Hand tool dust collection system

[dinkjs]

I know it is weird putting the words "Dust collection system" as a topic for a hand tool forum when referring to a garbage can...it is kinda funny actually

Anyways....right now my work station is in the garage with all the other garage stuff including my wives car.

My question is strictly geared to individuals with the same situation. Do any of you use a separate trash can for your shavings and saw dust or do you just throw it in with the regular trash??? My reason for asking is, when its trash day a good portion of the trash is saw dust and shavings from me and not so much really for trash (we are big recyclers...if it can be recycled or used for something else we do it) So that is my question......do you just combined or do you have your own trash can for those guys that work in your garage and share it with other household items such as a car and so on????

[John Anderson]

you could use it as mulch as long as it isn't pressure treated wood or any other kind that is potentally dangerous.

[Beechwood Chip]

I'm not a gardener, but there's a garden show that I listen to on the radio because it comes after Car Talk.

This guy recommends against using wood for mulch, for two reasons:

1) When stuff decomposes to make soil, it requires four things: oxygen, water, carbon, and "fixed" nitrogen. Oxygen and water comes from the atmosphere, and wood is nearly all carbon. So, when wood rots it needs a lot of nitrogen. Spreading wood around your plants will make your plants compete with the wood for the nitrogen in the soil, and you may starve your plants.

2) There's this stuff called shotgun fungus which grows on decaying wood. It fires off spores with a sticky tar like covering, and it aims at light colored surfaces. Once the spores dry, they are very difficult to remove without damaging the surface they are sticking to. Shotgun fungus often aims at houses or cars that are painted a light color.

You can compost the wood by mixing it with a lot of "wet" material (kitchen waste or non-woody plant material), and then use it as mulch.

I'm just passing along what I've heard.

[jmk89]

On the mulch question, it depends on what you are trying to do with the mulch. If the idea is that it is to be a compost or a fertiliser, the guy on your show is absolutely correct. However, most mulch is not used for that purpose - things like hay, bark chips, stones, etc are used to cover the ground to help to prevent weeds (by depriving them of light and nitrogen) and to reduced water loss through evaporation. Wood shavings do both those very well. This use of mulch can also be good as a kind of 'blanket' to protect roots against frost.

As for the nitrogen issue., I try to keep my wood shavings away from the root area of the important plants that you want to grow - I also put the compost that we generate from vegetable scraps in our worm farm around the roots of those plants to give them a kick along...

[dinkjs]

Okay well back to the original question????

[nateswoodworks]

We have a compost dumping area in our town for branches and grass clippings, my saw dust always goes there and they plow it into the fields. My shavings are a different story, we go camping a lot in the summer and I save my shavings for starting the campfires. The kids love to try to start the campfire with flints (with my supervision of course) and the savings are perfect for it.

Nate

[Beechwood Chip]

Sawdust mixed with paraffin / candle wax makes good fire starters.

[nikbrown]

Yea we do 2 things.

We compost a lot of it, like others have said, just mix it with all non meat kitchen scraps. Or use it as garden bedding to control weeds between rows

The rest gets used to start fires. Just throw a bunch of shavings into the fireplace and a scrap or two and you can get even partially damp wood started.