# What do you do with the wood chips and sawdust?



## Jamie (Dec 16, 2007)

I couldn't find this topic posted anywhere, so I thought I would start it. I wanted to find out if anyone had found a clever way to use the wood chips and/or sawdust that we all accumulate in our shops.

I'll start…

I use the wood shavings that I create with my planer as bedding for my blue-tick beagle 'BeeBee'. She loves them to death. If she's in the shop with me, you can always find her on a pile of shavings. I use some of the sawdust to make filler (but only when a project requires it, so it's kinda made when necessary).

The sawdust and shavings mostly end up in the trash.. It would be great if there was a way to use it…

I once thought that I could use the shavings and sawdust as a sort of mulch around the outside of the house, but everyone I spoke to advised me not to use it near homes, since it could attract termites. I knew that…. I was just testing them… 

Anyone else?


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## rikkor (Oct 17, 2007)

So far I've just tossed it. There are so many clever people here, though, that I'll bet some great ideas surface.


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## relic (Aug 16, 2007)

We recycle ours. Saw dust will rob the nitrogen from the surrounding soil, so we use urea pellets. A layer of saw dust, a layer of pellets. If you have a large compost pile mix the the dust/chips in with it. This will help break it down quicker. Just a little at a time. Hope this helps.


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## jpw1995 (Aug 19, 2006)

A true Lumberjock uses sawdust to season his food. Who needs salt and pepper? Just use maple and walnut!


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## Paul (Mar 13, 2007)

Relic -

Urea pellets? Where do you get those?

I throw them in a "compost" pile but I know it's not a very good one since the only green matter that goes in the pile is when I wait too long to mow the grass and I have to rake.

If I've been working with plywood though, I just pitch the dust (glue contamination).

We talked about it some here:

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/290


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## EGA (Dec 17, 2007)

If you have any red cedar chips to mix with it, dosen't take much and it will keep the critters like, flea's, ticks and any other cooties out. I've seen red cedar shaving's sold at a different variety of stores. One more thing, it will make ole rover smell more on the agreeable side. Semper Fi !


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## relic (Aug 16, 2007)

We use a product from the local feed store called "urea ice melter". You could use a high nitrogen based fertilizer as well. Remember the more you turn your compost the faster in breaks down.


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## relic (Aug 16, 2007)

I just thought, if composting is a solution for you or your thinking about it, our sister site http://gardentenders.com/ might be helpful.


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## roman (Sep 28, 2007)

I put just a tad in the garden every year with a load of manure

I put some on top of landscaping fabric under some of the large trees

but the bulk of it I lay down on a trail I am constantly expanding that goes through 14 acresof wetland forest.

cheers


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## doyoulikegumwood (Jun 21, 2007)

i burn most of mine in my wood furnace.


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## DannyBoy (Oct 26, 2007)

I've heard of pressing the dust into wood pellets for a wood stove. I wish I had a stove and then a press for this… Currently, what I don't breath or spread out to the rest of the house I collect on the floor and shop vac or sweep into a bin that goes straight out to the compost pile. Then my dog sleeps in it and brings it back into the house for us. One of those circle of life kind of things.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

I have a garden area that I put about 2-3" of shaving and sawdust on and then rototill in. When I get around to actually planting a garden there I'll take into account the nitrogen problem.

My pile after planing some Goncalo-Alves, Holly and Mineral Popular


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

I mix mine with the lawn clippings and compost it behind the shop. I till it in occasionally and add composted cow manure to aid the nitrogen deficit. After it breaks down we use it as a top dressing around plants in the garden and add it to potting soil for Pam's floral display pots.


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## Jamie (Dec 16, 2007)

I currently have a forced air propane heater in my shop, and I thought about getting rid of that for a wood (or pellet) stove. You can see the heater I have in my workshop pics. That would be an excellent idea for recycling (or at least getting rid of it)...

Anyone interested in buying a fairly new forced air propane heater?


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## bbrooks (Jan 3, 2007)

Mine goes in my dad's garden, along with the grass clippings and such. So far it has not hurt any of the plants, and he loves it so it works out great.


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## jcash3 (Dec 15, 2007)

Garden and compost piles are great, just remember or be aware that walnut can be very toxic to other plants. Not sure what is in it or why but it will kill some plants especially tomatoes.


