Sawdust - What to do with it?

[50 Acre Jim]

Trying to find the best place to set up my mill and after looking at some of the members setups I realize there is going to be a LOT of sawdust to deal with.  It looks like some have a hose that sucks it out (at saw time) and sends it to a trailer to be disposed of.  Others seem to just pick it up with their front loader. 

But regardless of what system you use, the questions is what do you do with it?  Seems a shame to just throw it away.  Can it be used in the flower bed or maybe around landscaping?  Or better yet, can it be compressed into sawdust logs and used for heat in a wood stove?

Interested to hear what others are doing with all this byproduct.

TIA,

Jim

[Dewey]

I sell it to farmers.... for bedding

[Brad_bb]

Remember you cannot use certain woods for animal bedding.   Plus very fine sawdust is more likely to be inhaled, which is not good.   For me, I mill about 6 hours a day.  I have a manual mill which is not as fast as say a LT40 super hydraulic.  I burn all of my saw dust in 2 well ventilated burn barrels.  Once you get some coals going, you can pour the dust in so it's at a slant in the barrel, leaving one side with some exposed coals.  The heat will dry and then burn the dust.  Start the barrels as soon about an hour into milling.  If you have a bunch of bark, it's usually drier and will burn well to make coals.  As you get dust put your first batch in and a few hours later check it and if it's nearly burned down, then add another batch, then a few hours later repeat.  I usually have the last batch in by evening and by morning, there's nothing but ash.  Don't do it in high wind conditions or at high fire hazard times.  Keep an eye on it and have a plan in case of fire spread.  My tail-er wasn't watching well enough one time and the surrounding grass caught on fire.  Luckily it was mowed short grass so he did get it out, but i gave him a hard time about "burning my farm down" for awhile-teasing.
We are able to keep up with the bark and dust we produce using two vortex burn barrels.  When
burning bark or wood, these barrels burn pretty clean(no smoke), but dumping dust in will initially create smoke.  https://youtu.be/-0J0zRiDAmE

[red]

Sawdust get blown not picked up .  Any leaf blower is a good start .

[dboyt]

I pile it up & mix with horse manure.  Best compost you can get.  Hope to be selling it one of these days when I have all I need.  Also thinking about charcoal production for barbecue & terra preta.

[nativewolf]

The burn barrel would be innovative but not possible in Virginia, outdoor burn ban in many areas until 4pm due to fire hazards and air pollution. 

As dboyt says, it is a valuable amendment to animal manure as the excess carbon in sawdust and excess N in animal waste help to balance one another and really enable microbes to go to town on the animal waste and cellulose without allowing dangerous amounts of leaching.  Then you have a salable product, little pollution, little waste. 

If you have a circle mill you have more granular product instead of dust from a bandsaw, then it is possible to sell straight as animal bedding.  Walnut is really the wood you don't want in bedding.

[Deese]

I pile it up & mix with horse manure.  Best compost you can get.  Hope to be selling it one of these days when I have all I need.  Also thinking about charcoal production for barbecue & terra preta.

I've thought about composting the sawdust. If I try it, it will be far away from my log yard and lumber storage area. I'm afraid that it will simply attract more unwanted insects, and I have enough trouble managing them now.

[Deese]

So my current solution is "burn baby burn"

[Ox]

A wood pellet press would be useful.  For me I just spread it around in low spots or dump in a pile in the corner of the woods or something.  Maybe burn in my next slab fire next time...

[WV Sawmiller]

Jim,

   I do like Ox and fill in low spots and sometimes burn it. When sawing for a customer i often suggest they grab a box or bag full for oil sweeping in the shop.

   I looked at a pellet mill but the folks I contacted never answered my questions such as chip size, moisture content, power requirements, etc.

   Don't put it around your trees for mulch till it has been completely composted. green sawdust will kill your plants/trees.

[Deese]

I've got truckloads of the stuff piled in the edge of the woods about 100 yards from my sawmill. A few months ago, I had let it get out of hand and spent an entire day burning slabs, raking up pieces of pine bark that was scattered everywhere, and scooping up sawdust with the front end loader and dumping it. Now, I try to mix it in with the slabs as they burn. The only problem with doing this is the dang smoke. Then, if the wind turns on me I'll be sawing in smoke. I don't like sawing in smoke.

