Sawdust is a good flux ?

[gwpercle]

I have allways used beeswax or boolit lube ( Lyman C B handbook # 3 ) and of late Marvelux. Now I am told thats not the best... SAWDUST is . Can some of you explain just how I use sawdust ? My questions concern : what kind of wood, how course or fine should it be, can wood shavings, like the kind you get in pet stores be used ? My problem is I don"t have a ready source for sawdust but I,ll try any thing if it works. I went to the book site that in chaptr 4 talked about flux but they didn't give any details... I know some of you'all use this method so learn me about it. Could ground corn cob be used ? I got a big bag of that stuff.

Thanks....gary

[sparky45]

I use sawdust all the time and I imagine the cob media would work as well.

[Longwood]

I have allways used beeswax or boolit lube ( Lyman C B handbook # 3 ) and of late Marvelux. Now I am told thats not the best... SAWDUST is . Can some of you explain just how I use sawdust ? My questions concern : what kind of wood, how course or fine should it be, can wood shavings, like the kind you get in pet stores be used ? My problem is I don"t have a ready source for sawdust but I,ll try any thing if it works. I went to the book site that in chaptr 4 talked about flux but they didn't give any details... I know some of you'all use this method so learn me about it. Could ground corn cob be used ? I got a big bag of that stuff.

Thanks....gary

A lot of info on this subject a few months ago.
From all of the info I got, about any plant material that will add carbon is good.
I use wood pellets, after they have been wetted and dried because i have them and do very little wood work.
A five dollar wallmart bag of wood chips will probably fill thew back of a pickup after they get wet.
What I would never use is the fine dust from the panel saw at Home Depot.

[GT27]

I agree with Longwood,too fine will make it prone to combustion,then your treading to far into the danger zone!

[Longwood]

I agree with Longwood,too fine will make it prone to combustion,then your treading to far into the danger zone!D


That stuff at Home depot has a lot of glue in it.

[dsbock]

I read about using sawdust but never considered corn cob media. I have a 40lb bag of the stuff. Since I won't live long enough to use all of it cleaning brass, the lead pot would be a great additional use. Has anyone tried this? Please relate your experience.

Thanks.

David

[QuickRick]

I use Marvelux for my fluxing chores. Works great and a little goes a long way. I save my sawdust and mix with diesel for the best firestarting stuff I have found to date. I use a large coffee can (or 2) full of the mix every camping season. It will even get damp kindling/firewood going for you. Love those campfires and the sawdust/diesel mixture sure makes it easy to get one going in a hurry....I've spent many an evening sitting around the campfire cleaning the shootin irons of the day and sorting through the fired brass.

[abunaitoo]

I use sawdust.
Never tried using corncob.
Anyone know which is better????
Does one make less smoke than the other???
Can I use old corncob?????

[dragonrider]

"too fine will make it prone to combustion,then your treading to far into the danger zone!"

You want it to burn, that's the whole point of using sawdust. Unburned wood is a poor flux as the carbon is not yet released. Here is the procedure I use. If using your casting pot put a small handfull on top of your melt and let it burn, do not mix it into the melt yet. When it is smoking real good, throw a match on it and lite it up and let it burn to ash completely, THEN start mixing into the melt. Scoop up ladlesfull and pour it back in, do this repeatedly and then stir it well, scoop, stir repeat. Soon you will have nothing but garbage on top. Skim off the trash to a clean surface and add more sawdust and repeat the process, after the second time your lead will be quite clean. An added feature of using sawdust is it will keep your pot very clean also. No buildup on the sides. Sawdust is the flux of choice here, I never use any kind of wax or oils, or grease, boolit lube, no protroleum distillates of any kind. The only thing they do well is make a very dirty pot.

[Longwood]

I use sawdust.
Never tried using corncob.
Anyone know which is better????
Does one make less smoke than the other???
Can I use old corncob?????

How about some coffee grounds?

[Longwood]

Leave a layer of ash on top of the melt. It helps keep the mix from oxidizing.
New ingots will easily slip right down into the melt and the ash layer will help control spitting because of the new cold ingot.

[felix]

Coffee grounds should be excellent! ... felix

[RayinNH]

Coffee grounds should be excellent! ... felix


DRY coffee grounds, might smell wonderful too...Ray

[waksupi]

Rick, that Marvelux will make things rust for a large area around where it is used.

[gandydancer]

on this sawdust bit is it after you have melted your wheel weights and geting ready to cast that you use the sawdust to clean it up better?? thanks. GD

[oneokie]

Can I use old corncob?????

Used tumbling media is one thing I would never use.