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## RobS (Aug 11, 2006)

There's always this "fire starter" topic that was discussed on lumberocks earlier…


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## Jody (Dec 9, 2007)

I use some of my hardwood shavings in my side fire box meat smoker for added flavor. The rest I till into the garden or use them as ground cover for less hardy plants during the winter months. The wood flour from my sanders I put in small ziplock sandwich bags, label them as to wood type and save for project repairs or repairs to wood structures around the house. And lastly if my dog accidentally pees on my shop floor, I just sprinkle some sawdust over it, let it dry, sweep it up, and toss it out with the garbage.


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## Zuki (Mar 28, 2007)

I use the shavings from my planer for our pet chickens. I use mostly spruce and poplar.

You may want to look around your local are to see if there are any chicken owners who may be greatful for the bedding.


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## toddc (Mar 6, 2007)

#1. Don't get rid of the propane heater. You already have it installed.

#2. You can add wood or pellet heat. Use the propane on a minimum setting to keep the shop from freezing in case you don't have wood or you go away for a few days.

I use some saw dust in compost but not black walnut or pine. They have toxicity and acidic issues that are hostile to other plants and animals when breathed in.

I bag and throw most of it away. I occasionally go through my old cans of paint, finish, and stain to throw away. By law in Montana you can't throw those as a liquid in the landfill. But you can if they are dry. I pour the liquids into a bucket of saw dust until it is absorbed nicely and let it dry. Then I dispose of it.


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## DaveNagy (Dec 25, 2007)

Since I work mostly with pine, the sawdust goes to a compost pile, usually with table scraps that will be used in gardening in a year or so. Sometimes, the sawdust goes into the trash if I've picked up non-organic material from the floor or if it's mixed with plywood or treated lumber dust. Recently, my wife and daughter used some planer residue to make fire starters for our use. One consideration is to put it in a bag and ask if the local girl scout or boy scout or another youth organization in your area would use it for fire starters or other purposes.

Dave Nagy


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## motthunter (Dec 31, 2007)

I leave mine near a low rent trailer park so they can use it as fuel to cook meth… Not really.. I bag it and give it to a friend that uses it for fuel in his wood burning stove.


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## brunob (Dec 26, 2006)

Mine goes to my daughter. She has two horses and uses it for bedding then recycles it again in her garden.


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## mtcarver (Aug 31, 2007)

It makes a great mulch but Black Walnut, dust or shavings will kill plants.


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## DocK16 (Mar 18, 2007)

Composting is the best way to get rid of sawdust but it takes a long tiime for it fully breakdown to good organic material, as long as 5 years. Composting is dependant on air and moisture, if the center of your compost pile is dry or cold get out the pitch fork and mix it up. A mixture of green and brown (grass and leaves) along with table scraps (not meat) and a little sawdust (50% or less) makes great organic material. Ditto on the walnut toxicity.


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## jude (Aug 3, 2007)

Eleven useful ways (and one not-so-useful way) to recycle sawdust:

1. Mulching out weeds in the backyard.
2. Give it away for pet cages like hamsters and rabbits.
3. Make fire starters (use 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.
4. Soak up dripping fluids and spills in a garage.
5. Put into compost piles. Sawdust balances the green stuff like grass trimmings. You can bag it in 40 gal trash bags and give it to gardeners. (BUT: walnut sawdust can be to 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 does not contain nearly as much of the toxin as the other parts of the tree.)
6. A person with livestock might want to take it off your hands (BUT: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. Wood shavings are better to use with livestock because they are larger.)
7. Hank Phillips uses oak sawdust in the smoker when he runs out of wood chips. He moistens a few heaping handfuls with some beer, and throws a clump or two in when it needed it.
8. The 'Furniture Guys' use wood shavings to rub down furniture when cleaning the finish with Napha. They like it better than steel wool because it removes the finish without scratching the wood underneath.
9. 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." 
10. Raku pottery uses sawdust in their process. This includes filling a steel garbage can with sawdust and newspaper. Then you take the pottery out of the kiln and put it into the sawdust while it is still red hot, where it quickly lights a fire. The sawdust creates a unique finish for the pottery.
11. John Bailey: "I save my bandsaw dust to use as epoxy filler. Dust from the random orbital sander is good also."

and not so good, #12. "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."


