What to do with Wood shavings?

[Maurice Ungaro]

Despite what some believe, wood shavings, and wood dust, for that matter, are not ideal for composting. The wood sucks too much nitrogen out of the compost heap in order to break it down, thereby prolonging the process. It is good for mulching plant beds, however.

[john davey]

II have a cat that lives in my basement shop. She loves the things. She sleeps in them, plays in them and then unfortunately will crap in them. So I sweep them up before that third option happens....

[Ted Pitera]

I use them for burnishing and especially for rubbing out a surface with a finish remover on it. Seems to pick that stuff up well.

We've chipped up a lot of deadfalls and downed trees for mulch this year so I guess I could toss shavings in with mulch. However, my cat, like Mr. Davey's, sees them as toys and toilet articles.

Excelsior,
Ted

[Floyd Mah]

Market it on Craigslist as a particle board kit, just throw in your own glue.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

There are a couple of leaky windows in our home, and when it rains sideways there is always a puddle that extends through the tiled floor's grout. After mopping up, I just throw some wood shavings over the wet area - dries up perfectly in no time.

Also, the other day I got a book wet by accident. I opened up the pages like a fan and put some wood shavings between them. Dried up pretty well; with some pressure, the book will be flat again.

(Basically, any time when I wish silica gel were easy to clean up if thrown around, I turn to wood shavings... has worked marvelously every time.)

[Harold Burrell]

Real Woodworkers put milk and sugar on 'em.

Really??? I mean, why would you need sugar???

OK...perhaps for pine. But I find maple shavings to be plenty sweet on their own.

[Larry Fox]

How about sweeping them up and throw them in the garbage. Did just that last night with a bunch of jatoba and cherry shavings. It works great as a disposal method and takes about 45 seconds.

[Mike Olson]

Why didn't I think of the Chickens. My wife has a friend with chickens I'll have to check if she wants them. Thanks for the input. I guess otherwise they will be going out with the yard waste.

[Chris Studley]

I sweep and fill a trash can, when full I bring to the dump. My town has a section for yard waste, leaves, branches. downed trees etc.

Hey, The shavings used to be trees or branches...

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

How about sweeping them up and throw them in the garbage. Did just that last night with a bunch of jatoba and cherry shavings. It works great as a disposal method and takes about 45 seconds.

Our waste hauler charges by the cubic yard, and we only have so many cans to fill - anything more and we get hefty overages. The dump takes it for free with the yard waste, and it's on the way to work. When I hauled my own garbage to the dump, anything I could keep out of the waste bins meant less to pay for when dumping. When we got more proactive about recycling and compost, we started saving enough to make it worth it. Depends on your garbage situation, though, I guess. I'm never as good as I should be about squashing those shavings down, so they end up taking a lot of room in the cans!

[Zach England]

I have no problem composting them when mixed with chicken manure, but it takes over a year, and sometimes two.

[Maurice Ungaro]

I have no problem composting them when mixed with chicken manure, but it takes over a year, and sometimes two.

Zach, as you've found out, it works....it just talks a lot longer!

[Charles Goodnight]

Despite what some believe, wood shavings, and wood dust, for that matter, are not ideal for composting. The wood sucks too much nitrogen out of the compost heap in order to break it down, thereby prolonging the process. It is good for mulching plant beds, however.

That is why whenever possible I pee on my compost pile. It works best if your back yard is fairly private.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Spoken like a Vermonter! I used to have a spot like that in Georgia.....then I got married.

[Don Orr]

I use some for fire starter, but most of my nice clean hardwood chips and shavings go to my pottery friends that do Raku firing. They say they get great results with them. I keep any exotics and Walnut out and dump them down back in the yard waste pile.