Sawdust/Shavings disposal

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I'm not sure what's involved in actually binding the bricks together, is it just pressure or is there some glue aswell.

Some kind of solid fram and a car jack should work nicely as the basis of one of these machines. It would be interesting to see details of any experiments people conduct.

For the amount of dust/shavings I produce, I find them helpful in getting the BBQ started, and the rest gets spread on the garden and dug in.
 
I give them to SWMBO for drying bulbs, compost and lining plant pots to keep slugs at bay and to help with frost.

The rest just get tipped at the dump once a month. However, I think we should all give them to our local Shinto Temple! That is some seriously good Karma!

The only thing I have near my is one of those new nigerian evangelical 'churches' in an old commercial building, I don't think they would need any of my sawdust, but I could always ask, they seem to really want me to go to their church, I get their leaflets at least 4 times a week :) :)
 
Hi Nick.

If my memory serves me well wilson was a welder and a runner

the comic I think was called either the ROVER or the HOTSPUR, in the 1940's it was, those were the days of a blissful childhood, apart the bombing of Liverpool in WW2
 
Must have been a later edition - perhaps when the Hotspur was relaunched in the mid 60's - I didn't get comics before about '65. Hell, I wasn't born in the 40's!
I distinctly remember someone in there making briquettes in a railway arch somewhere......
 
As I have said when this question has come up before, I use sawdust and shavings as fuel for the wood burner. I never throw them away. Shavings are good for lighting the fire.
I have fitted a long handle to the shovel for loading them into the stove, the technique is to place them in, not toss or throw them, this stops the problem of flash back with fine dust. It is still not a totally clean load process and I have the stove on paving slabs which get swept after each reload, probably not clean enough for use in the house.
I have heard of people packing cardboard tubes and boxes which are then burnt on the fire, makes the handling neater.
 
j":1n479pdf said:
I'm not sure what's involved in actually binding the bricks together, is it just pressure or is there some glue aswell.

No extra glue is needed. The increased pressure causes the lignin within the wood to 'melt' and bond the stuff together. What I am not sure about is if pressure alone is enough (and how much pressure is enough), or whether the heat caused by compressing the shavings at a high enough rate comes into the equation too.

Hmmmm, time for some research/experiments. Don't hold your breath though - I don't have that much free time, I waste too much of it here... :D
 
Here's my 2 penny's worth.

Years ago there was a company that made a hand held compacter to make brick shapes out of wet newspaper to burn in stoves and open fires. I don't know what it is called but got one from a friend a while ago and I use this to make bricks out of the sawdust for burning.

I put a layer of newspaper in the bottom and sides, fill it with sawdust and chips. put the cover on and dip this in a water and flour solution for a few minutes then close the handle to compress it a bit and leave it to dry for a day in the workshop. The water and flour solution acts a bit like glue, just holding the outer 1/2 inch layer of the sawdust together.

When I take the bricks out of the mould I store them on an open shelf in the workshop for a few weeks until they are dry. Sometimes you need to turn them over if its really damp outside. Even started putting spacers between the bricks to improve drying times.

There flour and water mixture does not seem affect the burning quality and does not create smells or smoke unless the brick is still damp.
Very slow going, one brick a day, it takes about 20 days to empty a bag of sawdust this way.

have a great day

jock
 
Great post, Jock - very timely :) !

I was cogitating on the possibilities of using a flour & water paste to bind shavings together and pressing them in a potato ricer. They might even come out at the correct size for a Bradley smoker.

Gill
 
j":29zvg4gs said:
I'm not sure what's involved in actually binding the bricks together, is it just pressure or is there some glue aswell.

Some kind of solid fram and a car jack should work nicely as the basis of one of these machines. It would be interesting to see details of any experiments people conduct.

There was a local company producing the product "Blazers" which were "logs" created from woodchips from softwood waste in the form of chips and dust. They used a very expensive briquetting machine using a screw extruder and if I remember correctly the pressure applied was 300 tonnes! No additives were required. They sold out to Bryant & May the matchmakers.

Another company I have seen doing it on a huge scale is Binder Hols in the Austrian Tirol http://www1.binderholz.com/Wood_fuel_composites.4.0.html?&L=1 who provide superb guided tours of their ultra-modern sawmill and wood fuel plant.

So if you're ever in the area ......
 
Guys and Galls,

As the owner of 10 horses - I would VERY STRONGLY advise you not to use hardwood sawdust or shavings of any kind as bedding for horses or supply it for this use.

Horses have very large and very sensitive lungs - using hardwood sawdust as bedding is a bit like playing Russian Roulette - you may get away with it for a long time, but eventually you ARE going to get a problem. The problem is not so much one of toxicity (although this is a factor - horses do eat their bedding sometimes), the major risk is one of an allergic reaction. Two of ours had just such a reaction to a type of mould that sometimes occurs on grass under certain specific atmospheric conditions, which found it's way into their hay. They both very nearly died, and indeed would have had I not been fortunate enough to have been standing outside the stable and heard them both collapse within seconds of each other - it was only the very rapid arrival of the Vet with syringes full of steroids to stop the anaphalaxis (spelling??) that saved them. Finding out what had caused the allergic reaction was a long and very costly process. :roll:

Our horses are bedded on sawdust, but it is softwood from a local fencing panel manufacturer, and so far has not caused a problem.

Regards

Gary
 
Gill":3u5qyzkg said:
Great post, Jock - very timely :) !

I was cogitating on the possibilities of using a flour & water paste to bind shavings together and pressing them in a potato ricer. They might even come out at the correct size for a Bradley smoker.

Gill

This is very nearly a starch paste, or wall paper paste. It takes so much energy to dry the mixture that it's not worth the effort, unless you live in Africa.
 
Am I to assume you've tried this, Roy? Do you have any alternative suggestions?

Gill
 
Waka":35gdh7vf said:
Mine goes to a chap that keeps horeses.

Make sure you never give him any walnut shavings they are poison to horses.
 
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