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## Dadoo (Jun 23, 2007)

My dog lies in it while my grandson plows it and loads it into his Tonka trucks, and then the three of us end up tracking it thru the house…which gets the little woman screamin, and all that produces heat! I've also found out that if you give her a breath mint first, then you'll have an air freshener too.


No, she doesn't read this. Why do you ask?


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## CaptnA (Dec 17, 2007)

Why would you do anything with it? I suck it up and when the vacuum is full its time to throw it out and buy another one. Right?? 
As always good reading. I had never heard of the toxicity of walnut et al. Maybe that's why my tomato plants do so poorly at times. I have heard of using walnut and or cedar in bedding for dogs to keep fleas and ticks away. Better start segregating my dust/chips.
I remember seeing something on "dirty jobs" where they cast bells with animal dung - maybe they'd like to try sawdust instead!
I try to save some dust/chips to use on spills and it works well and is more affordable than the clay materials ( kitty litter etc).


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## Chipncut (Aug 18, 2006)

I spread my shavings on paths up at my lake property, I don't have to mow the paths.

I have a hard time getting grass to grow under my Black walnut tree. This article explains it.


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

I just spoke with a guy who grows mushrooms. He was very excited about my sawdust pile, especially the Alder. He said the shavings from the planer and jointer are better than the dust from the saws, but apparently mushrooms love the stuff! Who knew?


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## FlWoodRat (Sep 12, 2007)

I just let it collect on the floor in my garage shop, then when I get yelled at for the umpteenth time by my better half, I break out the yard blower and force it out onto the driveway and then under the trees in my front yard. Some of it goes around other plantings as mulch…. no need to waste a natural thing.


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## juniorjock (Feb 3, 2008)

From what I know, if you don't burn it, use it as bedding for pets or in paths, etc…... it should be pitched. I'm one of the "greenest" guys you'll find, but wood shavings can cause big problems in the compost pile or as garden mulch.


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## wirgit (Mar 19, 2008)

A lot of stables can use sawdust for stable bedding, but be sure not to contaminate your offerings with walnut dust and shavings ….... bad news for horses.


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

Yeah, the guy I talked to confirmed that it shouldn't be used for regular garden compost - the sawdust robs nitrogen from the soil - but apparently that's not a problem for the 'shrooms.


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## cronk (Feb 11, 2007)

yes, fresh sawdust does require more N to break down. it still is a viable use just remember to add extra N when using it fresh. Blue berries like fresh mulch. our problem at the Gnarly Wood Shoppe is black walnut as we have been using quite a bit lately. keeps everything down as a mulch because of a growth inhibitor that it secretes.


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## Twiglet (Apr 16, 2009)

If you have potters in your area that have a kiln they love the sawdust (maybe wood chips too) for Raku pottery. They surround the pots with sawdust in the kiln and produce a beautiful irredescent glaze.


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## johnpoolesc (Mar 14, 2009)

compost, but not walnut or some of the other high oil woods.. they get used as firestarter. every year when i work up the veg garden i plow in a truck load of shavings.. holds water and adds worm food. after doing that for 20 years, the garden has great soil


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## Al_Killian (Feb 15, 2008)

Currently, mine blows out the back window and goes into a compost pile. The stuff on the floor goes into the wood stove. It gives off alot of heat quick.


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## i82much (Feb 16, 2009)

I'm involved is Scouts, so I take a couple of handfulls along with some dyer lint and place in a small paper lunch sack and staple closed.
Works great as a fire starter
Havent had to use the air pump for mattress to "help" things along since.


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## Michael121 (Jun 30, 2008)

Depends, I have used some to fill with a little glue, roll it in a ball and fill a nail hole.

I also burn the dust in My outdoor fireplace, Chips depends what kind Cherry I use in a smoker, oak and some others also.

Nothing like a little cherry flavored steak.


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## TREEBOY (Jan 24, 2009)

I find it dries up muddy spots in the yard pretty good. It turns the mud into carpet.


