Am I too cheap :)

[john lucas]

I wonder if I'm the only one who saves sawdust. When drilling or turning exotic woods I will often save the chips, drillings, and sometimes even the sanding dust, to use as fillers for holes, voids and cracks. Of course because I turn miniatures I also save a lot of really really small wood cutoffs that I'm sure everyone else just tosses. I mean how many of you would save a 1/4" square by 1" piece of purple heart or ebony. I don't see very many hands out there. 🙂

 

[Bill Boehme]

Hand goes up

Your pieces of wood are large compared to what I have in my collection. Do you dry coffee grounds? I do.

 

[hockenbery]

We are borders too!

That little piece of Purple Heart could be a golf tee or bearing shaft for a bandsaw.

You just might need it.

 

[Sean Boyle]

looks like my cut offs. My wife does intarsia so little pieces go a long way and yes she saves some shaving as well but not for what you might think. Give my grand daughter a piece of paper a bottle of glue and a pile of shaving and she is in art heaven

Bill what's with the dry coffee grounds

 

[pat miller]

I don't think it's a cheap thing. I think it's a smart thing. I save small bottles of colored sawdust to use as fillers and small pieces of wood especially the exotics. I have found lot's of use for both and neither take much room...
"the longer I keep something, the sooner after I throw it away will I find a use for it"

 

[Jerry Bailey]

I don't save the smaller pieces of wood you do , but .......
I have a cabinet full of baby food jars filled with different sawdust/sanding dust from all my woods
Can't get a more perfect wood filler/putty than the original dust mixed with Titebond 😉

 

[Duane Meadows]

I don't know whether it's a matter of being too cheap, but your certainly in good company!🙂

 

[Max Taylor]

too cheap?

[since it grows on trees, why save it? max

 

[Brian Libby]

I also save most cut-off in a bin like you do.

 

[David Hill]

OooooooH!
Y'all don't want to see my burn pile 😱

 

[Steve Worcester]

For me it is kindling. If I saved all of the off cuts and pieces I would need a shop 2x the size of what I have,

 

[Dean Center]

The little bits of some exotics, particularly the purpleheart and ebony you mention, can be used to surface decorate pieces. Instead of a wire to burn a line, you can make a purple, red, brown, brick, or soft black line, using the cutoffs. I suppose you could 'draw' more complicated designs, but I'm all thumbs when it comes to art.

 

[Joe Greiner]

Coffee Grounds

For patches or deliberate features, fill the recess with a "mortar" of epoxy and coffee grounds, proud of the final surface. Cut and sand to level. The coffee grounds contain some light and dark material. When exposed, it looks like miniature terrazzo.

 

[Gretch Flo]

I save saw dust from various woods, and have then stored in stackable (screw2ed together) small plastic tubs from Jo Ann's fabric. Tried getting more a few years later but they had a different style so that the screwed on attachments didn't have their own lid. I try using the wood's own saw dust
I have one basement room (the cats' kitty litter room) with 15+ boxes of small pieces that I use for handles and small projects-not esp saved for saw dust. I must learn to just use for kindling!!!!!
Have cocoa powder instead of coffee grounds (along with key chain dust-not a fan of that). Then commercial colored ground metallic powders. Gretch

 

[Syd Sellers]

Oh, thank God I'm not the only one!!! I thought I was going crazy... So did my wife...
Now I feel much better.....
Now if I could only find that sanding dust I saved, I know it's here someplace....

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Yeah, me too. I save everything. In fact, here's a jar of some old electrons I had laying around.



I know, I know. My wife says I crack myself up. And only myself. 🙂