planer shavings

[Neil_B]

I am doing a bunch of planing on white cedar and I want to bag it and sell the shavings. Thing is that it's green. Will there be a problem with the moisture trapped in the bag? Is there even a market for planer shavings? Not sure if that stuff is too thin or not. If it is too thin, I guess I can always let it rot down outside first.

Thanks in advance

[Tom]

Neil,
I can't speak for White Cedar but the market for shavings in general, is high.  It is prized in the horse owners industry for bedding and they pay big bucks for it. Usually the locals will bring their truck and don't want bags. ;D

As long as the bag can breathe, I don't think that moisture will hurt anything. Trees that are ground up here for mulch are green and the bags are plastic with holes punched in them. Probably you will move the product faster than it can go bad anyway.  Holes in the bag might help with the marketing in that the customer can smell the product.  It is a pleasant, you know. :D

[Neil_B]

Have you got nothing better to do than sit at your computer Tom.  ;) Should be outside making sawdust.  8)
BTW, thanks for the quick reply.

I had planned on using big garbage bags 'cause they fit into the bin I have at the end of the planer. Still no dust collector yet  :(. Maybe I'll just punch a few holes in them to keep it airy.

I guess the reason I question the greenness of it is because I didn't think it would do what the horses want it to, soak up their pee . Figured the stuff would have to be dry to do that.

[Tom]

That's the beauty of punching your own clock, Neil. :D

I have the key to the sawmill in my pocket and nothing happens until I stick it into the ignition. :D :D

Now Monday is another day and there is a pile of logs waiting for me over in Dinsmore ;D

You might be right about the dryness of shavings making them work better.  I'll bet a fan and tossing the pile a little would let them dry pretty quick though.  I wonder if you might be able to invent a small "shaving dryer". :P ;D

[Fla._Deadheader]

2 words, DOG Bedding. ;D Contact someone that has breeding stock or hunting stock. You can dry small amounts with a screened drum and a fan. Plastic bags WILL promote bad smell from moisture. Get them DRIED first.

  ( I did a LOT of research on this, lately).

[Neil_B]

I've got enough inventions running through my brain right now. Thanks alot for adding another one.  :-/ ;D

Your right, it is nice to run the clock. Now if I can figure out how to make money, I can keep my wife off my back.  ;)

[Tom]

If you control the clock, then you are on the right track.  You don't get rich working for the "other" man.  :D

[DanG]

...and if you ain't tha lead dog, tha view don't never change!  
 ??? :

[isawlogs]

Pet shop...they are always looking for cedar shavings for there cages ... only my cdn cents worth....

[Ron Wenrich]

I did some work for several guys who sold shavings.  Shavings are a good way to get rid of your slabs.  All you need is a shaving machine and a way to dry the shavings.

One guy used a clothes dryer.  He said they were done when they started to smoke.     Later, he went to a drum that was a screen on the outside.  The fines fell out.  He used a salamader heater for a heat source.  About 5-10 minutes and he turned it with a small electric motor.

He went and bagged them in small lots.  His market was pet shops where the customers used 1 or 2 lbs at a time.  He just used baggies.  20 years ago, he was charging 35 cents a lb.  He used any type of aromatic - red cedar, sassafras, cherry, apple.  He would even take pulpwood, make a straight cut on the sawmill, and then run it through the planer, over and over.  

Another guy shaved and baled.  Balers are pretty expensive, but you can really move product.  To dry his, he used about 6 heat lights (like they use at McDonalds).  His material ran out on a slow moving conveyor.  He strung some thin wire across it so the shavings would turn.  This guy did several tons a day like this.

You don't need a whole lot of heat or time.  The stock is pretty thin.

[Neil_B]

Tom, are saying that there is hope that I'll "get rich" ???

DanG, my view does change frequently. Today I was into town about 4 times and to the city this morning. Think I spent all of an hour or so here at home.  :

isaw, your Canadian cents are worth more than ever right now. 8) We should be buying up all sorts of stuff from down south.  

Ron, good tips there but I think my wife would kill me if I used our new clothes dryer for this.  :D
Did a couple of boards when I was home and not an hour later, picked some up off the floor and it was dry as a bone. It's not even that warm in the garage.

[Tom]

Tom says "Yep".  You're in the driver's seat. ;D


Just remember that "rich" isn't all money.

[Larry]

I think DH has it right.  I was at the farm store about two weeks ago and they had eight pallets of shavings for dog bedding.  The shavings were in one of those really tough plastic sacks.  The label said the bag held seven cubic feet but the bag was only about three cubic feet so they were highly compressed.  Can't remember the price.  Asked one of the workers if they sold much and he said the demand was very high in hunting season and cold weather.

When I run the planer, I blow the shavings into a stock trailer.  Pretty high demand for that to use either as bedding for farm animals or mulch.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Them compressed bags are usually Pine down here, and go for $5.95. I was tryin to get DanG to join up with me, but, he wouldn't share them "Gold Mine" Pines : : ;D :D :D :D :D

[Kevin]

This isn't about shavings but I use sawdust instead of sand on the ice that develops on the driveway.
Works real good.

[isawlogs]

Kevin
  The sawdust works fine on the driveway now ,but when spring comes along ...the sand would and will help melt the frozen snow and ice buildup where as the sawdust will act as an insulator and it will take a long time to thawout  (remember how they used to keep ice blocks not to long ago)

[Kevin_H.]

Another guy shaved and baled.  Balers are pretty expensive, but you can really move product.  To dry his, he used about 6 heat lights (like they use at McDonalds).  His material ran out on a slow moving conveyor.  He strung some thin wire across it so the shavings would turn.  This guy did several tons a day like this.

You don't need a whole lot of heat or time.  The stock is pretty thin.

Very interesting stuff, I have two dust collectors now, maybe I will hook one up to run the planer only...

What do you do about any bark in the product, or do you debark it first?

Hmm!!

[Ron Wenrich]

You have to use walnut sawdust.  The dark color will absorb the heat from the sun.    :D

[Tom]

Just don't park a Mustang in the driveway. :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

  The Shaving mills use a "wire", probably punchplate and the pieces here are ¼" square or so. Rotating in a wire cage to dry also beats up the bark (Pine) and it falls through the screen. The shavings should be nearly all wood, no bark.

  I found a website that has 3 LARGE shaving mills and is planning another. Can't locate it, yet : :

[Kevin]

Marcel;
I don't use that much.  :D
It also solves another problem.
When the wife complains about sawdust being tracked in the house I can say ...that's the sawdust you asked me to put down outside to keep you from falling and getting hurt. ;)
We use to get our ice like that in the summer.
Blocks cut from a frozen lake in winter and stored in a shed covered in sawdust to be sold in summer.

[Norm]

Pella windows has a factory or two near us and they shave all their srap pieces and bale it. The horse people and at livestock shows you see tons of it used. It is not cheap, if I remember right it's $7.50 for a bale of it. About the same size as a hay bale. All the pet supply places have it in small bags for big bucks and have wondered if a guy couldn't go to them with a sample bag or two and see if they would start buying from you.

One last thing is we ran out of kitty litter so I told Patty why don't you go down to the saw shed and get some dust from the mill to use. Works better than kitty litter and the fresh sawdust helps keep the smell down. I'm thinking of going in business if I can get the patents thru. :D