Sawdust, often known as wood shavings by many people, is usually produced during woodworking operations. If you like working on DIY projects that involve a lot of wood, you will definitely know about sawdust.
It’s made of very fine particles of wood and is usually released during conventional processes such as sawing, drilling, sanding, planing, or milling the wood.
When you perform any of these processes on a plank of wood, you will see a fine powder being released into the air. Eventually, it settles down on the ground or you can just pick it up. Most woodworkers who regularly take on different kinds of projects know that a lot of sawdust is produced over time.
Cleaning the sawdust is not as easy as you might think and it requires you to take some serious steps to clean it up properly. For starters, you are going to have to use a strong vacuum cleaner to clean all the dust.
Or you can use a sweeping tool in order to pick it up. You should know that all of the sawdust that is produced in your house can actually be used for a purpose.
You might have heard that sawdust can actually be used as mulch and it’s true. To understand this better, you need to first understand the definition of mulch.
Mulch is basically a layer of material that’s added to the soil. It is designed to improve the growth of the plants in the soil and also improves the overall health of the plant.
Mulch helps improve the retention of moisture in the soil and keeps it cool. On top of that, it also helps suppress the weeds and takes care of plants.
It can be made of a variety of different materials and you can even use sawdust as a means of mulch. Most people buy bags of wood chips in order to make the mulch.
However, why should you go for that when you can make the mulch on your own? The next time that you start working on any woodworking project, all you need to do is to set up a mechanism that allows you to collect the sawdust on the floor.
Just put in a tray or use a vacuum cleaner with an external bag in order to pick it up.
To really improve the effectiveness of sawdust as a mulch, you should consider a nitrogen component in the mix as well. This will significantly reduce the nitrogen deficiency in the soil and improve the health of your plants.
But that’s not all. You can use sawdust in a myriad of different ways. Instead of chucking it in the bin, you should collect the sawdust as it can be used for a variety of other things. Here are just some of the many different ways by which you can use sawdust.
Using it for Your Pets
You can easily hack your pet supplies and use sawdust instead of buying those expensive items from your general store. First, let’s talk about the benefits. Sawdust absorbs odors and it is capable of soaking up moisture.
As you can imagine, this makes it the ideal substitute for kitty litter. Instead of buying those large and pointlessly expensive bags from the market, you can simply use sawdust instead.
On top of that, you can also make a wonderful bed for your little pet using sawdust and a bit of fiberfill. Instead of buying an expensive bed for your pet, you can make one at home for your pet without even spending all that money.
The best part is that these beds are just as comfortable as the ones you get out in the market!
Cleaning up Spills
As mentioned above, sawdust is incredibly absorbent and what that means is that you can easily use it for sopping up spills around the house. Oil and grease spills can be cleaned up easily and if gasoline spills out in your garage, you can also clean it up using sawdust.
Just put sawdust on the area where the liquid was spilled and wait a few minutes.
Once the sawdust has absorbed all of the liquid, you can just sweep it all away. It doesn’t require a lot of effort and if you really want to get rid of the smell afterwards, a simple floor cleaner is all you need.
Growing Mushrooms
This comes as a surprise to many people but it’s actually a fantastic benefit of sawdust. If you have always wanted to grow your own mushrooms out in the garden, you can do so with sawdust.
Mushrooms tend to grow naturally on fallen trees and logs that have been downed on the ground. That’s because wood-loving fungi often takes over the tree and it doesn’t take long before an entire mushroom bed begins to blossom.
If you want to make your own bed of mushrooms out in your garden, you should take a bit of sawdust and then combine it with organic compost. Just make sure that the mixture remains moist.
It won’t take long before mushrooms start growing in the ground in the area where the organic compost was kept.
Creating a Natural Pathway
Sawdust can also serve a functional purpose out in your garden or your backyard. If you want to get better traction outdoors, you can simply decorate your garden paths with sawdust.
Spread it all around and then line up the path on either side with pebbles or polished rocks.
It’s a fantastic way of generating more traction while walking and the sawdust is also going to help keep weeds away from your garden. More importantly, sawdust prevents erosion of the soil as well.
Sawdust is an incredibly useful material around the house and can be used in a variety of different ways. It can also help you save quite a bit of money in the long run, especially if you have pets in the house or are a fan of gardening!
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
--
If you want more backyard tips including recipes, how-tos and more, make sure you subscribe to my youtube channel