Waste Products - Sawdust and Flitches and slabs

Westcoastct · December 13, 2018, 02:14:44 AM

Sawdust...... what have you been able to do with it? anyone figured out how to turn a profit out of it? if so how? howmuch?

Flitches and off cuts? anything other then firewood? even firewood is a hard sell at times.....

Im trying to figure out ways I can deal with the waste that accumulates from sawmills. Also want to try and produce a profit if at all possible. we cut a lot of cedar and fir, so far I separate both types, and have built to sawdust storage bins out of concrete lock blocks (4500lb blocks) which I also plan to build a roof over to keep it dry. but for the life of me can not find a use.

longtime lurker · December 13, 2018, 05:02:27 AM

Is it sawdust or wood flour ie circular saws or bands? Different product with different markets... I've never had much trouble getting rid of circle sawdust with uses ranging from animal bedding to filler in blast holes.

Cut your downgrade out. I pay a guys wage every year out of the downgrade... stakes and landscaping timbers and other low grade rubbish. Other then tht maybe look at a gassifier, but you gotta have enough volume to support it.

Crusarius · December 13, 2018, 07:46:11 AM

Compost? Place I pass every day has a small wood rack on side of the road with 40 pound bags of compost. $4 per bag. the rack is always empty. Mix horse manure with the sawdust then load it in bags.

Sixacresand · December 13, 2018, 08:00:07 AM

The best offer I got for slabs was from the local Forestry Service who will charge me $50 per hour to burn it Funny they offer that, but Georgia law prohibits burning sawmill waste.

PAmizerman · December 13, 2018, 08:19:16 AM

I've never sawn cedar or fir so I'm not sure if it is suitable for bedding. I saw mainly hemlock. The sawdust goes to horse owners for bedding. $25 a pickup load.

The slabs get bundled 4' wide 2' high
$10 a bundle.

I never have enough sawdust. And now that it's cold out I only have a half dozen seasoned bundles left.

I also offer it cut up.
Build yourself a rack to cut it up.
Makes it a lot easier and faster.

moodnacreek · December 13, 2018, 08:28:10 AM

In the 38 years I have been sawing the demand for wood has completely changed. A 'live' edge plank brought a scowl from the perspective customer. Horse people wanted fence boards and sawdust. Locust posts where in demand. All the slab wood found a wood stove. Nowadays I have to dump the sawdust or give it away, burn the sticks and all the soft slabs. Almost no demand for fence boards or posts. But there is more $ in what I sell today and no $ in the waste , so the heart of the log has to profit enough to waste the outside. The question that was asked cannot be answered because of all the life styles in different areas.

WV Sawmiller · December 13, 2018, 10:27:02 AM

I fill in low spots on the place with my sawdust. No market I have found. I used to burn my scrap slabs and flitches but now I sell them dirt cheap to get rid of them ($10-$25 pick up or similar size trailer load & U-Load). If just a small pick up I'll generally charge about $10. Heavy loaded 5X8-6X10 trailer I may $25. Not profitable but somebody gets some use and I get rid of them.

Mad Professor · December 13, 2018, 10:47:09 AM

Sawdust makes good mulch and animal bedding. The cedar sawdust is sold as kitty litter and it repels insects; there is a market for that if you bag it. Must be people nearby with kittys? Get some sacks with a cute kitten logo made up and market it.

Pieces with defects I cut into tomato stakes or stickers.

Slabs/other waste get used as firewood but I cut almost all hardwood. Edgings are great kindling, any campsites nearby? Campers want to roast their marsh mellows. How is supply of hardwoods where you are? If not much, there should be a firewood market for cedar/fir. People with OWB won't care if it's softwood as long as it's cheap.

Haleiwa · December 13, 2018, 12:51:54 PM

There is a Scandinavian practice of burying wood under topsoil and planting vegetables in it. Supposedly the rotting wood provides nutrients and retains water for the roots. Look up kugel garden.

Bandmill Bandit · December 13, 2018, 01:45:52 PM

The Burying practice is an ancient one BUT does burn nitrogen in large quantities in the first few years and sometime more depending on how small the trash has been reduced to.

offrink · December 13, 2018, 02:50:06 PM

Depending on how much labor you want to put into it, sawdust blocks. Sawdust, shredded paper, and water mixed and then pressed into block form and dried. A 3"x5"x8" block is suppose to burn upto 20 minutes.

BrandonSchiller · December 13, 2018, 04:23:52 PM

Posted my waste / barky slabs (Hemlock mostly) on Facebook marketplace and had about 6 people offer to take it all. $10 a pickup load. Sold it all in 3 days. As far of sawdust, I have a chicken coop so it all goes in there. Once the chickens "use" it, I compost it and throw it in the garden.

