Unlimited Sawdust

Hey Permies!

I hope this is the right thread to post in.

So, I have access to an unlimited supply of sawdust from a local sawmill. I mean, many, many dump-truck loads of the stuff for my six acre property, delivered on sight for free. I wanted to discuss possible uses with you and get help coming up with some business plans. Any other ideas?

• Targeted weed suppressant + soil building.
• Chicken coop bedding + insulation.
• Black soldier fly larvae bedding.
• Compost material with organic waste from local restaurants.
• Biochar business: would need to purchase and appropriate sized biochar kiln for it. Can anyone recommend a good home-unit?
• Jean Paine compost and hot water heater.

Thanks!

Ohh boy, what a boon!

Sawdust's surface area can be overwhelming for some applications but a gift in others. I'd trickle it into compost and depending on the source trees that it is made up of, I'd try and get a few mushroom beds growing.

Fantastic!  If it were me it would be biochar and chicken bedding to inoculate.

Don't fuss with a kiln.  dig a pit.  Lite a fire in the bottom.  add enough dust to not smother the fire.  The fire will dance above the material like a flame that doesn't quite touch a match for the first second or two.  (pyrolysis is about burning out the gases which burn above the material)  As the dust starts to catch on goes the next shovel.  Have dirt or quench water at hand.  The only caution is the saw dust may be dried out (gasses evaporated) so the process may happen very quickly.  Keep shoveling.  

I have never tried saw dust for biochar but have burned a lot of green material using this simplistic method.  dig a test pit and try it.  I think you find a kiln is unnecessary and cumbersome with little benefit.  

 

That sounds great Jesse! Have you looked at Beau's mycelium insulation panels? Sawdust is one of the inputs there - could be awesome!

Sawdust into biochar isn't easy on the home scale,  but it's near impossible if the sawdust has been rained on at all. I have unlimited sawdust that has never seen rain and is incredibly dry,  but it's not worth the hassle to make biochar from it.  Look at pelletizing it or turning it into compressed logs.

If you had the equipment and space, having such a great carbon sink would make me consider livestock composting services. We have one locally where I live that serves farms from roughly four counties and was desperately needed. They make an incredible compost by the end of it but there is a lot of handling that goes into it with heavy equipment.

I've read about how explosive "powders" can be anywhere near a flame, and my chemistry teacher did a cool experiment that demonstrated this which I still remember 45 years later.

So personally, I would not shovel sawdust onto an existing fire.

However, I make some biochar in restaurant warming trays inside my wood stove. To get it to char more easily, I put a layer of Doug Fir Pinecones on top of 1/3 of the height of the tray of sawdust, then add another ~1/3 height of saw dust, then another layer of cones, then a final layer of sawdust. This is not going to make any great dent in the OP's boon of sawdust, but it does make a lovely fine biochar for me to add to my compost.

As a mulch, sawdust tends to compact and when that happens, it doesn't let water through, so I'd be more inclined to mix it with other materials and compost it.

If you could find a way to pelletize it, they use it that way for horse bedding in my area. Woody stuff in compost tends to take a long time to decompose, but that can be seen as an asset so long as you have space and patience. I like the idea of inoculating it with mushroom spores, but I have read that many mushrooms prefer hardwood than softwood, so you need to know what wood is mostly being sawn.  

I like all your ideas for using that sawdust.

Sawdust also makes a good insulation.  Any building projects in your future?

I also like Nancy suggestion of making mycelium insulation panels, maybe a possible sideline business.