what to do with all the sawdust

I've been composting most of mine. a bit in the household compost to keep things light & dry, the rest in a pile with leaves & a bit of dirt.
I read that mulching with it or mixing it into the garden can suck nitrogen from the soil since it's needed to break down the sawdust, so better to compost it first.
Firestarters are great, but no way I could use it all for that.

I make fire starters with some of mine. I melt down the hobby wax in a double boiler type set up and pour the wax/dust mix into those silicone ice cube trays. We got the trays from the dollar section at target. They do the trick well!

Noodles (unless its Black Walnut) gets used for mulch around the yard & garden.Sawdust/shavings from chain saws in the timber stays there,but in the backyard & shop all the way down in size to sanding dust mostly gets dumped in the trash.I'll keep a 5 gallon bucket worth around to soak up any spills & maybe same amount to till in garden every spring.

jhoff310 said:

Just curious what you guys do with all of your sawdust and noodles. I dump most of mine in the garden and till it in. I have been making firestarters with them as well. Got some hobby wax and mixed some dryer lint and sawdust together, we will see how it works out

Jeff

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Putting it on the garden can be good or bad. If your ground is sandy it can actually help if you do things right. We've used it but waited until the crops came up and then spread the sawdust between the rows. This will help hold the moisture and over time will help to build up the ground. The bad part is that it can and will sour the soil. The cure for that is extra nitrogen....but nitrogen now is really expensive so I would question putting sawdust on a garden now.

Our sawdust is simply left in the woods.

Most of my wood is bucked up in the woods so it is a non-issue . . . the little sawdust that I do get at home I have usually just pitched into the woods.

The main problem with sawdust on the garden is that it tends to absorb nitrogen when it rots down, but not always at a constant rate, so you can often find plants growing quite happily for a while, and then they suddenly lose the green look as the sawdust suddenly absorbs nitrogen when conditions are right for decomposing.

I tried making sawdust logs for the open fire some years back but they were fiddly to make, and never burned that well.

Mine goes out into the woods now to replace some of the wood that comes my way!

I need some to mix with clay to make insulating castable refractory.

jhoff310 said:

Just curious what you guys do with all of your sawdust and noodles. I dump most of mine in the garden and till it in. I have been making firestarters with them as well. Got some hobby wax and mixed some dryer lint and sawdust together, we will see how it works out

Jeff

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It depends. If my neighbors are pissing me off I'll rake it up and throw it on a mid-spring burn pile. Otherwise I just rake it out and let nature take it's corse.

I have a huge pile in the woods behind the shop that I keep adding to every year. I get tons and tons of sawdust from the planer, alaskan mill, and general wood working. Last year I did a big project and I got 8 10cu ft wheelbarrows just from the planer. I turn the pile over with the tractor twice a year so eventually I will have some good compost to throw on the garden.

Use it as your outdoor bathroom- pee is a great source of N for composting things like that. And no- this is not a joke like my glass cleaning tip!

Mix it in your cereal every morning for extra fiber....or don't. Your call.

I leave mine lay in the wood processing area along with all the bark and stuff. Keeps it from getting muddy. Eventually it will break down and I'll have to deal with it...but not yet.

I try to leave it in the woods whenever possible. At home in goes across the street and into the woods.

Adios Pantalones said:

Use it as your outdoor bathroom- pee is a great source of N for composting things like that. And no- this is not a joke like my glass cleaning tip!

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What! You mean to tell me that the peeing on the woodstove glass to clean it was just a joke . . . now . . . after nearly suffering second degree burns?

I make fire starters also. Except I use paper dixie cups instead of ice cube trays.

I plowed the driveway there was so much of it...lol Anyone need some?

One of 5 during a day of millling last summer.

Flatbedford said:

One of 5 during a day of millling last summer.

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Does not take long to fill one of those...Like a knife at a gun fight. lol

Just mill closer to the edge of the lawn and break out the snowblower. ;-)

KarlP said:

Just mill closer to the edge of the lawn and break out the snowblower. ;-)

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I have a plow and concrete drive....lol It was a mess but the plow clean it up quick.

I used the leaf blower. There is still sawdust under the bushes after almost a year. The Oak sawdust seems to be a pretty effective grass killer and moss fertilizer. I guess that would be the tanic acid at work? Maybe some lime to get things back in balance? I will be working on the driveway from now on.

Doesn't wood ash sweeten acid soils? Would it help the sawdust break down faster?

No.

Backwoods Savage said:

jhoff310 said:

Just curious what you guys do with all of your sawdust and noodles. I dump most of mine in the garden and till it in. I have been making firestarters with them as well. Got some hobby wax and mixed some dryer lint and sawdust together, we will see how it works out

Jeff

Click to expand...

Putting it on the garden can be good or bad. If your ground is sandy it can actually help if you do things right. We've used it but waited until the crops came up and then spread the sawdust between the rows. This will help hold the moisture and over time will help to build up the ground. The bad part is that it can and will sour the soil. The cure for that is extra nitrogen....but nitrogen now is really expensive so I would question putting sawdust on a garden now.

Our sawdust is simply left in the woods.

Click to expand...

Er, I think lime would need to be used for sour (acid) soil. But your right about needing to add more nitrogen.

Alfalfa meal, animal manures, bloodmeal, or some other nitrogen source would be needed to counteract the effects of the wood chips on the available nitrogen...besides counteracting the wood chips it will also encourage the critters in the soil to devour the wood chips. Mixing in green grass clippings with the chips is a good way to get rid of some grass clippings and will add some nitrogen.

Ed