Any suggestions on what to use chips/shavings for?
- This topic has 23 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 6 months ago by Terry Gandy.
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Whenever I build something, I get massive amounts of wood shavings, chips and dust. – The great side effects of using twisted spruce, besides the workouts.
Is there any use for this, or is it all just waste?So far the only idea I’ve come up with is making compressed blocks/pellets to burn, but since our apartment don’t have a fireplace – the beneficial value was kinda limited on those.
Its a great seasonal gift however, plus a way to make something with old newspapers.- This topic was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by Timo. Reason: Corrected spelling mistakes
I use my shavings for mulch & compost. They’re very good as charcoal starters when grilling. They also make excellent bedding for small animals– hamster. Schools and parks would be good places to check out as donation possibilities. You can also use them for packaging in place of plastic peanuts.
jim mount
15 January 2017 at 11:29 pm #219402Shavings from hand planing work GREAT for yellow glue cleanup! Way better than a wet rag in my opinion.
There’s certainly a need for clean sawdust. Such as the big bags from extractors. Our local wood shops used to give it away for rabbit bedding – until they realised they could sell it.
I don’t know of a use for the shavings & chips though.
I use odd chips for filling the gaps in my dovetails 🙂27 February 2017 at 8:53 pm #309600Some woods are wanted by gourmets, for smoking meat and fish, and shavings are very useful for this, chips too (a different kind of fish and chips).
A colleague of mine has family in Africa and often sends parcels by airfreight. She wants to use some of my shavings to package delicate cargo. However, we have to make sure first, that this complies with the import regulations.
In the past, people used straw to stuff there mattresses. I wonder, if carpenters used shavings instead.
Chips and small pieces of scrap-wood are quite useful to start fires. Perhaps your neighbours have a fireplace. And if you give them chips every now and then, the noise from your workshop might turn into music 😀
Dieter
PS: I have heard, that many workshop ovens ran on scrapwood, chips and shavings. Larger companies even make their own pellets for heating nowadays.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Hugo Notti.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Hugo Notti.
28 February 2017 at 3:43 am #309604[quote quote=309600]
PS: I have heard, that many workshop ovens ran on scrapwood, chips and shavings. Larger companies even make their own pellets for heating nowadays.[/quote]
I once worked in a place in south central Pennsylvania where the cabinet shop, the joiner’s shop, a sheet metal shop, a hardware store, and the offices were all heated by a furnace fueled by offcuts and shavings.
This was in the 1970’s, well before carbon footprints was an issue.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Larry Geib.
15 May 2017 at 4:53 am #311967This Bodger found a worthwhile use, (see attachment).
- This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by Michael Butterfield.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.15 May 2017 at 5:36 am #311970I use shavings for glue cleanup and for starting fires when camping. It also is a neverending source of fun for my kids.
I use small chips for fire starting when camping and repair pieces if I make a mistake on a project. For example, I cut a mortice on an incorrect face. While it was in a location that wouldn’t be readily seen, I wanted some structural stability and so packed the mistake with shavings, and patched the hole with a small chip from a chisel blow. Only I know the mistake is there.
I use large chips to help with awkward glue ups. For example, I am using some left over wedge-shaped scrap to give me perpendicular pressure on the angled legs of the bench stool. It works great! I’ve used larger scrap as a way to test out a tricky curve, or to make shaped sharpening paddles with sandpaper and glue for sharpening – especially moulding planes!
23 May 2017 at 7:56 pm #312203I use them for fire starting in the winter, mulch, compost and filler for raised beds. I have given some to a woman I use to work with that would put them in mud puddles near her horse barn.
If you have a lot. You could package them and sell them as a tinder bundle for hikers and such.
11 June 2017 at 2:21 pm #312708We have quite a bit of white oak here in western Wisconsin. I found charring my shavings and mixing them in with my worms makes great vermiculture bio-char. My goal is to “grow soil” in the winter and vegetables in the summer. Char lasts for centuries in the soil and absorbs nutrients, balances PH, and acts as a filter for the soil. Do a search on Terra- Preta; this is a lost art.
30 June 2017 at 10:14 pm #313375Here is a good idea: Make a viking helmet (or a bowl, or many other things)
Dieter
Thanks all for the wonderful suggestions!
I managed to get the Wife Acceptance Factor out of crisis levels by shrinking it with a vacuum cleaner. Kinda amazing how effective that is; two bags, a shopvac, and you can shrink it to less than 1/4 of original size.
Most of it went to some kid with a rabbit, but he’s probably good for years now. Some went to a guy trying to burn pottery using pre pottery oven techniques.
I did manage to reduce the amount of shavings I make, by changing where I buy wood. Slightly less dirt cheap, but much better quality.
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