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What do you carvers do with all the sawdust? |
surfintiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 30, 2004
Posts: 1566
From: S. Chatham, MA
|  Posted: 2005-05-08 07:24 am Permalink
Taken a survey here. Not much at all on this, in the archives. Mostly tools etc.
So,
Are you inside or outside?
What are you using for breathing masks, goggles, etc.?
Leave sawdust all over, or sweep up?
Environmentally ok to leave dust all over plants, grass?
All those stupid details!
I wanna hear 'em!
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Gigantalope
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 01, 2004
Posts: 913
From: Shinola, California
| Posted: 2005-05-08 09:24 am Permalink
Good with compost, (unless you're using old phone poles) you can mix it with manure and it breaks both down quickly.
If it's chips it's fine for gardens, just to keep moiture in the ground.
If it's fine dust,it can also (if you have other creative outlets) be mixed with clay and when fired will turn the clay sort of pummicy.
Roger Welsh has a series of books on restoring tractors. He's not a mechanic, in fact he makes jokes about being a dummy about it.
He spends quite a bit of time writing about "setting up a shop" and has a million good ideas about workspace.
One of my favorites is that he has an old franklin stove which he set up in his. (He lives in Nebraksa) and he fires it up an hour or so before he starts work in winter...and he also uses it to get rid of solvent rags, greasy newspaper, sawdust and other things which can be dangerous to keep around as they are combustable.
He will actually use the stove to hold the stuff. If they do combust, they are in a stove.
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doctiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 07, 2004
Posts: 55 | Posted: 2005-05-08 10:03 pm Permalink
Ballest for trashcans. Keeps them from tipping over, in the dust storms , herein Vegas.
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Sam Gambino
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Joined: Dec 02, 2003
Posts: 2198
From: www.samgambino.com
| Posted: 2005-05-08 10:43 pm Permalink
Send it to fast food places so they can roll it out, stamp out the shapes and make chicken nuggets out of it. 
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Gigantalope
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 01, 2004
Posts: 913
From: Shinola, California
| Posted: 2005-05-09 06:40 am Permalink
also ceramic studios use it for raku.
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SES
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 14, 2003
Posts: 992 | Posted: 2005-05-09 07:31 am Permalink
Just bag it and sell it on ebay as tiki dust.
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Monkeyman
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Joined: Mar 04, 2003
Posts: 2301
From: Vista, CA
| Posted: 2005-05-09 09:28 am Permalink
This is a good question and the wrong answer can lead to some really serious health problems later.
Whenever you are creating powdery fine sawdust without an really good dust collection system, you should always wear some sort of a mask or respirator. I dont have a good dust collection system so I attach my jet vac to the dust bag on my table saw. I will use straps to mount it near my router when routing. I always try and get the vac close to the dust source.
Inevitably dust still goes everywhere anyway. I will vacum the dust off the floor when finished because sweeping stirs the dust up again.
A good way to test if you need to wear a respirator is to blow your nose at the end of your project day and see if sawdust comes out on the tissue. If so, you NEED a respirator.
Certain man made materials like MDF have some really nasty stuff in them. I believe that MDF has formaldehyde in it on top of the fact that its already MADE from sawdust. Certain exotic woods like Teak have TOXIC sawdust. The silica content in Teak that makes it so sea worthy is the same reason that breathing it will do some damage to your lungs.
Woodchips are different. They do not create airborn particles that float up your nose an into your lungs.
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rodeotiki
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Joined: Jan 21, 2004
Posts: 1513
From: calgary
| Posted: 2005-05-09 10:04 am Permalink
I wear a mask when sanding for the reasons MM adviced. I have built a table for sanding on. It has a top that is lots of little holes and sits on top of 2 inch deep box. On one end of the box is a hole in wich I can put my shop vac into.
Kinda like this
These lids are great and the collected dust can be mixed with glue to fill cracks or as floor dry.
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Tikiwahine
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3288
From: Ontario, Canada
| Posted: 2005-05-09 3:45 pm Permalink
Reminds me of my high school graphic art days...airbrushing makes multicolour snot.
If you have some of the cheap white masks, you can draw a horizontal center line and two dots to look like a monkey nose. These probably suck, I'd use them for novelty purposes only.
Eeek! Eeek!
As far as sawdust goes, I'd use it in the garden, or at least in the compost bin!
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Thanatos
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: 318
From: Tampa Bay
| Posted: 2005-05-09 4:50 pm Permalink
So snorting it isnt the answer????
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Lake Surfer
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Joined: Oct 21, 2002
Posts: 3323
From: Milwaukee, WI
| Posted: 2005-05-09 9:08 pm Permalink
I sand outdoors when I can and let it blow into the neighbor's yards...
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8FT Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 30, 2003
Posts: 1175
From: Kansas City, MO
| Posted: 2005-05-09 9:12 pm Permalink
I don't usually have sawdust but the woodchips from chisel work either goes around plants in the yard as a mulch or what I am doing right now is filling a paper lawn bag with chips and bark for use next month at a campfire we are having. You can also burn it in a chimenea.
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rodeotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 21, 2004
Posts: 1513
From: calgary
| Posted: 2005-05-09 9:16 pm Permalink
Quote:
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Lake Surfer wrote:
I sand outdoors when I can and let it blow into the neighbor's yards...
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Your neighbors yard must be completly covered at the rate your carving lately..
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Aaron's Akua
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Jul 09, 2004
Posts: 1594
From: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
| Posted: 2005-05-09 9:52 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2005-05-09 09:28, Monkeyman wrote:
...Certain exotic woods like Teak have TOXIC sawdust. The silica content in Teak that makes it so sea worthy is the same reason that breathing it will do some damage to your lungs....
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When I first started carving palm, I was using a dremel carving bit and no mask. I would cough for a day or so after each session (palm is loaded with silica).
Now I use a disposable respirator made for drywall sanding. My lungs have improved dramatically...
Here's another good tip that I got from Raffertiki. My goggles would always fog up while using the grinder or Dremel. Following John's suggestion, I now use a full plastic visor type mask, which won't fog up, keeps the face nice & cool, and offers lots of protection. It also keeps the dust from blowing in your eyes.
A-A
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freddiefreelance
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 15, 2003
Posts: 2983
From: San Diego, Ca.
| Posted: 2005-05-10 10:20 am Permalink
Sawdust & small chips can be used for firestarters, just loosly fill a paper cup 3/4 full with the sawdust & chips and cover with melted parafin wax. After they cool you peel off the cup & store the firestarters in a cool, dry place away from flames 'til you need'em.
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