# Sawdust...



## monster (15 Mar 2021)

It’s overwhelming me!!
I’ve got bags of it 
Local tip doesn’t want to let me in. 

Anyone got any suggestions of what type of Industries might want to take
It off my hands.

All suggestions gratefully welcome!


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## Emstuv (15 Mar 2021)

Have you seen "The Wooden Horse"?


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## Tanglefoot20 (15 Mar 2021)

Hi monster.... ex Bournemouth man here...if you have lots of sawdust...you can mix it in with garden compost or dig it straight into the garden to give soil some nourishment...you should be able to offer it to anyone with a garden...

I lived in southbourne


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## Doug B (15 Mar 2021)

Is it dust or is it shavings ? If dust is it MDF or timber?


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## Tanglefoot20 (15 Mar 2021)

Do people still use that awful MDF stuff...


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## Jameshow (15 Mar 2021)

If clean softwood timber shavings sell it to horse / chicken owners for £6 a bag. 

Cheers James


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## Cabinetman (15 Mar 2021)

Jameshow said:


> If clean softwood timber shavings sell it to horse / chicken owners for £6 a bag.
> 
> Cheers James


Maybe I should come to Bradford! I feel fortunate to be able to give it away, lady uses it for her chickens. I tried all sorts of ways to get rid of it before she came along. Ian


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## artie (15 Mar 2021)

A guy takes all mine for growing mushrooms.


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## harryc (15 Mar 2021)

i stick mine in the green garden recycling bin.


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## doctor Bob (15 Mar 2021)

Waste management costs me a fortune, roughly £300 - £350 a week (14yard skip weekly)
If your generating a lot then your options reduce dramatically, only so many mushroom growers and waste bins.


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## Nigel Taylor (15 Mar 2021)

some of the large power stations have converted to burning wood pellets - I thought these were compressed sawdust??

Cannot believe there isn't a business in turning saw dust into something useful, even if just for a power station


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## heimlaga (15 Mar 2021)

Wood pellets is compressed sawdust or more commonly compressed planer dust.

A part of my sawdust goes into the garden as a soil cover. Part goes into the compost. Most goes to a neighbour who heats his house and workshop with woodchips.


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## Doug71 (15 Mar 2021)

Some chap used to take all mine for his chickens until a few weeks ago when his last chicken died and he said he wasn't getting any more. I had a bit of a panic but a friend who has horses says they will take all the wood shavings I can make which is good news.

My planer and panel saw go to different extractors so the shavings and the nasty stuff are kept separate.

I remember reading that Black Walnut dust is bad for horses.


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## pe2dave (15 Mar 2021)

Tanglefoot20 said:


> Hi monster.... ex Bournemouth man here...if you have lots of sawdust...you can mix it in with garden compost or dig it straight into the garden to give soil some nourishment...you should be able to offer it to anyone with a garden...
> 
> I lived in southbourne


Or to a group of allotment holders?


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## Trainee neophyte (15 Mar 2021)

doctor Bob said:


> Waste management costs me a fortune, roughly £300 - £350 a week (14yard skip weekly)
> If your generating a lot then your options reduce dramatically, only so many mushroom growers and waste bins.


Have you thought of burning it to heat the workshop? A sawdust boiler might cost a few thousand, but you would have "free" heat and probably no extra work. You might even be able to sell surplus heat to your neighbours, assuming you have some. £350 a week is half an employee - a full one if you're not fussy.


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## monster (15 Mar 2021)

Hi all, thanks very much for all the suggestions, hadn't thought of the chickens and horses, so I'll see if there is anyone local I can approach.

Its mainly planer / thicknesser shavings - predominantly oak and poplar recently - next project is 3 sash windows and I might give Accoya I go for them though which night not be so animal friendly due to the pickling process the timber is subjected to....


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## doctor Bob (15 Mar 2021)

Trainee neophyte said:


> Have you thought of burning it to heat the workshop? A sawdust boiler might cost a few thousand, but you would have "free" heat and probably no extra work. You might even be able to sell surplus heat to your neighbours, assuming you have some. £350 a week is half an employee - a full one if you're not fussy.


