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I have a problem that is probably shared by many other cabinet shops. We collect large quantities of sanding and saw dust and then we are faced with the problem of how to get rid of it. Small pieces of wood are burned in a small space heater but this stove will not handle dust. There is a lot of energy available in the sawdust and I would like to know if there is a hopper-type burner (space heater size) that is available on the market. I am old enough to remember when sawdust was routinely burned to heat homes. If anyone knows of such a burner, please let me know; or if someone has another solution to the disposal of dust, I would be grateful for a reply. Gene Hanson
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In the old days, butchers, steak houses, and car mechanics used to put sawdust on the floor to soak up spills. I think my grandfather used to give it away to the butcher, but that was way way back. I used it when I was working on VW's. But probably the best idea is to find a gardening forum on the net and see if anybody there has a use for it in compost.
-- J.S.
*Many years ago, I believe Mother Earth News had an article about a sawdust stove. Might give them a try.
*I'll second the compost suggestion.Also, there are such things as 'pellet' stoves that burn pelletized fuels such as corn, sawdust, etc...Not sure how you would get the sawdust into pellet form, but it may be an option.Also, depending on how course the saw dust is and the species of wood, a lot of horse stables use it for bedding. (as do rabbit farms and such, I assume...)
*Gene,Sawdust Stove Heats With No Moving Parts Manufacturer or Inventor: Sturdi-Bilt Manufacturing Ltd 8364 TR 323 Holmesville, OH 44633 330 567-3789This is from Farm Show magazine.KK
*"Not sure how you would get the sawdust into pellet form, but it may be an option."Flavor with carrot juice and feed it to rabbits. 24 hours later, you'll get your pellets. Use moose if you want bigger pellets. -David
*Don't know this for a fact but I was told i could put the sawdust in paper sacks, compress as much as possible and burn it in a stove. All I could imagine is one of those big grain dust explosions that always used to happen in grain elevators.Bill
*Start saving candle stubs, melt the wax, mix with sawdust and pour into dixie cups... sell as firestarters at local campground. Don't know how many places I've seen those things and thought, gees who actually buys those??
*Bill, be extremely careful cuz as you suspect, a little proding of the pile of dust will cause a flash fire.
*I wonder if you could mold it into something like presto-logs... make a piston to fit in a 3" or 4" pipe (for the mold)... rig up a hydraulic press or a log splitter... Don't know. But if you have this sort of stuff handy, it might be worth a few experiments.
*Go to the FWW forum and look in the archives. There was a discussion about a year ago about how you can burn sawdust by packing it into the stove.Frank
*I burn sawdust in my fireplace/stove regularly. Put it in small cardboard box (like size of 12 wine bottles) and stomp it down with feet. Put whole box in at a time with a bout 50/50 mix with logs. Biggest item to address to get cleaner burn is to allow air flow OVER the fire.
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I have a problem that is probably shared by many other cabinet shops. We collect large quantities of sanding and saw dust and then we are faced with the problem of how to get rid of it. Small pieces of wood are burned in a small space heater but this stove will not handle dust. There is a lot of energy available in the sawdust and I would like to know if there is a hopper-type burner (space heater size) that is available on the market. I am old enough to remember when sawdust was routinely burned to heat homes. If anyone knows of such a burner, please let me know; or if someone has another solution to the disposal of dust, I would be grateful for a reply. Gene Hanson