Wat do with sawdust?

[dave_the_nerd]

So, I've been getting into woodworking the last year or so, and finally got sick of paying twice-too-much for pre-squared boards (that are never quite square.)

This afternoon, just processing rough-cut lumber to build a dresser, I turned approximately 750 cubic inches of cedar and pine into dust/shavings. It filled several garbage bags. What should I do with this stuff? I can bag it and toss it, but there's an upper limit on how much I can throw out via residential garbage collection. (We have a 65 gallon trash bin from the city, weekly pickups. I was literally scooping it up with a snow shovel.)

Can I burn this stuff as "firewood" in a patio-top brazier or something? Or will it burn up too fast and be dangerous? (We are in a townhome, and have a small patio, but no yard for a proper firepit.)

Any other ideas? If I do more with cedar, can I donate it to somebody with a lot of gerbils to take care of or something? (My thickness planer makes pretty big curly shavings, not dust.)

Thanks for ideas.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would get large paper bags and just try to pack it in as much as you can and throw it out with trash.

Technically it would be perfectly fine to dump it in the bush because it's organic waste, but you can probably get a fine for that, so best not to take a chance.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Burning sawdust could be dangerous (dust explosion).

 

[Greenman]

Take it to the dump.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd spread it around. Some in the garden, some in the firebox, make firestarters, keep some as an absorbant... If you put it in the garden, make sure it isn't toxic to whatever you grow there.

 

[Blain]

Donate to a gardener around you.

 

[NetWareHead]

Do you have a yard with some woods? Dump it in the woods and it will decompose naturally. If you compost, mix it up with your leaves and kitchen waste. Do you camp or have a need for firestarters? Look up how to make easy to use firestarters on google. You could burn it in your fireplace but it sounds like you have alot... I would sweep up sawdust and dump into a paper bag. Then when you haave a good fire going, throw the bag into the fire and it will burn up. Do you have landscaping in need of mulch? Spread the chavings around the beds.

Note: If you have any sawdust from pressure treated or painted wood, throw that stuff away in the trash.

 

[master_shake_]

get some resin and a press and make you own wood.

 

[lxskllr]

Make sachets with the cedar, and put it in your drawers.

 

[MongGrel]

Mix it into your Parmesan ?

:biggrin:

The sachet with the cedar is a pretty good idea for some of it.

 

[HeXen]

Mixing it with wood glue will make a paste that you can use as wood filler for gaps and stuff. It works better than typical wood filler.
You can also do experiments on mice to see how long they would survive in a dust world.

 

[DrPizza]

Mixing it with wood glue will make a paste that you can use as wood filler for gaps and stuff. It works better than typical wood filler.
You can also do experiments on mice to see how long they would survive in a dust world.

That's a pretty big gap if he has garbage bags full of the stuff.

Around here, all the sawmills sell the stuff for a few dollars per garbage bag size load. A lot of farms use it.

 

[skyking]

I mulch under the rhodies with clean sawdust. I try to toss the plywood dust as it is not all wood.

 

[Xcrown]

Where are you? Ill come by and get it all.

Xcrown

 

[Mandres]

I would throw up an ad on CL, and get the # of whoever comes by to get it so you can call him when you have more.