What do you do with the Sawdust?

[Ryan Cassidy]

Curious as to what everyone does with their saw dust? My dust collector has the 30 gallon trash can separator on it but I fill it quiet frequently. I'd say it's being emptied about once every 1.5-2 weeks. Of course I am spending a lot of time in the shop.

I'm just looking for something useful to do with the chips/saw dust in the separator.

Thanks in Advance!

Cheers,
Ryan

[Prashun Patel]

I throw mine in the compost bin - as long as there's no pressure treated or particle board or mdf in there...

[Jim Fox]

Throw them on the field at my Grandma's farm next door. Last house I was at.........we had a small wooded area between us and the neighbors behind us, I just threw it in there.

[John Keeton]

Fortunately, I am in a rural area and dump mine behind my shop. Periodically, I spread them with the tractor and scraper blade when I am working on our looooonnng gravel driveway.

I would also be careful about putting walnut sawdust in the compost heap. Some plants may not tolerate it very well.

[Paul Bauders]

In the winter I sometimes take several handfulls and roll them in old newspapers. Tape it with several strips of masking tape and throw it in the fireplace on those cold winter nights.

[Don Bullock]

Currently i dump them in our recycle trash can. Once I move to our new property I'll use them as mulch.

[Chip Lindley]

If you do not have a compost pile or burn a woodstove, advertise for free on grocery store or garden center bulletin boards to give the stuff away. Gardeners will come pick up your sawdust. You would be surprised!

[Phil Thien]

I've been thinking of making my own high-end MDF. Of course, I'd use exotics only.

[Keith Outten]

Years ago when I was planning a lot of oak I sold the chips to a local horse farm for 5 bucks per 30 gallons. For several years the chips paid the shop electric bill.

Another warning about walnut chips, they are not to be used around horses.
.

[Ryan Cassidy]

Hrmm OK. Compost pile it is, I've been meaning to put one of those together for sometime now too. Add another project to the "list" :-)

Thanks all!

Cheers,
Ryan

[David G Baker]

Depending on the type of wood that the sawdust comes from. I have used sawdust as a weed killer due to the high tannin content, I have tried using it in a compost pile but it was the wrong type of sawdust and hurt the plants I tried to use it on. I did some research on using sawdust as a mulch or compost and found that it steals a lot of nitrogen from the soil so it may not be a good choice. I use it for soaking up oil spills but that could be dangerous like oily rags but not sure. Most of the time it goes into garbage bags and to the dump.

[Jim Becker]

Other than walnut dust and chips, all my material goes into our compost pile or on the walkways of our veggie garden to keep down weeds.

[Rod Sheridan]

Compost pile, or put out with the recycling for composting by the city.........Rod.

[Wayne Cannon]

I asked the local gardening gurus about mulching or composting with sawdust, and they told me that it sucked up so much nitrogen during decomposition that it isn't good for mulching unless you add a significant amount of nitrogen; adding nitrogen for composting was also recommended. The county won't take it with yard waste (prunings, etc.) for their composting -- they said to put in in the regular garbage pickup.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I was told that any sort of decomposing organic matter takes up all the free nitrogen. this is why you need to let manure compost before ever putting it on a garden.

[Jim Becker]

I asked the local gardening gurus about mulching or composting with sawdust, and they told me that it sucked up so much nitrogen during decomposition that it isn't good for mulching unless you add a significant amount of nitrogen; adding nitrogen for composting was also recommended.

The whole idea with composting is to balance the greens, browns, etc., to insure that you have the right mix for the process...that's where the nitrogen comes into play. We've been using my cyclone's output for years in our compost and it's a wonderful, rich, black-brown and juicy product when the pile is done. Putting "raw" sawdust/chips out as mulch is not a good idea, however, due to its propensity to pull nitrogen out that otherwise would be available for plantings. That's why I only put it on pathways "raw"...I don't want anything to grow there! (Sadly, weeds don't always follow directions, however...:rolleyes:)

[Chris Padilla]

I asked the local gardening gurus about mulching or composting with sawdust, and they told me that it sucked up so much nitrogen during decomposition that it isn't good for mulching unless you add a significant amount of nitrogen; adding nitrogen for composting was also recommended. The county won't take it with yard waste (prunings, etc.) for their composting -- they said to put in in the regular garbage pickup.

Ditto here in the BA: Green Waste (our SJ contracted recycling firm), won't take sawdust/chips either. Their reasoning is that they cannot control whether or not the dust/chips are from pressure treated, MDF, plywood, particleboard, and what not.

I do two things depending on room in the regular trash bin:

(1) Put it in the regular trash bin or
(2) Dump it in my "composting area" where I'll later rake it up with leaves and grass clippings and then dump the whole thing in the green waste bin.

[Thomas Williams]

I empty my dust collector into the lawn waste bags with other lawn waste. The city hauls it away.

[John Durscher]

My wife regularly goes to a local craft center to make pottery. She takes the sawdust to the craft center and they use it to make Raku pottery. Evidently they take the pottery hot from the kiln and put it in a can filled with newspaper and sawdust and it makes an interesting finish on the pottery. I don't understand how it works, but they take all the sawdust that I make. It is kind of neat, the waste from my hobby goes into finishing her hobby.

John

[Karl Brogger]

In the winter I sometimes take several handfulls and roll them in old newspapers. Tape it with several strips of masking tape and throw it in the fireplace on those cold winter nights.

