Dust Disposal

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A few of you have mentioned burning saw dust in a stove.
I have enough off cuts to heat the house <> 95% of the time but might consider using sawdust to make up some of the other 5%.
Does it burn quickly. slowly ?
 
A few of you have mentioned burning saw dust in a stove.
I have enough off cuts to heat the house <> 95% of the time but might consider using sawdust to make up some of the other 5%.
Does it burn quickly. slowly ?
I tried it, as suggested in paper bags, you certainly wouldn’t want more than one on at once as it sort of just sits there, I tried squeezing it in metal tubes but after research the pressure required is huge as it forces the oils? In the wood to bond the pieces together. It’s possible to use glue I suspect wallpaper paste would do, but then you’ve got wet wood and that sort of negates the whole idea to me. Ian
 
A friend has planer shavings for his budgies, also a chap who keeps geese & ducks takes quite a lot & I also use them as mulch under the fruit trees at the allotment

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Dust from the shop vac’s an engineer chap has, he’s uses it to soak up oil spills etc which he then burns in his wood burner.
 
A few of you have mentioned burning saw dust in a stove.
I have enough off cuts to heat the house <> 95% of the time but might consider using sawdust to make up some of the other 5%.
Does it burn quickly. slowly ?
I usually put a shallow box on each side of the stove when lighting it, it just burns away slow if left untouched. If it's burning a bit fiercely a box on top of the fire slows it down.
 
An old chap takes all my softwood shavings for his chickens, he also takes the hardwood shavings and sawdust for a farmer friend of his.

My old workshop had one of those stoves you could burn shavings and sawdust on, it was brilliant, you just piled it full in the morning, lit it and it would burn all day.
 
My next door neighbour‘s business is smoking fish, I obviously offered him my dust and shavings – predominantly oak, but no use, I think this probably explains things, the shavings from my PT would burn and that obviously would cook his fish not smoke it, he uses sawdust which smoulders and produces smoke.
Just in case anybody is interested, this is the old-fashioned way it was done and still is, in his listed building. The fish is filleted, (mainly haddock) and then each fillet is draped over stainless steel rods which are dropped into brackets inside the chimney, he climbs up inside the 4‘ x 4’? chimney to do this which is thick thick black from years of smoking. He buys the fish in the morning which is then filleted and hung up in the chimney by lunchtime, he then lights the fires and goes home, The whole of the inside of his building is wreathed in smoke, it escapes out from under the door etc, and some kind soul once called the Fire Brigade who broke into his building in case it was on fire – I know you couldn’t make it up. Most of the smoke obviously goes up the chimney past the fish and escapes through cowls on the roof which are able to pivot in the wind. Next morning (silly early) he buys more fish and then climbs up the chimney to remove all the smoked from yesterday, no yellow dye is used - that’s for people who don’t really know much about it – so his is just lightly coloured and totally delicious. Ian
 
I am a coffee addict also, but can`t stand mushrooms !
Apparently grounds get collected from coffee shops for this purpose. I also recently saw coffee grounds made into logs for woodburners .

Ollie
I added one pound of compost worms to my 1 m cubed compost - they love coffee grounds and improve the compost no end.
 
A few of you have mentioned burning saw dust in a stove.
I have enough off cuts to heat the house <> 95% of the time but might consider using sawdust to make up some of the other 5%.
Does it burn quickly. slowly ?
“Loose” shavings from a thicknesser burn pretty quickly - a dustbin’s worth lasts about a day. You need to put more on about every 20 minutes and be careful not to put the flames out (that’s when you get explosive mixtures). Sawdust from a vacuum for sanders etc I always just put the whole paper bag in the fire. This burns surprisingly slowly.
 
Regarding folks that give shaving/dust to chicken owners.
What about MDF dust that might be mixed in with regular wood dust. Wouldn't that effect chickens?
We all know how bad it is for us.
 
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I have 9 acres so it isn't a problem on a windy day to toss it in the air and let the wind scatter it. However if it has floor vacuuming, MDF dust, treated wood dust or plastics from pen turning etc., in it I take it bagged to the transfer station (along with any other trash I have) for the municipality and it goes into the skip to be hauled to a landfill in the city. Costs me nothing, okay it's part of my property tax. I can get trash and recycling picked up by a private company on alternating weeks but that costs $500+ a year so I take it every 4 to 6 weeks. Yes I am cheap. :giggle:

Pete
 
I added one pound of compost worms to my 1 m cubed compost - they love coffee grounds and improve the compost no end.
If I've understood that right, I added a small tub of brandlings (little wriggly red worms from the fishing tackle shop) to our compost bin some 20 years ago & they are still going strong.
Don't drink coffee, so never tried adding grounds but my mother was told that tea bags were ok to put in the compost. 5 years later when we went to use the compost it took half a day to remove the un-rotted bags.
 
Doug....
our chickens would only last a couple of years at best...our'swere free to roam during the day....flock of 120'ish.....
between the Buzards, Foxes and Pinemartins we had what was left.....
gave up in the end it just got so distressing.....
 
If I've understood that right, I added a small tub of brandlings (little wriggly red worms from the fishing tackle shop) to our compost bin some 20 years ago & they are still going strong.
Don't drink coffee, so never tried adding grounds but my mother was told that tea bags were ok to put in the compost. 5 years later when we went to use the compost it took half a day to remove the un-rotted bags.
N types of worms, compost worms being specific surface feeders? My bin gets all veg output from the kitchen (no cooked food, rats love the bin).
Hadn't thought of sawdust, but yes, sounds good. They do love coffee, but the bags holding tea are really durable, as you found. Hassle to cut them open?
 
If you want to burn it, save some of your used cooking oil from the kitchen and mix it in so it's just damp ish.

Really don't go too far. Borderline damp. Borderline wet is too far and will cause significant issues.

It makes the dust / shavings burn fierce.

Do not use on an open fire that has no air control unless you are skilled at it.

Don't burn your house down and die either.
 
If you want to burn it, save some of your used cooking oil from the kitchen and mix it in so it's just damp ish.

Really don't go too far. Borderline damp. Borderline wet is too far and will cause significant issues.

It makes the dust / shavings burn fierce.

Do not use on an open fire that has no air control unless you are skilled at it.

Don't burn your house down and die either.
Depends on the stove but mine burns without any assistance. Too much dust anyway, even if I went on a heavy diet of deep-fried food.
n.b. you can't load sawdust into an already burning fire - it can explode dramatically.
 
A few of you have mentioned burning saw dust in a stove.
I have enough off cuts to heat the house <> 95% of the time but might consider using sawdust to make up some of the other 5%.
Does it burn quickly. slowly ?
Depends on the stove . Bigger the better and ideally a pyramid shape to give the heap a large surface area. It burns from the top and needs a top air inlet. A tall narrow cylinder or box would be worst option
 

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