I usually acquire my logs at longer lengths and cut them down to size at home. I think I'm knee-deep in sawdust at my 'cutting station'. Any ideas? I'm a use-all-the-buffalo kinda guy, but I can't think of any utilization for this stuff...
Anything Useful For Sawdust?
- Thread starter snowaggie
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I use it as weed/grass suppressant near fencing etc. Depending on your lot, that might take a decent chunk of the stuff.
Smaller uses might be
- I use noodles as fire starter. But my neighbors always get one paper bag full of sawdust chips for that. They use brown paper bags, fill them with the sawdust, and light those to start their stove. (small stove, many starts in a season).
- I wonder if spreading them out over iced up driveways helps? (Ashes do for sure.)
- Mix a bit in compost?
- chicken coop ground cover?
Chuck the rest in the woods, if you have them.
Smaller uses might be
- I use noodles as fire starter. But my neighbors always get one paper bag full of sawdust chips for that. They use brown paper bags, fill them with the sawdust, and light those to start their stove. (small stove, many starts in a season).
- I wonder if spreading them out over iced up driveways helps? (Ashes do for sure.)
- Mix a bit in compost?
- chicken coop ground cover?
Chuck the rest in the woods, if you have them.
I’m in the same boat, I’m thinking of making my own bio bricks using all the sawdust.
I haven’t actually done it, but the videos ive seen, it seems to be a mix of folks use a screw and a jig to form the brick or just weight.
I was thinking of using my log splitter to try to make the bricks extra dense…. It’s on my long list of projects, haha.
I was thinking of using my log splitter to try to make the bricks extra dense…. It’s on my long list of projects, haha.
You could dump a cup full in bags when the kids yell Trick or Treat next month!
Glitter would also work for this!
Glitter would also work for this!
+1 for mulch and compost, really good stuff
Depending on the kind of wood dust/chips/whatever you have, I have also used pine specifically for planting acid loving plants like blueberries. Ideal to let break down a bit first. Not as effective if you aren't already a garden hoarder like me.
As for firestarters, I've also taken some dust and put it into egg cartons (the pulpy, paper kind obviously), and drizzled some hot soy wax over them and let cool and it keeps the dust in the little egg cups. Works really well. Been doing it for years with no issues starting my 602 but only use for starting the stove.
I'm just like you, nothing goes to waste if possible!
Depending on the kind of wood dust/chips/whatever you have, I have also used pine specifically for planting acid loving plants like blueberries. Ideal to let break down a bit first. Not as effective if you aren't already a garden hoarder like me.
As for firestarters, I've also taken some dust and put it into egg cartons (the pulpy, paper kind obviously), and drizzled some hot soy wax over them and let cool and it keeps the dust in the little egg cups. Works really well. Been doing it for years with no issues starting my 602 but only use for starting the stove.
I'm just like you, nothing goes to waste if possible!
I have only seen that with (shop) sawdust, not chainsaw chips. I think chips will be much harder to bond (I.e. make a brick rather than ending up with a pile of loose chips).
Yea, folks typically use wet paper and cardboard as a binder, they mix it to a slurry before pressing.
I know something that would work. A tow mixer. I built one and it worked well. It is a rear differential turned vertical with lawn mower blades attached, and a round stock tank used. So in trailer form, you pull it and the lawn mower blades turn with great force. I would drive in 1st gear a couple of blocks and the cement, sand, and paper, would be ground up into an oatmeal like slurry.
You could do firewood bricks with this thing, and you could make many at a time. Add water to the tank. Next throw in the wood chips/sawdust, and lastly throw in the paper/cardboard. The wet paper should pull the wood chips down towards the blades (hopefully). Your slurry could then be bucketed or pumped into forms. Or pushed into a block on a wood splitter with a jig made. The paper will help to bind the wood chips into a brick. After one season the differential rusted and stuck due to water infiltration. Maybe best to drain the differential and refill every once in a while. And only certain differentials work. Mine was from an old International pickup.
