Using ALL the wood

[ckarotka]

I'm slowly getting organized with my wood usage as far saving every piece for some part of the wood burning process. I normally do all my cutting in the woods, but have some stuff at home to buck.

What can I do with all those wood chips left from the saw? If they didn't have to be picked up because they're in my side yard I would leave them lay. I thought maybe there was a simple use for them without anymore processing.

Oh, I don't have any small pets in cages either, but as a last resort to recycle I could give them to a friend for thier rabbits. The chips with be maple.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Well, are they chips or just sawdust? Splitting wood is where you really get the chips and those certainly can be raked up and put up to dry. Burn them after they dry but don't fill the stove with them lest you have an overheat. They can also be used for kindling after they dry. Another use is to use them to put on paths you might make out in the woods as they work great for that in wet spots.

 

[smokinj]

Mulch your garden or use it to start fires.

 

[laynes69]

I'll take the larger pieces from the splitter and use them for kindling. If I have alot of sawdust, I rake it combine it with paraffin and make firestarters. The bark and other smaller pieces make good mulch around trees that you want to keep weeds down on. I have a set of bilco doors that lead into the basement where I throw my wood down to put in the house. When I'm done I collect all the bark and also mulch with it. Theres alot of different things you can do. Just let the stuff dry out first.

 

[ballibeg]

I use the dust from the saw work in my bee smoker.

Dave

 

[midwestcoast]

Can also add it to compost to help keep it dry & loose.

 

[ckarotka]

Well I don't have any bee's, or a compost pile so.......I think I will save a couple buckets full as a fire starter and see if a friend wants it for bedding.

Thanks for some good idea's.

 

[heatwise]

i use the sawdust for the rabbit cage and keep the chips for fire pit starting and any small pieces get put into a plastic drum i drilled full of holes, this allows the wood to dry well. lately i have been fortunate enough to be able to pick a few pieces from a tree services lot, talk about mass selection. this is my chance to sample some of those woods i wouldnt usualy have access to. i have some paperbark branches, i plan on removing some of the bark and using it as fire starter. pete

 

[Dune]

I leave the chainsaw chips where they fall, someday my sand will be soil, about five hundred cords from now.

 

[maplewood]

I rake it up and burn it in a brush pile. It drives my dad nuts to see the BTU's going to "waste". But I don't want to dry it, bag it, and burn it in my PE or Econoburn.
He used to preach burning softwood when I'm home and can tend the fire more frequently - I've relented on that score now, and this winter I'll burn about 2/3 softwood and 1/3 hardwood. It will save me a bundle, as I pay for my hardwood (tree length = $130/cord) and my softwood is free (poplar and balsam fir is abundant on my 6 acres).
I've always cut up the branches for firewood - anything 1.5" diameter and up is good wood!
Happy burning.

 

[firefighterjake]

HehHeh . . . the day I start gathering up sawdust to burn is the day when Hell has officially froze over. Nah, I'm a traditionalist . . . sawdust stays where it lands or is scooped up and tossed into the woods to breakdown . . . starting the stove . . . a bit of newspaper and some kindling for me . . . well I'm not a complete traditiionalist . . . I have been converted to the top down method of fire starting.

Now as for wood bits from splitting . . . I often save them for kindling or for burning in the summer fire pit.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Brush and some attached leaves go into my kiln. Some gets composted. Bark and the rest of the leaves may end up as garden mulch or composted. I have composted large piles of brush- it takes years, but I have the space, it's less work, and produces something more useful than doing a brush-pile burn.

 

[midwestcoast]

Has anyone tried using sawdust to smoke with on a grill or in a smoker? I've wondered if moist sawdust would smoke or just dry out & burn. Since there would be a bit of B&C oil in the dust I'd probably switch to using just veg oil when cutting woods that are good for smoking.

 

[ramonbow]

I generally put a sheet of plywood under the sawbuck and another under the splitting area. When i am done i use a scoop shovel to gather up all the bits and pieces and put them in paper grocery sacks. I fill the sacks a little more than half full. They dry on top of the regular firewood stacks inside and then i put the whole bag in the stove on a hot bed of coals. I figure I put the effort into hauling it home, i may as well burn it. My compost piles are large enough to manage already.

 

[Skier76]

I'd be careful about using the sawdust from the saw in the smoker. I'm not sure you'd want the after effects of bar oil in your food.

 

[midwestcoast]

I'd be careful about using the sawdust from the saw in the smoker. I'm not sure you'd want the after effects of bar oil in your food.

If I were to do it I'd be using straight vegetable oil on the bar.