I'd love to, but insurance and landlord won't cover / allow any thing burning combustibles in the workshop.


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## Doug B (15 Mar 2021)

Tanglefoot20 said:


> Do people still use that awful MDF stuff...


More & more it would appear, I’m certainly asked for items made in it more than I ever have been & a friend who bought a CNC a while ago is cutting literally dozens & dozens of sheets a week, hence my questions to the OP as to be overwhelmed with sawdust would suggest a CNC


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## doctor Bob (15 Mar 2021)

Tanglefoot20 said:


> Do people still use that awful MDF stuff...



Why do you think it's awful.


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## powertools (15 Mar 2021)

Mixed wood dust is of no use to anybody who keeps animals of any sort and cares for their welfare. I dont produce industrial amounts of waste but what I do goes into the general waste bin. If you are producing a lot of waste perhaps ask around you local independent garages who use it to soak up oil and general fluid spills.


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## Tanglefoot20 (15 Mar 2021)

Nasty dusty mdf... real wood is much better....no glues or additives..


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## doctor Bob (15 Mar 2021)

Tanglefoot20 said:


> Nasty dusty mdf... real wood is much better....no glues or additives..



I use loads of real wood and loads of MDF, each has their purpose, and each does certain jobs way better than the other. Not sure how you can be so dismissive, however I'm not here to change your mind.


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## doctor Bob (15 Mar 2021)

These are impressive MDF outdoor sculpture / art pieces. It is amazingly versatile. Notmy work (I wish it was).


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## TRITON (15 Mar 2021)

I see there are a number of YT vids on making paper/sawdust briquettes. Made it seems from mulched down newspaper then mixed with the sawdust, then pressed and allowed to dry.


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## Cabinetman (15 Mar 2021)

TRITON said:


> I see there are a number of YT vids on making paper/sawdust briquettes. Made it seems from mulched down newspaper then mixed with the sawdust, then pressed and allowed to dry.


 I looked into it and realised just how much time it was going to take me to get rid of my dust and shavings that way, and also it seemed totally counterintuitive to get it all wet so that I could dry it again, I have a wood burner and was really keen to use my waste for a good purpose but to do it correctly you need huge pressure which fuses the particles together using the natural oils from the wood. Ian


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## Jameshow (15 Mar 2021)

We have little coil fire lighters made if softwood with a paraffin wax? Coating? 

Perhaps you could do that? Use medical paraffin wax emmolient? 

Cheers t


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## TheTiddles (15 Mar 2021)

Have you got a commercial quantity or a domestic quantity?

If the first, pay a licensed disposal
company to take it from you.

If the second, take it to the tip who will tell
you to put it in a different place every time (based on the Salisbury experience). Or put it in your household waste bin a bag at a time

Aidan


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## TheTiddles (15 Mar 2021)

Tanglefoot20 said:


> Nasty dusty mdf... real wood is much better....no glues or additives..


For what?! Seems like a very narrow minded view


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## julianf (15 Mar 2021)

Ours goes on our rayburn. I dont use mdf, so its no different to chucking on logs, it just burns much quicker.

I generally mix it up with a very small amount of used cooking oil before hand, as it binds it / makes it less dusty. I believe the pellet mills sometimes add a bit of vegetable oil as a binder (im aware the main binder is lignin), or possibly as a lubricant - either way, i dont think its uncommon.

If you have enough of most waste types, and its not been mixed (ie is a single stream) then most have positive market values.

Enough clean sawdust and someone would take it as a fuel source. 
Go up one level, and its time to buy a pellet mill.

If i had more than i could be bothered to burn on our rayburn, id knock up a dedicated burner for it. If need be id just burn it (i mean, properly, not a bonfire) and pipe the heat to surrounding buildings.


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## julianf (16 Mar 2021)

doctor Bob said:


> Waste management costs me a fortune, roughly £300 - £350 a week (14yard skip weekly)
> If your generating a lot then your options reduce dramatically, only so many mushroom growers and waste bins.



If you were doing a skip a week of non contaminated sawdust then your figures, im almost certain, would be a positive on the balance sheet, rather than a negative.