[oneokie]

on this sawdust bit is it after you have melted your wheel weights and geting ready to cast that you use the sawdust to clean it up better?? thanks. GD

Saw dust and used motor oil or ATF mixed, makes an excellent smelting flux. Saw dust as a flux in the casting pot helps with the final cleaning of your alloy and makes an excellent oxygen barrier on top of the melt, as well as helping the pot walls and metering rod on bottom pours stay clean.

[Lefty SRH]

I like the coffe idea. My coffee grounds will definately give my lead some extra FPS upon exit!

[snglstack]

Last week I was trying out my new NOE mold w/WW in a Lee PP. It's been awhile and I thought about this thread and pulled some dry leavs off a nearby tree and crushed em up on the melt. Seemed to insulate some from the colder ambient air, as well as flux...

[ReloaderFred]

Sawdust is all I use for fluxing anymore. Oak really smells good, too.....

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Longwood]

I like the coffe idea. My coffee grounds will definately give my lead some extra FPS upon exit!

Actually,,, I was sorta kidding.
I have smelled burned coffee and it did not smell very good.

[cbrick]

I use Marvelux for my fluxing chores. Works great and a little goes a long way.

Welcome to CastBoolits QuickRick,

No, the reality is that it doesn't work very well and the list of detriments is long, profound and very real.

Here it is explained in detail in easy to understand English. I highly recommend your reading chapter four.

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf

It will remove your tin, not reduce it, it is highly hydroscopic, it gunks up your pot and casting tools to the point it takes a stiff wire wheel on a drill motor to clean it out (wear a quality dust mask, it's really nasty stuff). Lot's of excellent reasons to not use the stufff.

Rick

[GT27]

Let me clarify my meaning, for those that didn't get the gist. If the wood is in too fine of a dust (particle) form and dry,you are at a risk of a flare ,the way gas fumes burn uncontrollably. Don't think it can happen,try it with really fine wood dust, and report back with your misfortune!:groner: GT27

[Mal Paso]

I like the coffe idea. My coffee grounds will definately give my lead some extra FPS upon exit!

Yea but they wouldn't be as accurate due to Jitters.:kidding:

[10 ga]

Sawdust is just fine. Just be sure not to use any from any "pressure" treated wood. Has bad stuff in it that keeps the micro bugs from eating it and it can hurt you too. My fallback is a bucket of shreds out of the household shredder. Works just like sawdust. Best, 10 ga

[Stephen Cohen]

Let me clarify my meaning, for those that didn't get the gist. If the wood is in too fine of a dust (particle) form and dry,you are at a risk of a flare ,the way gas fumes burn uncontrollably. Don't think it can happen,try it with really fine wood dust, and report back with your misfortune!:groner: GT27

What you and others say is true. As a young apprentice cabinet maker, I had to watch a film about the danger of static electricity in spray booths, the resulting spark, ignited all the fine dust in air and the resulting fire ball would have killed anyone in that factory. Mind this was before blowers and vacs become mandatory.

[giz189]

Seems to me I remember reading somewhere a long while back that the corn cob media smelled really bad. CRS for sure though.

[GT27]

What you and others say is true. As a young apprentice cabinet maker, I had to watch a film about the danger of static electricity in spray booths, the resulting spark, ignited all the fine dust in air and the resulting fire ball would have killed anyone in that factory. Mind this was before blowers and vacs become mandatory.


Bingo,we have a winner!!!:cbpour:[smilie=p:

[sparky45]

I've never had a problem with a ladle full of sawdust of any size in using it for flux. That's not to say it wouldn't "flash" but in such a small quantity what's it going to do and where is it going to spread. Normally I use sawdust collected from my woodturnings area and my melting pot is outside and away from a source for a fire.

[crappie-hunter]

Here's what I do to get sawdust for flux. Take a piece of cedar ,white or red aromatic , set your jointer at 1/16th or less and plane away saving the chips and slivers, it is not fine sawdust like you get from your table saw and works very well. I dont think cedar is manditory but it smell good, works for me. If you don't have access to woodworking machinery there is a lot of custom woodworking shops around that might be willing to help just ask. In my area there is a lot of Amish that work with wood and are mostly willing to help a neighbor.

[gwpercle]

I really appreciate all the input on sawdust fluxing. I'm going to conduct a little experiment. I cast from an open top pot with a spouted dipper and use 1 or 2 cavity moulds. So this is not going to apply to bottom pour casting... will leave that for another day. Today I cast a batch of boolits using Marvelux for flux. I used ingots of wheelweight metal that had been previsouly smelted and cleaned . So I was just adding ignots to the pot and melting then fluxed and started casting. Tomorrow I'm going to take my hand plane and make some thin shavings from white pine crumple them up to be a sort of rough sawdust and try that as flux. Next I'm going to do another test using beeswax and lastly I have some corncobs that I'm going to grind up and try those for flux.
As soon as I get all of this compleated I will report back my findings and how each method worked. I am not going to test coffee grounds, I gotta draw the line somewhere.

