Does keeping pots of sawdust make sense?

[rudy de haas]

A project I'm working on required inserting 8 inch x 1/4" lag bolts in cedar. With the heads countersunk about 1/2" in I had expected to make plugs to fill the holes and then hope to sand them out of sight. What I did, however, was mix some cedar sawdust with glue, fill the holes, and sanded that down after it dried. There is no consistent grain direction on the result, but they're hard to see so I'm not overly concerned.

Still, it's a nice easy way to make more-or-less ok fixes to a variety of problems and so I am going to be saving a jam jar of every kind of sawdust I make - just in case. What I don't know, is whether this is weird, common, sensible, or stupid. What do you think?

(I did check for sawdust on offer from wood restoration places - found nothing in very limited looking. If people think keeping dust a good idea, does this also mean there's a market for ground-up too-damaged-to-sell grandparent furniture? )

[lowell holmes]

Sounds like a good tip to me. I wouldn't see much need to keep pots and pots full of saw dust though. You can always make some if you need it.

[Matt Day]

Sounds like a good tip to me. I wouldn't see much need to keep pots and pots full of saw dust though. You can always make some if you need it.

Agreed. If you need some, take a piece to a disc or belt sander and make some.

[Rich Riddle]

I reintegrate sawdust back to nature.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Does keeping pots of sawdust make sense?

I thought so at one time.
I saved as much as I could - - all in black plastic garbage bags.
I had a bunch of them & they were always in the way.
They finally settled into a spot in between the front of a work bench and the overhead garage door.

After sitting there, undisturbed by me, for a few years, I finally decided to dump them.
Water had somehow gotten into them and I had a bunch of real nice "rot", sprinkled with hundreds of thousands of mouse droppings.

Thankfully - - there's a field behind our house... .


Add me to the list of "make it as you need it".

[Cody Colston]

It depends on the quality you expect from your work. Mixing sawdust and glue to fill a void is not considered fine woodworking by any measure.

[eugene thomas]

Well kind of a general slam?

[Charles Taylor]

I once collected enough walnut dust from my sander to fill a medium-sized spice jar for just such a use. After ten years, the jar is still pretty full, but not as full as it once was. I agree with Cody in principle, but the practical reality of my work is another story. Whether it's Famowood or a homemade mixture, sometimes things need fixing.

[Tom Ewell]

Yep, don't keep much around any more just make up some for repairs or mistakes if needed.
Also learned a long time ago that 'perfection' is pretty dog gone hard to achieve without using the little tricks now and again.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I have done that. I also turned a few rolling pins out of a cedar tree, vacuumed up the shavings, gave them to my wife, and she sewed up bags for them for sachets in drawers/closets to keep moths out.

Doc

[Brian Tymchak]

I would make sawdust as I need it as wood even of the same species can have different color tone from board to board.

[rudy de haas]

It depends on the quality you expect from your work. Mixing sawdust and glue to fill a void is not considered fine woodworking by any measure.

Agreed - in my defense (a) I don't claim to do fine woodwork; and (b) the holes I filled with the stuff are not likely to be seen by anyone else. However, you bring up a good ethical point: when is good enough, good enough?

A genuinely talented woodworker I used to consider a friend once expressed his opinion to me that what the customer doesn't see, doesn't matter. His stuff looks great, but if you take it apart you'll see him taking every possible shortcut and cheapout. I think his approach dishonest, but forgive myself for using sawdust/glue filler where really I should be making custom dowling and slicing it, so I don't know if I'm holier than he, or just more of a hypocrite.

[J.R. Rutter]

I keep a plastic quart container of mixed sawdust from my orbital sanders (thanks, Dust Deputy) and tint it with dye as needed before mixing with epoxy or cyanoacrylate to fill minor defects, knot holes, etc.

[mreza Salav]

I keep a plastic quart container of mixed sawdust from my orbital sanders (thanks, Dust Deputy) and tint it with dye as needed before mixing with epoxy or cyanoacrylate to fill minor defects, knot holes, etc.

Like J.R. I mix saw dust as filler with epoxy when needed. I don't keep a lot but small containers of a few species I use often (maple, cherry, walnut, etc).

[Rod Sheridan]

I reintegrate sawdust back to nature.

So do I, it gets taken to Diann's parents farm and the chickens use it as bedding........Rod.