What do you do with shavings?
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- This topic has 22 replies, 21 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 2 months ago by bigaxe.
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I had to look this up to see how it would affect dogs health. Cedar and pine shavings do have a potential to cause harm to dogs respiratory system and potentially harm to the liver. Because, pine and cedar release hydrocarbons (and I thought hydrocarbons was another name for petroleum and petroleum distillates), also why we can smell the freshly cut wood, that can upset the dogs respiratory system. However, cedar and pine are heat treated, releases a bulk of the hydro carbons and therefore ate less harmful to dogs… So to calm my nerves, I feel confident pine shavings from 2×4’s are safe for my dogs, especially since they will not spend there entire stay immersed in pine shavings…
Rodents health, completely different story….
4 November 2017 at 4:29 pm #354967I create emergency fire starters by putting shavings in cupcake molds and covering with paraffin. I also use shavings to burnish wood surfaces to a high sheen.
15 November 2017 at 7:47 pm #367787Fire starters is a Great Idea! something to put out if you sell stuff at church bazaars etc. I’ve read that putting sawdust(at least) in the compost is not really a good idea since, in order for it to truly compost, you need to match it with green matter at a rate of around one part brown(wood dust/chips) to 10 parts green(leaves, veg. garbage, etc.). So altho I do have a garden I usually have been throwing the dust in the trash. Perhaps I should rethink this.
3 December 2017 at 2:48 pm #392388Green bin for garden waste collection for me too. Although I have a bag in my workshop I fill up first and tend to leave it to the last minute before emptying because I like the smell.
Im surprised that there aren’t more ideas out there already established for these shavings. There are so many generated on a project. Fire starters and compost sounds like the main ones. I actively use both ideas. Packing material is the next one I’m going to try when I have a lot of long grain pieces.
Paul, what have you done in your long history of woodworking with all those shavings? I would guess they would make a mountain of shavings if all piled up.
Thanks for sharing all.
-Stephen
I collect them in large plastic garbage bags and use it to start the fire in our stove. Smaller dust and chips get collected and end up in the compost. When I turn a bit more and the chips are clean, I collect them and give them to people who keep rodents.
It really depends a lot on the type of shavings, e.g. wide plane shavings are not suited to covering your vegetable patch, as they tend to be blown away. Small chips may not be suited for a stove, as they tend to fall through the grate. Thick, long shavings may be suited for packaging.
If you have the necessary machinery, you can press chips to briquettes, but I doubt it’s worth the effort for most people.
– David
Clean wood shavings are great for cleaning excess glue off of projects after glue up. Just make sure there is no sawdust mixed in with it.
I did bag them and throw it out with the trash and felt guilty about it.
So then I try to find if someone would use it for animal bedding or perhaps in a smoker, no luck.
So I decided to try composting and perhaps as mulch. -
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