THANKS to all......gary

[cbrick]

Gary, click the link in post #22, read chapter 4. Feel free of course to experiment but all that you suggest has been done many, many, many, many times. Seems a bunch easier to read the results and the reasons for each.

Rick

[Ole]

Used motor oil makes great (free) flux.

[Bill*]

If you use corncob, don't try used, it might be contaminated with lead:shock:
Oh.....wait a minute.....never mind[smilie=1:

[Longwood]

I really appreciate all the input on sawdust fluxing. I'm going to conduct a little experiment. I cast from an open top pot with a spouted dipper and use 1 or 2 cavity moulds. So this is not going to apply to bottom pour casting... will leave that for another day. Today I cast a batch of boolits using Marvelux for flux. I used ingots of wheelweight metal that had been previsouly smelted and cleaned . So I was just adding ignots to the pot and melting then fluxed and started casting. Tomorrow I'm going to take my hand plane and make some thin shavings from white pine crumple them up to be a sort of rough sawdust and try that as flux. Next I'm going to do another test using beeswax and lastly I have some corncobs that I'm going to grind up and try those for flux.
As soon as I get all of this compleated I will report back my findings and how each method worked. I am not going to test coffee grounds, I gotta draw the line somewhere.

THANKS to all......gary+


It would be pretty redundant Gary but hey,,,,, why not go for it.

The subject has been discussed and cussed many times here.

I believe white pine is the pet bedding walmart sells.

I tried it first.

It works extremely well!

It's fairly cheap.

It goes a long way.

It is great for casting and smelting.

It immediately convinced me to quit using the other stuff I had used for years which was more costly paraffin and much more expensive bee wax.

[Longwood]

Used motor oil makes great (free) flux.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Then roofing tar would probably work also.

Old tires have a lot of carbon in them. :bigsmyl2:

[Jammer Six]

I have a woodshop. Gimme some money for boxes and shipping, and I'll send you more sawdust once a week than you will need.

Absolutely guaranteed to be enough.

[canyon-ghost]

I've been using candle wax, regular parafin. It's flammable enough to produce very high orange flames if you light it.

The explanation was that it takes Hydrocarbons to flux.

Ron

[MikeS]

Pine smells pretty good too. As does CFF PatMarlin's blended wood flux. I find that the CFF works great as a flux, then I use hamster bedding (pine shavings) on top of the melt to act as a barrier, it seems to last longer than CFF does for that job.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

I saw an immediate improvement switching to saw dust.
I just use dust from under the table saw. Then, after finding an old roll of rosin core solder,
I started adding a few feet to every pot for the tin content, and found the combination of sawdust and the rosin, made a beautiful looking melt!

[Moonman]

California Flake Flux (CFF) from Pat Marlin.

[uscra112]

Anything that'll burn will do for flux. The idea is to snatch the oxygen atoms off the dross, which is metal oxides, forcing the pure metal to return to the melt.

I've got some hickory in the woodpile. Is there a market for hickory smoked Boolits? How about mesquite chips? Might please SWMBO, (those of you that still own one).

[Longwood]

After reading about using sawdust here, I tried Mahogany shavings, which stunk, pine shavings, (pet bedding), and reconstituted wood pellets, which both smell pretty good, and even cat litter, which in my opinion, is in my way and is too messy.
Without a doubt, fluxing and reduxing were far simpler with sawdust or the pellets. I sometimes experimented and tried adding some paraffin from motif candles from the dollar store but I saw little, if any, benifit form the smelly wax.
I had never even heard about reduxing until I came here and I sometimes wonder how much tin I threw out in the past.
I had over ten pounds in a bucket, ready to be taken to the landfill, from last springs smelting alone. I remelted all of those ingots and by using sawdust, I was able to add almost all of it back into the smelt.

[geargnasher]

Wow, so much misinformation!

If you want to know the real truth about fluxing agents and reducing agents, do youreself a favor and really, go back to post #22 and follow the link CBRick gave to Glen Fryxell's article. It explains everything in plain english.

As for fresh coffee grounds, it stinks to buggary, absolutely acrid and awful. It does work as a sacrificial reducant and seems to absorb impurities, but there is better stuff from the operator's standpoint.

Any sawdust containing MDF, plywood, OSB, or treated lumber should be avoided at all costs. This eliminates most of the stuff generated by Home Depot/Lowes etc, so beware.