Bert · December 13, 2018, 04:48:22 PM

In our local markets its not considered waste- the sawdust goes to cattle farms and the slabs go for home heating. Now if I could just get rid of that pesky dimensional lumber

offrink · December 13, 2018, 06:54:27 PM

Now if I can figure out to delete an accidental post!

jmouton · December 13, 2018, 07:34:05 PM

we have tried to sell our slab wood , everybody says they want it but they never show up, so i got tired of looking at it ,,, takes up alot of space , so i got 3 fire s going and kept feeding them with my excavator w/thumb, took a couple of days , it s all gone, they were big fires ,, i think airplanes were using them to land at detroit metro airport, i gave everybody fair warning i was burning them and got a few takers, so from now on i am burning it all so i can use the space for more logs or whatever i want, slab wood is a p.i.t.a. sawdust i just dump in the open pastures , nobody wants that either, wish i could burn that too ,,

jim

FLPINERAT · December 13, 2018, 08:14:56 PM

Who'll be the first to build a wood burning gasifier and run their mill on it??

moodnacreek · December 13, 2018, 09:09:45 PM

Quote from: jmouton on December 13, 2018, 07:34:05 PM
we have tried to sell our slab wood , everybody says they want it but they never show up, so i got tired of looking at it ,,, takes up alot of space , so i got 3 fire s going and kept feeding them with my excavator w/thumb, took a couple of days , it s all gone, they were big fires ,, i think airplanes were using them to land at detroit metro airport, i gave everybody fair warning i was burning them and got a few takers, so from now on i am burning it all so i can use the space for more logs or whatever i want, slab wood is a p.i.t.a. sawdust i just dump in the open pastures , nobody wants that either, wish i could burn that too ,,
I once bull dozed a big pile of 15" slabs and covered with dirt because no one showed up. If I put wood on the ground, guess who picks it up? You can sell fire wood but you can't give it away!
jim

moodnacreek · December 13, 2018, 09:14:23 PM

Fuel prices have to be real high to do that. I run on veg. oil about half the year [175 kw gen set] and when I'am making money that is really not worth it.

WDH · December 13, 2018, 09:48:52 PM

I sell slabs for $10 per pick-up load or for $20 for all you can load on a 16' trailer. It generally all moves, but it can take some time. There ain't no glaciation here.

Magicman · December 13, 2018, 09:53:02 PM

When I am sawing for myself I do this:

Put the slab pile beside the street with my FREE WOOD sign.

This happens.

In one day the slab pile is gone and we are both happy. ;D

WDH · December 13, 2018, 10:01:02 PM

At least they did not take your sign.

Magicman · December 13, 2018, 10:39:43 PM

Those slabs were from when I was sawing for the Cabin Addition

Several folks walked up to the sawmill to verify that they were actually free. One guy came up crying and saying that I had no idea what they meant to him and his family. 'Bout had me crying. Sometimes a little means a lot to someone that has nothing.

longtime lurker · December 13, 2018, 10:53:31 PM

Quote from: FLPINERAT on December 13, 2018, 08:14:56 PM
Who'll be the first to build a wood burning gasifier and run their mill on it??

Power prices are stupid high here so I've crunched the numbers a few times. I'm either not big enough or too big. I don't have enough free manpower for a smaller manual setup, and don't have enough waste to justify a useful sized autonomous unit independent of the grid.
My waste stream is big enough to run around a 50kVa unit 24/7. I need 200kVa for startup loading and can run on around 120-150, so theoretically I can generate enough power in 24 hours to work an 8 hr day. But you can't store electricity so you end up selling to the grid at off peak rates and pulling it back at peak rates, and the saving isn't enough to make it worth the hastle.
From the pricing I've seen (albeit it may have changed in the time since I last looked) there's some good auto setups available turnkey in the 30-60kVa range... And then not much more until you get to 2500 kVa. I don't have time for another project and if I did I'd rather go fishing.
Now what I'd really be interested in is an alternator hooked up to a big Stirling engine. Wood fired (or solar) hot water with a thermostat and mixer would give a consistent speed to a Stirling, so you get away from the variables of direct heat given variable fuel calorifics

Westcoastct · December 13, 2018, 11:19:20 PM

Well yes I would have to agree its been hard to give this stuff away. although I found one guy who took the whole pile once he spent about 2 weeks making multiple loads each day. he was happy and jumped on it as fast as I could say free. Im liking the 4'x2' bundle because that little bit of money could go in a blade or beer jar.... assuming most times it would just be the latter of the two.

I have a bit of hardwood to saw here and there but really nothing of quantity to worry about mixing in here and there. I will check with some local farmers on but I think its a bit to fine for horses, but would be great for chickens and cats. if I put a 5 gallon bucket on my mill once it was full I could just dump it in a hopper with a bag underneath so it wouldn't be to time consuming. wheels are turning now.

My dad loves the slabs but I produce them at such a high rate he cant burn enough each year to really dent the pile.

we do have some horses around so ive been thinking about adding some in to make a blend it would get rid of some maybe the sawdust from the floor that ends up having a few chunks in it like bark or some broken wood here and there and save the better cleaner sawdust for bagging.

this has been a very constructive thread thank you guys.

Ive had many ideas pop in to my head but they all seem to involve some big start up cost and then I say no.

that being said I did think about getting a chipper to run the slabs thru and make a wood chip mulch but again it requires a chipper and time to do it. I have a tree service friend who is going to bring over his chipper oneday and experiment with this. see if it is worth doing and how long it takes I imagine if it was all piled up and the chipper parked beside it that it wouldn't take all that long. and it would make nice ground cover for under the log decks to keep the chance of rocks and dirt away from the logs

JBS 181 · December 13, 2018, 11:39:36 PM

I think alot depends on where you live. I have a rack I stack the thinner slabs in, band them up and getting $30 Dollars a bundle. Half a cord in the bundle. Take the thicker slabs, as I tend too slab heavy,and run those through a buzz saw. Getting around $ 135 a cord for those. Those slabs really help on my fuel and blade bill. Built a sawdust stove one time out of a 55 and 30 gallon drum set inside it. Worked really slick biggest problem is you could not add too it while it was in oprration.