slurry much like how they make paper. Can't imagine what would be involved.Look here: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Paper.html
The phrase that really jumps out at me is "boiled at high pressure in a solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide". All things considered, I'll pass on that one.

John Yogus
07-27-2008, 8:10 PM
I worked in the paper industry for a while. The mill was recycled paper (ie paper from paper, no virgin pulp). There was quite a bit involved to get it just right (chemistry lab was on premise). Paper from wood is even more indepth. Many chemicals involved. I second mulching it.

lynn smith
07-28-2008, 1:46 AM
You need to create a digester,along with several caustics to cook and breakdown the wood chips, which breaks down the fibers into a pulp, and depending on the type of wood you would probably want to bleach it if you wanted white writing paper.
Then you have to create some sort of vacuum system that can draw 80% of the moisture which will at the same time bind the fibers together. Then you need a press and a drying system. Quit a bit involved.

Worked in a paper mill for 3 years, it was one of the hottest and humid working enviroments that I ever worked in.

robert hainstock
07-28-2008, 8:10 AM
Steve S and I let the elements break it down into something more useful. It is called mulch and gardeners (wives) love it. ;):)
Bob

Jason Christenson
07-28-2008, 12:55 PM
We tried this years ago. Ground some sawdust as fine as we could. (This included destroying a prized blender).

The result was something akin to construction paper on steroids.

We gave up. Of course that may have something to do with the daiquiris coming out of our new blender.

That sounds kind of like what we're after, except for the ruined blender part. Did you follow instructions from somewhere or were you just winging it?

Jason

Andy Hoyt
07-28-2008, 2:15 PM
This was twenty odd years ago, Jason.

No intertubes back then to solicit for how-to info, so it was a complete wing (nut) job.

I recall we made some kind of frame with some window-screen material in it that may have served as a screeding/drying rack.

Beyond this, I'm as clueless as ever.

Edit: I just realized this thread is in the Turning Forum. I'm gonna move it over to the Off Topic Forum to see if it generates any additional help.

Jason Christenson
07-28-2008, 2:32 PM
So, you're saying people actually did stuff BEFORE the internet???

Jason

Jerry Bruette
07-28-2008, 6:11 PM
If you're going to make paper from wood fiber you have to chemically or mechanically break down the wood and then wash out the lignin, that's the stuff that binds the cellulose fibers together. Chemically you could use acid or caustic, depending on which grade of paper you're making.
The pulp mill I worked at used an acid and cooked the wood chips as Lynn stated in a digester at 85p.s.i. at about 300 degrees for about 5 hours, but then again we were cooking about 20 cords of chips at a time.:eek:

IIRC when my son was in Boy Scouts they had a paper making merit badge and tou could get a kit from them for making paper. Not sure if it was from wood chips though.

Good Luck
Jerry :)

Ted Calver
07-28-2008, 8:20 PM
You could use the make paper out of paper method and add shavings for character. I used to make pine needle paper back in the day and the needles were embeded in the paper and looked quite nice. Some curly shavings embeded might look cool too.

Phillip Bogle
07-28-2008, 11:37 PM
I was a printer that has made handcrafted paper. The steps from pulp to paper are vastly easier than trying to start from ground wood. The other suggestions have a lot of good ideas, and information. As one who has done it, I know you can craft your own, BUT...save your marriage and all you hold dear. Compost it or -- I have taken the chips and a little sawdust, mixed with paraffin packed in paper egg carton segments. Makes great fire starters or charcoal stack starters.

To make paper from pulp you need a couple of large tubs, an assboard, frame & deckle, pressing felts, and 5 ton ram cure press. You will make some interesting paper and the kids will learn, but the chemicals to make the breakdown from chips to paper are very toxic and a disposal problem. The "old" Scottish printer that taught me used to salvage cotton rags and good recyclable paper -- hence the name "Rag Bond." We never used wood chips.

Stephen Tashiro
07-29-2008, 11:50 AM
It won't solve your sawdust disposal problems, but it's interesting that the papyrus plant grows well in many climate zones. It prefers boggy soil but here in New Mexico I have one in my yard. In moderate temperatures they stay green all year. It is often hard to find information about how to reproduce industrial technology in the home shop. But there is probably a lot of information about how "the ancients" made paper from papyrus.