Im not jumping on the "mdf is bad" cart, but, if everything else were entirely equal, then decontaminating your waste stream would be economically beneficial!


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## Wayside2020 (16 Mar 2021)

Just a little factoid, my great grandfather was a Saw dust whole seller, supplied pubs in the centre of Birmingham.

As most have said here, pet shops of gardener.


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## Nigel Taylor (16 Mar 2021)

is there a way of making a wood pellet making machine?


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## Ollie78 (16 Mar 2021)

Some woods are toxic to certain animals.
I used to give mine to a large joinery shop where they put it into their huge heater system.
They didn't mind because they were getting some kind of tax relief because it was a green recycling initiative or something. 
They had heaters on all year !
They moved though so now I compost some, some goes in the skip.

Ollie


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## Andy (16 Mar 2021)

I give mine away on Freecycle. It gets snapped up in no time - you just need to make sure you separate out anything like yew or walnut as most people want it for either animals or gardens and those species are not good for either. (when I say separate out, I mean just change the bag on your extractor - just thought I'd pre-empt that one!). The other advantage of freecycle is that they come to collect - you can usually just leave it outside bagged up for folks to take.


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## JAW911 (16 Mar 2021)

Don’t rush to throw it all over your garden. Sawdust has a much higher surface area than bark etc (a great mulch and weed preventer) and will certainly affect the availability of nitrogen to your plants. Composting it is fine but takes years.


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## BEE13 (16 Mar 2021)

Most of mine goes on the garden as a mulch. I also have a very large bag of shredded paper every couple of weeks (disposing of papers from my former business) which goes in the waste bin. You can do that with wood shavings too. Much of the waste throughout the country goes to incinerators in which case, it just becomes fuel and therefore contributes towards energy generation. It needs to be in a bag in the bin not loose.


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## rich.h (16 Mar 2021)

Cat litter, I keep all my sawdust and just mix all types/grades in one bag. I don't generate enough to have constant free litter but I buy the big bales of bedding sawdust too. It works out as a fraction of the cost of dedicated litter and works just as well. Issues around what wood etc are a non go as the cat uses it once quick and doesn't lie in it.

If you don't have one yourself just throw it up on FB or gumtree, worst case you end up giving it away but still saves you a trip to the council tip where you said they refuse it anyway.


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## Cabinetman (16 Mar 2021)

Wayside2020 said:


> Just a little factoid, my great grandfather was a Saw dust whole seller, supplied pubs in the centre of Birmingham.
> 
> As most have said here, pet shops of gardener.


 I can just about remember sawdust on the floor, sawdust wholesalers are still in business though, the annoying thing for me was the business next to my workshop was a smokehouse and he had pallet loads of sawdust delivered, he couldn’t use mine as it had shavings mixed in with it and also it wasn’t certified, he burnt down in December and nearly bloody well took me with me with it, (Damaged a corner of my roof and joist ends and loads of water damage from the Fire Brigade pumping thousands of gallons in) Just about got my workshop back to where it should be. He was back in business the next day somewhere else. Nobody knows what caused it, the process had been in use for over 150 years, I suspect that one of the rails on the sides of the chimney that he used to climb up and down every day came off and fell in the smouldering sawdust fire. Ian


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## TheUnicorn (16 Mar 2021)

doctor Bob said:


> These are impressive MDF outdoor sculpture / art pieces. It is amazingly versatile.


Are these your work? they are very impressive, what are they sealed with that they can last outside?


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## doctor Bob (16 Mar 2021)

TheUnicorn said:


> Are these your work? they are very impressive, what are they sealed with that they can last outside?


Not my work, they are made of tricoya MDF. Totally waterproof.


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## Stevekane (16 Mar 2021)

rich.h said:


> Cat litter, I keep all my sawdust and just mix all types/grades in one bag. I don't generate enough to have constant free litter but I buy the big bales of bedding sawdust too. It works out as a fraction of the cost of dedicated litter and works just as well. Issues around what wood etc are a non go as the cat uses it once quick and doesn't lie in it.
> 
> If you don't have one yourself just throw it up on FB or gumtree, worst case you end up giving it away but still saves you a trip to the council tip where you said they refuse it anyway.