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## juju (Oct 23, 2009)

Just a little note- Red Maple, cherry and Walnut sawdust or chips can kill a horse. Just walking on or inhaling the dust or walnut can give your horse founder, so please don't use that for bedding or trail material. Rabbits and other small caged animals can also die from it. Walnut, pecan, buttternut, and hickory all produce juglone, the chemical that kills animals and plants around those trees. Red Maple can kill a horse, too, so be warned. Just thought some who were using it as bedding might want to know this.


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## tonycr28 (Oct 24, 2009)

I use the pine sawdust for horse stalls. Everything else I just dump over the hill. Good reminder juju about the various other sawdusts in relation to horses.


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## lumberdustjohn (Sep 24, 2009)

My neighbor takes all I can give them for Cattle bedding.


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## AaronK (Nov 30, 2008)

ive been using it as mulch around shrubs and small trees for a few months now (trying it out). so far so good.

-not in the garden mulch or compost, on account of the nitrogen imbalance. i figure as beds on shrubs it just sits on top and prevents weeds and doesnt interact too closely with the soil underneath.


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## SEE (Sep 23, 2009)

I use the larger shavings for starting fires in the woodstoves in the house and shop. Sometimes I'll add a little to the compost pile. (Don't use walnut shavings or dust for any plants. They don't like it!). It also makes for good bedding for dog houses, and chicken coops, as others have pointed out already. This time of year I burn most that I generate.


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## fladdy (Feb 24, 2010)

My dad uses his sawdust for traction in the snow when he gets stuck or the neighbors get stuck. I've never tried it, but he swears by it.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

I make paper.


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## ND2ELK (Jan 25, 2008)

We have two big composters for our garden and turn it into compost. In the winter I spread it on the garden and till it in the spring. We also use it in the flower beads.

God Bless
tom


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## chriswright (Nov 13, 2008)

We toss ours here, but my father composts his (nothing special, just a big pile behind his shop, turns it once in a while mixing it with kitchen compost, and after a few years you've got rich black top soil for a garden), I've also heard of using a pelatizer so it can be burned in a fire place with little danger of flash fire.


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## ashahidan (Dec 1, 2009)

If you use sawdust to completely cover ice blocks (in hot climates) the ice takes longer to melt. Put a thick 
layer of sawdust at the bottom of a wooden box and place your ice block on it. Then cover the ice block completely with sawdust. We used to do this when when we did not have a fridge.

When I was doing pottery I used sawdust to fire my pots. The sawdust kiln used sawdust as fuel . It is the cheapest way to fire pots and many potters still use sawdust kilns.

Sawdust could also be mixed with mortar (cement) and turn into building blocks. Rice husk has been used to make building blocks by mixing it with cement. Use your sawdust to make a new workshop !

There is one more use of sawdust which only country people like me knows. We use burned sawdust (ashes) to make salted duck eggs(similar to Chinese one hundred year eggs). The ash is mixed with wet clay and salt to form a sticky paste. Then coat the duck eggs with the paste to about 5mm thick. Store the eggs in a box for two weeks. Hard boil the eggs and you have salted eggs to eat with your rice porridge. Chicken eggs couldn't be used for salted eggs. If you want to learn how to make rice porridge just drop me a message.

ashahidan


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## MGguy (Jan 11, 2011)

Well of course you need to be certain that you clean up before and after any and all treated wood, including plywood, and toss all that waste in the trash. Any and all untreated wood can be used to make fire starters or, if you have the right equipment to press it into place, even fuel for the wood stove. And of course the shavings are good for animal bedding (stuff your dog's bed with nice cedar shavings) and the sawdust for spills and clean up as well as filler.

When it comes to composting you need to remember the following: Wood can have a carbon to nitrogen ratio of as much as 500 to 1. To compost well, nitrogen and carbon need to be as close to equal as possible. Generally that means tossing in approximately the same amounts of browns (carbon) and greens (nitrogen). But some browns, like coffee grounds and hair, are actually nitrogen. A couple things that are almost entirely nitrogen are grass clippings and blood meal. So mixing either of those with sawdust will work well.

One of the easiest ways to compost is to keep a pail for all your kitchen scraps and anything that is or once was vegetable matter. That means not only all your veggie and fruit wastes, as well as non-toxic house plants and yard waste, but also paper towels and napkins, teabags and coffee grounds and filters (your local Starbucks gives it away for the taking!), junk mail and old phone books, all cotton, linen, hemp and other natural fibers, you name it.