You could do firewood bricks with this thing, and you could make many at a time. Add water to the tank. Next throw in the wood chips/sawdust, and lastly throw in the paper/cardboard. The wet paper should pull the wood chips down towards the blades (hopefully). Your slurry could then be bucketed or pumped into forms. Or pushed into a block on a wood splitter with a jig made. The paper will help to bind the wood chips into a brick. After one season the differential rusted and stuck due to water infiltration. Maybe best to drain the differential and refill every once in a while. And only certain differentials work. Mine was from an old International pickup.
NickW
Minister of Fire
I always have boxes and 5 gallon pails of sawdust in the garages for oil/fluid spills. My nephew takes it (and ash) for their poultry to dust in.
Sawdust used to be a popular alternative fuel in this area, especially when oil was scarce during WWII. There were home furnaces that were designed to burn it well. In Seattle, one of the distributors still existed until recently. Too bad, their website had some interesting history of these burners.
Here's a nice video for a homemade sawdust burner experiment.
And here's a commercial version from a couple of decades ago:
Here's a nice video for a homemade sawdust burner experiment.
And here's a commercial version from a couple of decades ago:
Sawdust Stove Heats With No Moving Parts
If you're looking for a cheaper source of heat, take a look at Paul Schlabach's gravity-feed sawdust burner. The stove feeds sawdust from a hopper onto a grate in the firebox using no moving parts. ...
www.farmshow.com
Ok, geeking out a bit on this one, I trained as a tin-knocker in my youth. While looking, I stumbled on this cool video of a pro creating a sawdust stove from scratch. The video is detailed and of really nice quality.
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NickW
Minister of Fire
Geeking out is OK. I constantly get harassed about my firewood and burning obsession. We don't need to get into my other odd little OCD things...🤣.
It's an excellent demonstration of a disappearing craft. This fellow knows his stuff! His cuts are clean and accurate, without fishhooks.
Sawdust used to be a popular alternative fuel in this area, especially when oil was scarce during WWII. There were home furnaces that were designed to burn it well. In Seattle, one of the distributors still existed until recently. Too bad, their website had some interesting history of these burners.
Here's a nice video for a homemade sawdust burner experiment.
And here's a commercial version from a couple of decades ago:
Sawdust Stove Heats With No Moving Parts
If you're looking for a cheaper source of heat, take a look at Paul Schlabach's gravity-feed sawdust burner. The stove feeds sawdust from a hopper onto a grate in the firebox using no moving parts. ...www.farmshow.com
My dad grew up in a house in Portland OR that had a central furnace that burned sawdust. The fuel supplier would pump/blow the sawdust into the basement and had to shovel it into the furnace hopper. He said the sawdust often had carpenter ants. When my grandparents got old enough they swapped it for an oil furnace. That neighborhood still had the rings in the concrete curb to tie your horses to. Small home, grandpa worked in the steel mill.
I get a log load once per year and process the logs into firewood in a few weeks. The amount of sawdust made is pretty impressive. I run the riding lawnmower over it a million times to suck up the dust into the grass collection bins and then dump them in the chicken coop. I ultimately run the mower very low, almost to the point of scalping the earth but since I do this in the dry season the sawdust sucks up really well and it doesn't take long at all for the grass to recover.
Side effect is that the sawdust really cleans the heck out of the bottom of the mower deck.
We're still allowed to burn outside Mar-Apr and Oct-Nov. I just burn it with all the bark that falls off when splitting and scrap. Well, it's supposed to be landscape waste only but nobody complains.
Oh, yeah, Black Walnut is a no-no. There are toxins in it that will kill certain plants, tomatoes for certain. Not sure about Butternut (white walnut).
For the compost idea, add the sawdust gradually and mix it with fresh grass clippings or other green material. A pile made mostly of sawdust is very high in carbon and breaks down slowly without enough nitrogen. Keep it damp, not waterlogged, and turn it occasionally. Compost it before digging it into vegetable beds, since fresh sawdust can temporarily tie up nitrogen in the soil.
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