[nativewolf]

The cyclone burn barrel sure was interesting.  Just can't use that in my county until after 4pm.  It would be nice on a cold winter day to have such a nice heater. 

[Deese]

It's so easy to let things get out of hand. I've committed to never let things get that messy again for a couple of reasons. One reason is that large piles of slabs invite all sorts of critters and some of them may be harmful to the surrounding trees, your nearby logs, or lumber that may be stored nearby. Another reason is that, in my opinion, it makes you look less credible when a customer drives up on a chaotic scene of unorganized clutter. And third, the dust gradually settles and compacts and eventually the sawmill will be sitting in a hole  :D It makes the cleanup really fun when the garden rake just scratches the surface and you've got to literally use a shovel to slice through it  :D


 

[drobertson]

DBoyt has the plan, depending on just how much you will be producing will determine how you might handle it.
I piled mine back off the edge of the field, separating hard wood from pine, as well as cedar.  Hog farmers and horse folks use it at times, I had one pile of pine that I saved back for compost, it will need nitrogen to be sure, my last check of 5 year old dust  indicated a surplus of potassium and potash, very low on nitrogen.  The horse manure or any other herb eating animal will produce a higher nitrogen element.  If worked properly the volume will reduce in size making the foot print manageable.

[Deese]

URGENT! Big Closeout Sale! ALL MUST GO! Buy any amount of lumber, and get a 50lb bag of sawdust for just $9.99! Perfect for starting that composting project you keep putting off!  :D :D :D :D ;D

[longtime lurker]

We mostly sell ours: some to the horse people,  some to the mines for use as filler in blast holes. Any excess we burn.

[nativewolf]

URGENT! Big Closeout Sale! ALL MUST GO! Buy any amount of lumber, and get a 50lb bag of sawdust for just $9.99! Perfect for starting that composting project you keep putting off!  :D :D :D :D ;D

Ok sounds hokey and funny but put that in craigslist and see how many folks show up...it would be interesting to see.

[Brad_bb]

It would be nice if you could make a secondary product. I've looked at pellet mills and they are too costly to be worth while for most smaller sawmill guys like us(bandmill).  There is also the issue of drying too! 

[Crusarius]

Pellt mill. next build thread?

[DbltreeBelgians]

Pellt mill. next build thread?

Oh just wait till member KBeitz see this. He'll have one built by Monday morning. Not sure there's not much he can't build when he puts his mind to it.

Brent

[TKehl]

I want to try growing mushrooms in it.  King Straphoria grows well in wood chips.  Sawdust?  Would have to try it. 

[derhntr]

Well worded Deese, city slicker would be jumping all over it  :D

[Kbeitz]

This is what I would be building...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpPMrUM0eTU

[DbltreeBelgians]

That's way to easy for you KB

Brent

[nativewolf]

Besides, Brad B already has one (or 2?).  You would have to have a build a steam powered sawdust tractor to actually impress us now

[4x4American]

I just pile it outside and sell it loaded on your truck for $10/cubic yard.  Mixed hardwood.  I mainly saw northern hardwoods and the ones I try to put in a different pile are cherry walnut and butternut.  My neighbor comes with his loader and brings it to his dairy farm for putting down in the aisles for more traction and to line the barn cleaner and if hes desperate he uses it for bedding.  I also have a few horse ppl and a pig farmer that come and get it.  I tell them its not good for bedding but after that I can't control what they do with it and if they don't buy it from me they buy it from another sawmill so I might as well sell it.

[Dewey]

Remember you cannot use certain woods for animal bedding.   Plus very fine sawdust is more likely to be inhaled, which is not good.   For me, I mill about 6 hours a day.  I have a manual mill which is not as fast as say a LT40 super hydraulic.  I burn all of my saw dust in 2 well ventilated burn barrels.  Once you get some coals going, you can pour the dust in so it's at a slant in the barrel, leaving one side with some exposed coals.  The heat will dry and then burn the dust.  Start the barrels as soon about an hour into milling.  If you have a bunch of bark, it's usually drier and will burn well to make coals.  As you get dust put your first batch in and a few hours later check it and if it's nearly burned down, then add another batch, then a few hours later repeat.  I usually have the last batch in by evening and by morning, there's nothing but ash.  Don't do it in high wind conditions or at high fire hazard times.  Keep an eye on it and have a plan in case of fire spread.  My tail-er wasn't watching well enough one time and the surrounding grass caught on fire.  Luckily it was mowed short grass so he did get it out, but i gave him a hard time about "burning my farm down" for awhile-teasing.
We are able to keep up with the bark and dust we produce using two vortex burn barrels.  When
burning bark or wood, these barrels burn pretty clean(no smoke), but dumping dust in will initially create smoke.  https://youtu.be/-0J0zRiDAmE