If you take large containers like barrels and garbage cans, drill holes for ventilation and drainage, and make sure the bottom is in contact with the ground so the worms can crawl up into them, they'll do all your composting for you. No need to turn it. Just toss it all in and let them eat.

To avoid the containers you can always just pile it outside and turn it or let it set for a long, long time without turning, a really long time. Or you can bury it. One of the best ways to compost is to bury it because the worms have easy access not only to your waste but also to essential minerals and fungi that speed the process along. So if you're going to plant something, dump a bunch of kitchen scraps and sawdust together into the hole, mix it well, cover it with some dried leaves or cardboard, a layer of soil, then your plant. Plant it high to allow for the shrinking and settling of the scraps and soil. You can also do this with seeds by alternating the layers of leaves or cardboard and soil until you've filled the hole and sow your seed on top.

While you are not supposed to bury wood because the microorganisms in the soil tie up all the available nitrogen to use in breaking it down making nitrogen unavailable to your plants, it is safe to do so. You just need to make sure that there's plenty of nitrogen available by adding grass clippings, coffee grounds and other kitchen scraps or blood meal.

Just be sure to avoid any toxic plants and weeds that have gone to seed. Unless of course you do hot composting. If you hot compost, that is turn the compost every day in a container like a compost tumbler, you can not only have finished compost in two weeks but you can also toss in weed seeds and toxic plants like oleander and poison oak. The composting process gets hot enough with this method (170 plus) to kill weed seeds and destroy toxins.

Any non-treated wood can be used as a mulch and there's no need to worry about what types you use, deciduous or coniferous, when either mulching or composting. Many coniferous woods have resins and oils that might slow down the composting process a bit where the worms are concerned but there's no need to worry about acidity. When used as a mulch, the wood breaks down slowly and the worms work right at the top of the soil, slowly breaking it down and mixing the nutrients into the soil. Just go very thinly with sawdust unless it's mixed with larger debris or apply it where you want to choke out vegetation such as paths. Fine sawdust can form an almost impenetrable mat that will starve the soil of air and water. With shavings you can go a good foot thick as long as it's not hard packed.

And finally, wood's great for growing mushrooms. You can use fresh wood shavings and sawdust from untreated wood to grow mushrooms and you can get the spore from dealers online. You can buy kits that have the mycelium already grown through them and are ready to start fruiting or buy spore in syringes that you use to inject your bags packed with sawdust, shavings, grains, bran or even straw. You can also buy dowels that you put in stumps, logs and large branches to grow mushroom forests with. This is where you need to keep coniferous and deciduous woods separate. Most mushrooms that grow on wood grow on hardwoods but some specialize in coniferous woods.

Here are some links: http://fungi.com/ http://gmushrooms.com/ http://www.mushroompeople.com/ http://everythingmushrooms.com/shop/home.php?cat=2 http://sporeworks.com/Specialty-Mushroom-Cultures/


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## woodjewelry (Jun 9, 2010)

Black alder is great for smoking meat, the rest I compost or use as a starter for my wood fire


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## BenEPW (Aug 12, 2009)

What comes out of the dust collectors will usually be happily accepted by a local farmer. Sure alot of the dust is finer than what is usually used, but it still makes excellent bedding in a barn, and a farmer will typically pay $4-$6 for a bale in my area. Before I got involved with a wood shop, I'd easily pay $100/month for shavings to use in my barn, and now I usually have a good stock pile in the back. I know of one farmer in my area that has installed silos at several shops in the region, then goes in once a week with a dump truck to collect the shavings, and another farmer that collects from a shop every few days and brings home a pickup truck load every time.

for me, it's really the floor sweepings that are a problem, due to the risk of random hardware.


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## Jered (Sep 15, 2010)

Just what I've read about making compost…
Sawdust can actually help although as mentioned it takes out some nitrogen. It helps build humus and also helps the compost pile heat up enough to kill a lot of the bad bacteria/spores/fungus etc.