Take parafin wax, melt it in a pot, pour it into a milk carton with sawdust, stir it up and let it solidify. Burns like crazy. Nothing dangerous, but hot and well.

Do not throw sawdust into a open fire. Super fine dust will explode if contained.




I dump mine in the woods, or spread it out in a pasture. I really want a grinder so I can pulvarize the scraps and get rid of it the same way.

[Rob Cooper]

1. breathe it in
2. shake it off onto the couch

If there is any left, spread it under my raised deck with pine straw, slowly decomposes under there.

[Bob Cooper]

no relation to Rob but my wife's convinced i just leave it all on the couch.

[Prashun Patel]

I was under the impression that since wood dust/mulch requires nitrogen to decompose, it should not be placed directly in the soil, since it'll rob it from the plants.

That's precisely why it should decompose ina compost bin. Of course, to get it to decompose, you'll have to mix in food scraps or best, grass clippings. Once it decomposes into humus, it'll be fine to use in yr yard.

I can't speak to the toxicity of walnut wood, though...

[Herbert Wallace]

Just emptied a 30 gal can of cypress, oak and cedar shavings from my planer in my hen house. It always smells fresh in there. I have never had to clean out under the roosts.
Herbert

[Duane McGuire]

Well, gee, it's a good fuel. I'd say just burn it. But just because I've been doing that for years, I can't recommend it. :( As has been pointed out earlier it could cause an explosion. I hang around here so that I can learn stuff. And I was surprised to see the comment that I had been living dangerously. Just because I've been doing it for years, and had seen my Dad doing it for years before me doesn't mean it's a good idea. So naturally with google in hand, I did a little research.

Thought provoking:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1889368

http://www.duanemcguire.com/dmc/woodworking/sawdustExplosion.jpg


We are products of our environment, and I grew up in Southwest Washington state in the 50's and 60's. Here's how it was handled at the small sawmills there:

http://www.ancilnance.com/1970s/pages/wigwam2.htm

http://www.duanemcguire.com/dmc/woodworking/wigwam2.jpg

Up the conveyor and into the wigwam burner. Don't know how many of those blew up, but I do remember climbing up the conveyor and peering into the residual fire on Saturday when the mill was down. Dumb kids! How did we survive?

[Myk Rian]

Being winter, I use it on the road ice.

[Matt Meiser]

I use mine to mulch around some trees or spread it on the trails on the back part of our property. The guy next door said I can dump it on his pile too--he has horses. I think I've mentioned before that I asked him what woods were harmful to the horses besides walnut so I could make sure I didn't give any to him. He laughed and said there was no way I could generate enough to cause a problem, even if I dumped a full drum.

[Jack Porter]

Well, gee, it's a good fuel. I'd say just burn it. But just because I've been doing that for years, I can't recommend it. :( As has been pointed out earlier it could cause an explosion. I hang around here so that I can learn stuff. And I was surprised to see the comment that I had been living dangerously. Just because I've been doing it for years, and had seen my Dad doing it for years before me doesn't mean it's a good idea. So naturally with google in hand, I did a little research.

Thought provoking:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1889368

http://www.duanemcguire.com/dmc/woodworking/sawdustExplosion.jpg


We are products of our environment, and I grew up in Southwest Washington state in the 50's and 60's. Here's how it was handled at the small sawmills there:

http://www.ancilnance.com/1970s/pages/wigwam2.htm

http://www.duanemcguire.com/dmc/woodworking/wigwam2.jpg

Up the conveyor and into the wigwam burner. Don't know how many of those blew up, but I do remember climbing up the conveyor and peering into the residual fire on Saturday when the mill was down. Dumb kids! How did we survive?

not sure if you're a mythbuster fan, but they did a whole show on this to see if it was real
quick clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o17mAJHdTo&feature=related

[Andrew Joiner]

Years ago when I was planning a lot of oak I sold the chips to a local horse farm for 5 bucks per 30 gallons. For several years the chips paid the shop electric bill.

Another warning about walnut chips, they are not to be used around horses.
.

Wow, I could make as much grinding up wood as I used to make building furniture!

[Andrew Joiner]

Ok, I just saw the video.Who said woodworking is boring?
I will no longer give sawdust to anyone who looks like a terrorist.

Seriously,( notice how I did NOT say jokingly before my first paragragh?)
I used to burn sawdust in my shop stove for heat. After a few minor explosion/backdrafts I used paper grocery bags about half full and rolled up. It works great. You have to have a small wood fire started first, but the bagged dust heats good.

[Arnold E Schnitzer]

I heat my shop with a pellet stove. If pellet mills were affordable, I would turn my waste into pellets and use for heat. Anybody out there doing it?

[Rich Marzec]

So naturally with google in hand, I did a little research.

That saw dust explosion was awsum. It instantly got ride of the sawdust in a hug mushroom like cloud. Cool.

[Fred Floyd]

I've been a woodturner for the past four years. With all the wood available here in the Seattle area, I've created a great deal of sawdust -- both from the lathe and from the planer when doing flat work. It is not uncommon to create three bags of shavings in the course of a weekend. Each bag is approximately the contents of the 30-gallon drum on the Oneida cyclone.

I have a coworker that loves to garden. I just throw the bags into the truck and take them to work with me. It works out well for everyone. They get mulch for the yard and I don't have to throw wood shavings into the landfill.

[John Sanford]

Into the trash it goes. Got no lawn, no compost, no neighbors with gardens, and unfortunately at the moment, no coworkers.