Or you could combine both the “cat litter”and the “spread it on the garden” ideas and turn your garden into a more attractive cats toilet than it is already,,,I wouldn't encourage them!


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## Inspector (16 Mar 2021)

Nigel Taylor said:


> is there a way of making a wood pellet making machine?



You can if you are ingenious and have the metal fabrication skills but if you look at Alibaba or similar sites and search for "sawdust briquetting machine" or "sawdust pelleting machine" you will find them starting at $500. In this instance it would be more cost effective to buy rather than make. Even if nobody wants the briquette/pellets for burning they are more compact, making disposal more cost effective.

Pete


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## Cooper (16 Mar 2021)

Butchers used it on their floors more recently than pubs. 
I have a question, I thought sawdust was explosive, like flour under the right circumstances, I'm sure when I worked in the toy factory they were really careful with the sawdust bins.


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## TheUnicorn (16 Mar 2021)

did a quick google search of UK wood pellet manuafacturers, unfortunately nothing on your doorstep, but some options possiblly??

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Wood pellet manufacturers uk







www.google.com




*


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## kinverkid (16 Mar 2021)

Cooper said:


> Butchers used it on their floors more recently than pubs.
> I have a question, I thought sawdust was explosive, like flour under the right circumstances, I'm sure when I worked in the toy factory they were really careful with the sawdust bins.


Just about any combustible dust will explode in the right circumstances. I remember the Bird's custard factory explosion many years ago. It does need to be fine enough to suspended in the air and in an enclosed area and then of course an ignition source like a spark or flame. The thing is to make sure there is a through ventilation and not to allow the enclosed room to fill with fine dust. So, don't drop the vacuum bag in the garage - like I did.


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## alanpo68 (16 Mar 2021)

Dig a hole and bury the sawdust. Then dig a second hole to bury the soil from the first hole.


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## julianf (16 Mar 2021)

Cooper said:


> Butchers used it on their floors more recently than pubs.
> I have a question, I thought sawdust was explosive, like flour under the right circumstances, I'm sure when I worked in the toy factory they were really careful with the sawdust bins.



I used to demonstrate surface area to kids using flour. A pile of it on the desk, when attacked with a bunsen flame, will do very little.

Put some in a funnel with a hose attached between the funnel and a childs mouth, and get them to atomise it toward the ceiling, and the flame cloud gets all their attention.

I believe coal fired power stations use similar methods - ie they dont just shovel on coal like you would in a domestic fire, but rather crush it and blow it on. This im not sure of, but it sounds right.

I once made a flour flame thrower thing, but stuff like that is hard to stabalise on a small scale, and people were already starting to raise eyebrows.


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## Robbo60 (17 Mar 2021)

Anybody with a biomass boiler near you? they'll take it off you. If you google bio mass boiler suppliers, they could tell you where they have installed them in your area? One of my friends who has a log supplier business has one linked to a heat exchange in a converted storage container to kiln dry the logs. My Golf club also has one, so a few out there.


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## smackie (17 Mar 2021)

julianf said:


> I once made a flour flame thrower thing, but stuff like that is hard to stabalise on a small scale, and people were already starting to raise eyebrows.


That’s usually the first step before losing eyebrows...


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## moosepig (17 Mar 2021)

julianf said:


> people were already starting to *raze* eyebrows.


Fixed that for you


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## yetloh (18 Mar 2021)

Tanglefoot20 said:


> Hi monster.... ex Bournemouth man here...if you have lots of sawdust...you can mix it in with garden compost or dig it straight into the garden to give soil some nourishment...you should be able to offer it to anyone with a garden...
> 
> I lived in southbourne


Saw dust is not a good idea on gardens. It requires a lot of nitrogen to decompose it which it will take from the soil at the expense of plants, for which it is a vital nutrient. My local tip is happy for me to dump it into the green waste, are you being refused because you have such large quantities they think you are commercial? Or perhaps you are? A lot of people burn it in workshop woodburning stoves.

Jim


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