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## greasemonkeyredneck (Aug 14, 2010)

I throw away the large size shavings, like from the planer. All my fine dust is swept up and stored in five gallon buckets. I usually keep about ten buckets of sawdust on hand at all times. Yes, I have the perfect use for it. The fine saw dust is the best floor dry known to man. It soaks up my oil, grease, dog's urine, water, spilled coffee, pretty much any liquid substance that makes it's way to my shop floor, carport floor, or anywhere really. It's cheaper than commercially sold floor dry (free). It soaks liquid up faster than commercially sold floor dry. It also soak up odors (see dog's urine above). 
All you do is spinkle it (don't be stingy, it's free) on whatever liquid substance you wish cleaned up. Forget about it. It won't hurt to sit till the next day. Sweep it up and throw it away, along with whatever it was that you wished cleaned up. Your floor is now perfectly dry.
I use this in the front of my shop where my boy's often do mechanic work on their vehicles and spill oil.
I use this under my carport because my old chevy leaks oil and I have given up on ever having it leak free.
I use it on the patio out back everytime I grill. My grill has a holder for a can to catch grease, but some of the grease always misses the can.
I use it on the patio everytime I deep fry a turkey or fish. The oil always finds a way to get spilled on the concrete no matter how careful I am.
I use it in the shop for my dog. During the winter months she stays in the shop where it's warm and she has figured out that, "it's a shop, why do I want to go outside when my daddy will clean it up over here without scolding me. So I'll just piss on the floor under his table saw." 
Try it next time you change oil in your car or have some other spill. It works and you'll never buy floor dry again, or have your wife raise hell with you about the mess (that is as long as you clean it up the next day instead of getting sidetracked with your current woodworking project. Yes, I know this from experience).


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## greasemonkeyredneck (Aug 14, 2010)

I throw away the large size shavings, like from the planer. All my fine dust is swept up and stored in five gallon buckets. I usually keep about ten buckets of sawdust on hand at all times. Yes, I have the perfect use for it. The fine saw dust is the best floor dry known to man. It soaks up my oil, grease, dog's urine, water, spilled coffee, pretty much any liquid substance that makes it's way to my shop floor, carport floor, or anywhere really. It's cheaper than commercially sold floor dry (free). It soaks liquid up faster than commercially sold floor dry. It also soak up odors (see dog's urine above). 
All you do is spinkle it (don't be stingy, it's free) on whatever liquid substance you wish cleaned up. Forget about it. It won't hurt to sit till the next day. Sweep it up and throw it away, along with whatever it was that you wished cleaned up. Your floor is now perfectly dry.
I use this in the front of my shop where my boy's often do mechanic work on their vehicles and spill oil.
I use this under my carport because my old chevy leaks oil and I have given up on ever having it leak free.
I use it on the patio out back everytime I grill. My grill has a holder for a can to catch grease, but some of the grease always misses the can.
I use it on the patio everytime I deep fry a turkey or fish. The oil always finds a way to get spilled on the concrete no matter how careful I am.
I use it in the shop for my dog. During the winter months she stays in the shop where it's warm and she has figured out that, "it's a shop, why do I want to go outside when my daddy will clean it up over here without scolding me. So I'll just piss on the floor under his table saw." 
Try it next time you change oil in your car or have some other spill. It works and you'll never buy floor dry again, or have your wife raise hell with you about the mess (that is as long as you clean it up the next day instead of getting sidetracked with your current woodworking project. Yes, I know this from experience)


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## Jeff28078 (Aug 27, 2009)

I have to be real careful about termites in my area. I'm dealing with some now that got into some wood stacked against a wall in my garage. I used to blend them into my garden but I found that if I went back a month later they were full of termites. I don't dare use it as mulch around my house. So it's bagged and in the trash for my sawdust and shavings.


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## CanadianWoodWorks (Dec 29, 2009)

For those who burn it in there wood stoves, or fireplaces how do you do this, do you just throw on hand fulls? Do you compress it into pellets?

Please tell, i'd love to burn the stuff but from my experiance just throwing in on the fire does not seem to give a good burn, I guess it's the lack of oxygen?


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## brianinpa (Mar 16, 2008)

My shop is my garage, so the sawdust from my table saw works great at soaking up oil.

Shavings from jointer and planer are used as fire starter in the fire place.

