Topical Guide 258
Mark Dorset
Useful Things: Sawdust
At sea again, the three pace the deck at night, in step, Tudor in the lead. “We’ve got to find a way to keep ice from melting!” he cries. “I won’t be defeated! I will find a way!” All three pound their fists into their open hands.
Back in Boston, Tudor begins the experiments in preserving ice that will occupy him for months. In a quick sequence of scenes, we see that things are going badly.
Tudor flings open the doors of an icehouse and water rushes out. “Blankets won’t work,” he says in disgust.
He flings open another icehouse. Water rushes out. Wyeth staggers out with wet feathers stuck all over him. “Feathers won’t work, either,” Tudor says. …
Suddenly, Wyeth rushes up, whistling like mad, carrying a huge saw. He begins sawing at one of the icehouses, still whistling like crazy, smiling and bobbing his head up and down.
“Perhaps you’re right,” says Tudor, misinterpreting Wyeth’s message. “I’ll put all this behind me and become a lumberjack.”
Wyeth grabs Tudor by the coat and drags him to an icehouse from which no water runs. Tudor’s eyes light up. He flings the door open. “Sawdust!” he cries.
At sea again, the Tuscany, with a load of ice packed in sawdust, is bound for Bombay.Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 3
Don’t dump your sawdust! Here are some ways to put it to work.
Manufacturers use this common by-product in countless ways: to make particleboard or as a fuel source for boilers, for example. If you’re working on a home-improvement project, chances are you’ve got a few piles of sawdust in your garage, too. Here are some ways to keep it out of the trash bin:
Make fake snow. Mix sawdust with white paint and glue to cover holiday crafts with simulated snow.
Get a grip. Winter loggers spread sawdust on their truck paths. It provides traction and strengthens compacted snow while protecting the ground underneath.
Soak up spills. Keep a bucket handy for accidents. Sawdust is highly absorbent and can quickly contain spills of oil or paint.
Feed your plants. Sawdust mixed with manure or a nitrogen supplement keeps your plants healthy and moist, too.
Make a fire starter. Melt candle wax in a nonstick pot, add sawdust until the liquid thickens, pour into an empty egg carton, and let cool. Use the briquettes to help get a fire going.
Fill wood holes and defects. Used by professional floor refinishers, very fine sawdust or “wood flour” makes an excellent, stainable filler when mixed into a putty with wood glue.
Pack a path. Tamp sawdust into a dirt walkway to curtail erosion and create a soft, fragrant pathway through your garden or wooded lot.
Chase away weeds. Sawdust from walnut wood is a natural weed killer. Sweep this variety between the cracks of your walkway.
Lighten up cement. Sawdust mixed into mortar has long been used when erecting cordwood walls to aid in bonding the logs together. Do the same when casting lightweight vessels and moisture-loving planters.
Clean a floor. Moisten a pile of sawdust with water and use a push broom to sweep it around the concrete floor of your garage, basement, or shop. The wet sawdust will capture and absorb fine dust and grime.From This Old House
Some households have no sawdust on hand. If yours is one of those, despair not. You can have a supply of sawdust shipped to you from Amazon.com.
From Amazon:
Shannon’s Sawmill’s Mixed Hardwood Sawdust, Chemical Free, Organic (6 pounds) Many Uses & Great for storing ICE
Clean, Dry, All Natural, No Chemicals & Free of Debris
Works great for insulating ice as well. One of the oldest ways to insulate ice is to coat it with layers of sawdust. This method was used in ice houses and even in ice boxes as recently as the early 1900s.
[more to come on Friday, May 13, 2022]
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