Do you use sawdust in woodworking?

[ponderosae]

I see that there are a lot of topics here about what to do with lots of sawdust from milling. As far as what to do with a little bit, I watched a video about furniture restoration, where sawdust was being added to the glue, in order to make staining it look better. Maybe it would be good for filling holes in wood, so less glue or other filler would have to be used.

[doc henderson]

i know a doc with an off grid cabin, and he takes mine to use for his low tech composting cabin toilet.  only # 2 into a 5 gallon bucket, then cover with sawdust.  dump when full. rinse and repeat!  the saw dust i use for filler is from fine sanding, and many will add glue to the crack and then just sand over it, with the wet glue in the imperfection.

[ponderosae]

Well, I don't think I'd want to add glue to that crack...

[doc henderson]

 

[firefighter ontheside]

I will take fine dust out of my orbital sander bag to mix with glue to fill cracks on woodwork.  We are talking about a minute amount.

[ponderosae]

Ah, maybe I'll try using more sawdust though, mixed with construction adhesive, next time I fill a dead knot hole.  I've used that by itself and it works, but doesn't look like wood.

[hackberry jake]

I've had people come and get my planer/jointer shavings for all kinds of things. Hog bedding, leveling underneath above ground pools, putting in horse stalls, mixing with lawn clippings to make compost. But most of it still just washes down the mountain when it rains. It came from nature. I guess it's ok if it returns.

[Southside]

 dump when full

I do the same thing Doc, but what does that have to do with wood working? 

[doc henderson]

we were talking about his bucket, not your bowels!!!  @Southside .  Is your wife not watching you today?   

[Don P]

Mostly I use it to without glue to fill imperfections in my land.
It also works good in the bottom of the box with the baby chickens.

[Southside]

See - Chickens come up in the discussion @K-Guy and I had nothing to do with it!   It's a space time continuum thing I tell ya!!  @doc henderson Nope - she is on the left coast for two weeks, nobody to keep me in check.    

[WDH]

Southside, don't forget to take your meds. 

[Southside]

Thanks for the love Danny.  We sure don't want a repeat of THAT situation now do we?    

[Nebraska]

Chickens and crack in the same thread what is this place coming too.

[Cosmo52]

I've never tried it but is supposed to work as a replacement for gravel in making concrete.  Looks like sawmill sawdust or maybe planer shavings would work

[samandothers]

While it is not a large volume at a time it works as a good oil dry.  I'll give it to my neighbor at times to use in his shop under his lift.   it does a good job absorbing mechanical device droppings, not just animal droppings.

[JRHill]

A neighbor has an off grid rental and he just came by for another load. Along with others who use the saw dust in pens, I told him to put a scoop or two into burlap and place several around his cabin. The fresh cut ponderosa fills the inside with a forest scent that people love.

It's not so good in a garden, etc. as the saw dust robs nitrogen from the soil as it degrades - at least that's what the extension service says.

But for me the real problem is small trimmings and partial slabs. We use as much as possible (doug fir) in the wood burning season for starting and in the evening when we're around to keep reloading. Can't use it in the fire pit for cooking unless swinging a covered pot.

[Don P]

It does tie up nitrogen as it breaks down but there is a very slight positive N overall and organic matter is good for soil tilth. We've put down cardboard in the walk paths in the garden and cover that with fresh sawdust to keep weeds down and make clean walkways. Then a year or two later that goes into the beds and repeat. There is a big pile at one end of the garden that I periodically refresh for that.