Sorry to say but the rest goes into the garbage can.


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## woodcrafter47 (Nov 24, 2009)

Use it for mulch around blueberry bushes.They like acid soil. Also use coffee grounds around them. 
Mostly hard wood dust and chippings.


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## Gator (May 2, 2008)

Many woods are toxic to plants and animals, walnut especially with horses - mine go to a friend who is a mechanic, he uses it for floor dry to kleen up oil spills, etc.

Gator


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Mine is giving away to those that can use it for mulch, I also use it for my spalting pits by pouring it around the logs and then wetting it before covering it and the logs for spalting with black plastic.


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## Holbs (Nov 4, 2012)

http://leehite.org/ewb_project.htm
https://woodgears.ca/reader/alois/press.html
http://www.newdawnengineering.com/website/stove/firecube/

I was browsing the internet about wooden levers and gears awhile back and came across the compound lever biomass project. You can exert a tremendous amount of pressure with a compound lever as compared to a single lever, enough to make biomass briquettes. I tried to use such as a lifting mechanism for tool stands but found the pressure at pivot points was too much for wooden structure pieces cause flex and compression. Granted, I was just using Douglas Fir planks I had laying around, not hardwood. http://lumberjocks.com/Holbs/blog/34709 Hmm… might have to reinvestigate this later.
But… I did always consider doing paper & sawdust briquettes. Here in Northern Nevada, we have the "Burning Man" event every year. Probably could make my wallet very fat making sawdust briquettes for that event


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks *Holbs*, I'm going to look into the pressing of briquettes a lot more.


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## SamBev (Sep 16, 2014)

Give it to my goofball neighbor, he calls it "Fire in a bag" and uses it for his outdoor fire pit.


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## lndfilwiz (Jan 7, 2014)

Mix 2 parts saw dust with one part melted paraffin and place into cardboard egg cartons. I use these fire starter for camp fires, wood stoves, fire places, and charcoal fires. Once started they last 15 to 20 minutes.


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## jackhuangstar (Feb 26, 2018)

My basic idea is to transform the chips & sawdust into pellets for heating.

If your chips aren't many, you probably need a small machine called "pellet mill", there are many companies selling this, just for your reference:
www.buskirkeng.com
www.biofuelmachines.com/Small-Pellet-Mill.html

If your material are too many and you have money, then you may consider a plant,
also some webs for you:
www.lawsonmills.com
http://www.biomass-energy.org/


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## Fresch (Feb 21, 2013)

I put it in car transmissions before I sell the junker.
I drilled a hole in my neighbors tree then dump it under the hole, then told him it was woodpeckers, he cleans it up.
No I burn it in a fire pit, use some for smoking, have little bags for making slurry to fill cracks (black walnut and cherry).


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## mindbent (Feb 13, 2018)

I use saw dust to make fire starters. I get the paper egg holders you get when you buy a dozen eggs and some old candles. Put saw dust in egg holder and poor wax over it. The egg case soaks up the hot wax and when it cools it's almost water proof. Easy to light and they burn for about 5min.


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## RobS888 (May 7, 2013)

> For those who burn it in there wood stoves, or fireplaces how do you do this, do you just throw on hand fulls? Do you compress it into pellets?
> 
> Please tell, i d love to burn the stuff but from my experiance just throwing in on the fire does not seem to give a good burn, I guess it s the lack of oxygen?
> 
> - Canadian Woodworks


 I Buy jumbo paper lunch bags and fill them from our 55 gallon second stage collector then staple closed. We put the bags in large paper leaf bags so everything can breathe. We fill about 8 to 10 leaf bags per year. The bags get tossed into our wood burning insert.

I usually fill the bags and my wife staples them and tosses them into the leaf bags. The bags catch easily and burn well.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

fyi *11 year old post*


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## captquin (Feb 14, 2018)

> I ve heard of pressing the dust into wood pellets for a wood stove. I wish I had a stove and then a press for this… Currently, what I don t breath or spread out to the rest of the house I collect on the floor and shop vac or sweep into a bin that goes straight out to the compost pile. Then my dog sleeps in it and brings it back into the house for us. One of those circle of life kind of things.
> 
> - DannyBoy


Holy crap that was funny.


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