What do you do with your sawdust?

[PHILIP MACHIN]

Hey all,

I live in a suburban area and we're only serviced once a week and allowed 1 normal sized garbage can of trash per week. I was curious what my fellow city-dwelling woodworking friends do with their hobby generated wood waste? I was thinking of buying another large trash can just to empty my DC barrel so I don't have the fire hazard sitting in my garage over night. What solutions have you all found?

FYI, I'm in the Detroit Area.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Philip, I'm in Toronto.

Previously I gave mine to the in-laws who used it for bedding for their chickens, unfortunately they sold the farm.

Now I either compost it, or use it as mulch (yes I have to add more nitrogen to the soil).

Regards, Rod.

[Bryan Lisowski]

I have given scraps to a neighbor for his fire pit, but generally I put everything in the trash, our guys take everything, I had 2 trash cans of wood scraps and sawdust and they took it all.

[Joe Wood]

I put an ad on craigslist, people snap it up quickly for animal bedding, and compost!

[Jamie Buxton]

The trash collection service at my home includes a 100-gallon bin for yard trimmings. They accept sawdust and small pieces of lumber in that bin. So I bag the stuff at the shop and carry it home.

[Ben Rivel]

Green waste bin.

[Bruce Page]

Mine's always a mixture of hardwoods, softwoods, & mdf from work on my cnc. It goes to the landfill.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Got a lady who swings by and picks it up for her stable.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Sawdust from the sawmill goes on one of three piles, once each pile has sat outside for a year it goes to the garden for mulch, after a year outside it is no longer a nitrogen drain. Planer shavings go in barrels and get used for worm compost bedding or chicken bedding or nest boxes. Jointer shavings and shop sanding and saw dust usually have some walnut in them and are bad for plants and animals, they go in the boiler and are burned for heat/hot water. I also have a 5 gallon bucket for scraps that are too small to be useful, that also gets dumped in the boiler. Small amounts of shop vac dust from vacuuming the workshop and running small sanders end up going to the transfer station, via the trash barrel.
Zach

[michael dilday]

Mine either goes in the garden or the trash can.

[Jeff Body]

Make your own fire bricks with a press.

https://smile.amazon.com/Cogex-81556...1734178&sr=8-1

[Ben Rivel]

Make your own fire bricks with a press.

https://smile.amazon.com/Cogex-81556...1734178&sr=8-1

Thats pretty cool, I like that idea. Does the dust have to be mixed with something to make it stick together?

[Curt Harms]

We have a wildlife rehab center a few miles away. They welcome the mostly planer/jointer chips. I keep non-animal friendly chips (very few) separate, those go out in the normal trash

[Bob Riefer]

Piggy backing on Curt's comment above: For those gifting to others to use for animals and other uses, it's good to be transparent with them as to what type of dust is included in the mix each time. Some will not want fine dust (desiring chips only), some will not want certain types of woods (e.g. black walnut) etc.

In fact, if folks here know a list of commonly problematic woods, that would be handy to know..

- black walnut
- maybe pressure treated lumber?
- if you work with composite, that's probably out
- what else?

[glenn bradley]

In the green barrel or in the yard depending on what I've been cutting.