Saw dust collection.

[WoodChucker]

Just curious how you guys deal with all the saw dust, is there a way to hook up a vacuum system or at maybe just a way to direct the saw dust to a spot other then right under your feet? At least thats my problem with the WM LT-15, maybe it's not the same on the bigger mills, hey? Thanks!

R.T.

[Tom]

Bibbyman has posted his homemade sawdust machine but most of us shovel. :D

There are two ways to keep the sawdust down, move the mill or saw bigger logs.  :D  

Actually, the accumulation of sawdust in one spot makes it easier to control its removal.  A manure spade makes quick work of a pile of sawdust and a trip to the compost pile will reward you with some of the richest garden soil you could buy.... and it's free!

[WoodChucker]

Tom

yep I've seen Bibbyman's setup, pretty nice from what I can see of it.  

I agree it's nice to have it all in one spot for removal, but I just can't like it right under my feet and have to walk in it while I'm working. Just thought maybe someone has come up with a better idea for moving it out of the way, like maybe some sort of a shute that would direct it to another spot until you have the time to get at it, no?

Thanks Tom,  

[Tom]

I've got a suggestion, Woodchucker.

Why don't you grab the bull by the horns and invent something?   Maybe like a squirrel cage fan on the sawdust chute or vanes on the band wheel or ?? ??

I'd sure like to see what you come up with.  It might even be salable, eh? :D

I tried and tried to come up with something and wasn't able to do it.   The best I have figured out works but is a might on the dangerous side.   If the chute is directed straight out rather than down, the sawdust will blow as much as 10 feet to the side. You still have to  move it eventually but not as frequently.  The downside is the possibility of a piece of broken blade, bark or sliver of wood being thrown from the mill and hitting someone.  That may even be able to be controlled a little by erecting a movable chicken wire fence 10 feet from the mill. :P

[WoodChucker]

Thats pretty Tom, the best I could come up with was a strong NE wind.  :D

[Tom]

That works too :D

Everytime I prayed for one it came from the southwest.  Now, sawdust is composed of a lot of fiber and not much nutrient so my benefits are mostly regularity. :D :D

[EZ]

The best solution wood be to buy a Baker mill, the saw dust goes the other way. ;D
Just kiddin guys, with this spring rain, its all mud out their for me, so I shovel the dust up from the other side, and put it where I walk. I'd say you guys are lucky to walk in saw dust. ;D I even thought about putting a dust shoot on my mill to blow it where I walk.
Hey Dead Header, did you think about buying a carbide tip blade for them hard logs. I know their expensives but they just might do the job. Kinda makes me wonder if that blade I sharpen on an angle wood work. I got almost 3 thous. BF of sawing hard wood with it, and still going strong.
EZ

[Fla._Deadheader]

I'm figgerin that if I stall long enough, There will always be softwood to cut, instead of that concrete stuff !!  : :D :D :D :D

[ohsoloco]

I hear ya EZ, my norwood blows the sawdust out the other side of the mill, away from where I'm walking....but when it gets soggy, I have to shovel it over to where I'm walking.   Of course, I'd rather do that than wade through the big piles I end up making in a weekend  

[Tom]

I guess it's "in the eyes of the beholder".  I was always happy that I wasn't having to walk around the logs on the ramp and wade through all the bark and stuff.  The sawdust never bothered me too much.

I've pulled up to log piles that were stacked 10 or more feet tall and sure wouldn't relish being caught between them and the mill if they were to come down uncontrolled.

[Kevin]

When I`m sawing the sawdust just gets raked flat after three or four logs.
The problem I have is with it being so soft and dry the dog likes to lay in it and I have to step over the dog which is more of a problem than the sawdust.  :-/

[Jeff]

You could always teach him to saw then you could steal his spot.

[biziedizie]

Don't know if I would like walking in sawdust everyday but then again it would motivate me to clean up every hour or so. :D My dust hits the side of the barn that's about 4 feet away and slides to the concrete and just sits there, maybe 6 tractor buckets full now. Might have to dig through it to see where my blades are hiding, put them on the concrete at the begining of the week and I can't find them. :D

    Steve

[ohsoloco]

I've lost a few boards doing that too, Steve  :D   I always find that stray slab or chunk of wood with my foot when I'm wandering through the sawdust pile  :(

[biziedizie]

Hmmmmm maybe that's how I'm going to find my blades, might have to take a stroll on the other side and see what's over there, who knows what's under all that sawdust.
  Come to think of it I'm short a chainsaw so I'm thinking it's under there as well. :D
  I can just fit the tractor down that side of the mill and it would only take a few mins to clean everything up but I still do it by hand. I'm always afraid that I'll take the tractor at full steam and hit a board under the sawdust and it will jam against the bucket and the sleepers that the mill sits on and throw everything out of whack.
  Maybe I just like the heap of sawdust there as my kid likes to take his remote control monster truck and blast threw it all.

     Steve

[Oregon_Sawyer]

I thought only my dog liked to lay in the sawdust.  The old dog which is gone now would head for the mill as soon as I turned it on.  He would eventually move just enought so I could get by and then lay there all day.

Jet the younger dog likes to lay in the sawdust but he usually does it when I am not there.  I know because he digs a big hole that I have to fill up.

Jet also likes to lay on the lumber piles.  I thought someone was running into one of my piles when I wasn't there a knocking it  out of kilter.  I found out he would move the boards to suit him :D :D

[EZ]

Problem solved with the dogs in your way. All you have to do is build a portable brige, when your dog fines the spot to lay just put it over them.
EZ

[Neil_B]

I seem to get a lot of sawdust accumulating in the housing on the opposite side that it blows out on. Is this normal or are my blades just not expelling it properly?? It's also the side that my lube sprayers are on so maybe just more noticable because it's wet?

[Tom]

Wet sawdust sticks.  That's probably why the buildup.  It doesn't matter whether you wet it or it was a wet log.  Too much water on a blade can make mud though and you need a stream of water to get it off. :-/

I have a customer that I saw Aromatic red cedar for, and he has dogs that lay and roll in the sawdust. He says that they found out that it keeps the fleas off. Pretty smart dogs. :D

[ohsoloco]

Tom, that sounds like the dogs would smell pretty good    much nicer than some of the stuff my last dog used to roll in  :D

[sawyerkirk]

Before my mill became "non portable" I sawed out in anopen lot and simply removed the exhaust shoot so the dust blew straight out, it really thru it out of the way.