Well  I get rid of it by the Dump Truck load...  Sawdust and shavings......  all used for animal bedding no casualties yet..... Plus $$$$ in my pocket...

[Knute]

Oak or pine sawdust works good for Kitty litter if you dry it.

[nativewolf]

Make the $.  There are worse things for a horse than sawdust, standing in wet dung for one.  Give a horse enough time and they'll be rolling in dust every hour in any case.  Also, most horses are given quite a bit of access to fields and dont spend all day in the stalls. 

[Peter Drouin]

I trade mine for cow pooo. And give it away for free. On a Saturday they'll be a bunch with grain bags, cleaning it all up for me. 8)

[Cazzhrdwd]

This is my twentieth year owning a sawmill, I've had cattle even longer. Its bar nun the best bedding I've ever used. It mixes with manure very well and makes excellent fertilizer with a bit of lime added to it.

[killamplanes]

I don't saw all day everyday. But alot of mine gets blown a far with the 40mph windy days we have around here. I bet if you looked hard enough you could find sawdust a half mile away. It drifts 30ft away from mill on windy days.

[ellmoe]

      I sell mine primarily to potting soils cos., the balance goes to horse bedding and for use in gardens. If the dust is placed on top of soil it will act as a mulch helping reduce weeds and retaining moisture. Eventually, it will break down, if you cut into soil at a later time it is necessary to add nitrogen, chicken manure works well. We are dealing with sandy soils here, so any organic material is a positive.

[nativewolf]

Great topic and some really innovative, simple answers.  So, maybe an interesting poll question.  How many people are selling sawdust and how many not.  Seems that a large % are selling.

[red]

I know I sound like a broken record but we have talked about this many times. I can remember a member named Getoverit from Florida . He loved sawmilling started with a bandsaw then also had a swingblade . He purchased a few trucks was doing great. Then hurt his back , no more sawmilling. He makes guitars last I heard. Please use the search feature.

[goose63]

I've had people tell mw thy want the sawdust for the chickens or the garden tell them bring a trailer or some thing to put it in will call you when it's full it's free so far no one has come to get it may be I should charge for the sawdust

[tomsteve]

  Can it be used in the flower bed or maybe around landscaping? 

the problem that occurs with using sawdust in flower beds is that will compact as it gets wet. that creates a wet matt where funguses and diseases start.
if you have a fence line with weeds, it works great to snuff out the weeds along it.

[Crusarius]

That was the entire reason for the post

[redprospector]

Here in the desert southwest, I haven't had to do anything with it yet. About the time I get enough to start thinking about it, a wind storm blows through and redistributes it. Depending on the direction of the wind, it either goes onto the vacant 8 acres North of me, the alfalfa field East of me, or the mobile home park South of me. We get a lot of dust devils too. When they come across just right, they turn to "sawdust" devils.

[Brucer]

I give all my sawdust away.

• People put it in large bags and save it for the winter -- great for traction in icy conditions.
• The metal fab shop across the street spreads it on the shop floor before sweeping up stainless steel dust and grindings -- it draws in moisture that keeps the toxic dust under control.
• The gas station down the road keeps several barrels on hand for soaking up fuel spills.
• Local farmers mix it with soil and leave it for a year or so to break down.
• Local farmers spread it directly on paths, etc. to control weeds.
• Any that's still around gets spread in the grass field next to my (former) milling site. Great soil there after 8 years.

One point for the farming and gardening folk ... the organisms that break down wood waste will draw nitrogen out of the soil while they are doing their job. Fresh sawdust depletes the nitrogen and kills plants. However, after the wood is decomposed, the organisms die off and return the nitrogen to the soil. Old decomposed sawdust helps plants grow. So ... plan accordingly ;D.