SAWDUST

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 25 June 1928, Page 3

SAWDUST

MANY USES FOR IT

The timber mills of the Dominion annually produce a very large quantity of sawI dust which, in most cases, is not turned to any practical use. In New York, I however, according to the “New York I Times,” the sawdust man fills an import--1 ant function. The meat and fruit packing markets and packing houses ’ would not be themselves without 1 their carpet of sawdust on the floor, i and the sawdust man is responsible for ' bringing it there. He makes his regui lar round of the city planing mills and : wood-working factories and fills his bags i from their sawdust piles' for delivery to • ins customers. There are also dealers on ; a larger scale who use car-load or truck • lots, feeding it into marcines that screen and bag it; then it is stored away according to size, species, and grade, to be sold for a wide variety of purposes. I The disposal of sawdust is a real problem of the wood-working industry. It may not be dumped into streams or tidal waters, according to the laws of most States; and burning it often gets the manufacturer into difficultiess, since much ‘ of it is likely to blow about and be rated as a nuisance by neighbours. Industry, however, is now consuming more and more of it—not only for fuel, loose or in , briquets, but in industrial processes; for sawdust is not just sawdust, but a whole family of products varying in use according to the kind of wood from which it comes. Some 30,G00 tons of sawdust are used yearly, it is estimated, in the meat-curing 1 industry. Hickory is most in demand, but oak, mahogany, maple, and other hardwoods are used to some extent. More than 22,000 tons are used as a filling medium in plaster board. In magnesite composition floors of residences and industrial buildings and under ship decking as ' a covering for steel plates more is used. It is also mixed with clay to make porous hollow building tiles—the sawdust being destroyed in firing, leaving the desired interstices. In the building of houses sawdust is used as an insulating material : for heat and sound, between the beams in I the walls.

The California grape-packing industry consumes more than 4000 tons a year, sawdust proving superior to the cord dust formerly used, on account of its cheapness and retention of moisture. Spruce sawdust is preferred for this purpose. Sometimes it is mixed with Douglas fir. Bottled and canned goods, too, are sometimes packed in sawdust. Moistened and sprinkled on the floor of the cars in which nursery stock is shipped, or packed around the burlap coverings, it keeps the roots from drying out in transit. Such sawdust as will not stain is useful in the manufacture of certain leathers, the hides being left overnight on damp sawdust piles to be conditioned for kneading and stretching. Die leather industry consumes approximately 1100 tons annually.