I was casting with a fellow member a while back, working the bugs out of a mould, and he had a nice setup outside in an iron pot on a fish fryer burner, good consistent temp and lots of room to work with a ladle. He had pine trees all around, and for flux/reducant a handfull of pine needles/leaves/bark/whatever was on the ground worked as well as anything. He looked at me funny when I grabbed a handfull and threw it in instead of using some of the candle wax chunks he had handy, but I explained that there's a lot more to cleaning lead than just "reducing" oxides back to elements.

Corn cob media, if it has no abrasives and hasn't been used to clean brass and soak up primer residue, should be fine. I don't want grit in my pot, neither do I want complex lead compounds in dust form going up with the smoke, so I'd avoid used stuff. Sawdust is the best thing there is, some sawdust/shavings are better than others. There is no real mystery here when you understand the chemical principles of fluxing, cleaning, and reducing an alloy. Again, read the article!

Gear

[cbrick]

Anything that'll burn will do for flux.

That is is simply not true, once again I suggest going to post #22 in this thread, click the link and read chapter 4.


Wow, so much misinformation!
Gear

Yep, after awhile ya get tired of posting the correct info, the links to the valid science of the subject and the reasons for it because after you do ya get 3 pages of I use candles, motor oil and even worse, Marvacrap. I guess for some people it just hurts the brain to learn not only something new but also a better way. It's obvious they refuse to read the chapter, after all, why bother learning?

Rick

[MBTcustom]

Now, now, not all of us are that thick-sculled. I honestly had never run accross this subject on castboolits untill the other day when you helped me with my gooey lead problem. I listened and I listened good, read the link you provided, and tried it. Now I use only sawdust and a wooden stick to flux the pot. Thanks for saying it over and over! Sometimes you have to be a broken record to reach everybody.
By the way, I found the best way to generate a pile of wood shavings. I have a log or two in my back yard, and I have a halfway-run-sometimes chainsaw. I fired that sucker up and put it through a log about five times. It made about a gallon baggy full of perfect sized wood shavings in seconds. I cant believe how this has cleaned my pot and ladle! I used to struggle with **** clinging to my ladle. It would build and build and then I would take a scotchbrite pad to it which produced the most toxic dust you can imagine. Just did it over the trash barrel outside and held my breath. Comforting huh? Now my ladle has a smokey dark gray look to it and is as clean as the day it was made.
Thanks C-brick! Your a pal!

[geargnasher]

Yep, after awhile ya get tired of posting the correct info, the links to the valid science of the subject and the reasons for it because after you do ya get 3 pages of I use candles, motor oil and even worse, Marvacrap." I guess for some people it just hurts the brain to learn not only something new but also a better way. It's obvious they refuse to read the chapter, after all, why bother learning?

Rick

:bigsmyl2: Happens every time. It cracks me up that people put a chunk of candle wax on top of their melt and think they're fluxing.

Gear

[cbrick]

I honestly had never run accross this subject on castboolits untill the other day when you helped me with my gooey lead problem.

Yeah, I know some people read and try to learn, sometimes it just doesn't seem like it. It's a big forum and nobody can read all of it, I sure can't/don't. After you did read about fluxing though, you didn't then leave three pages of the joys of waxes, oils or that disgusting Marvacrap that aren't nearly as effective at doing what it is you want and need a flux to do making it clear that it wasn't worth reading or learning something that just may be better . . . Did you?

Rick

[Longwood]

:bigsmyl2: Happens every time. It cracks me up that people put a chunk of candle wax on top of their melt and think they're fluxing.

Gear

Possibly because every gunrag for many many many years said to use it?

[MBTcustom]

I confess that I was using wax as a fluxing agent up until a few days ago. In fact, I just whipped out my Lyman ammunition reloading handbook (41st edition, copyright July 1957) and it says: when the proper temperature has been reached it is necessary to flux the metal. Fluxing mixes the metals in the alloy together and causes any impurities to rise to the surface, where they should be skimmed off. Never skim the metal without first fluxing it. Merely add a piece of beeswax or tallow and stir the metal well. The gas can be lit with a match, if it doesn't ignite by itself.
That's a long time of misinformation. Don't worry buddy, now I'm going to help spread the word to kind of ease the pressure off of you a little.

[Flinchrock]

I have more crushed walnut shells than I am ever likely to use (no rouge mixed in).
Do you fellows think it might work??

[Sonnypie]

I use Lizard Litter from Petco.
I got it to use in my vibratory tumblers.
But I went to STM.
So I had this 5 gallon bucket with a pile of clean Lizard Littler (fine ground English walnut shells) and a nice sprinkle of it does the job.
And the shop smells great, too.

I tried wax once. Never will again.

But the clean fine ground walnut shells works great for me. It's clean. It's drier than a popcorn fart. And it smells great! ;)

[Sasquatch-1]

I use Lizard Litter from Petco.
I got it to use in my vibratory tumblers.
But I went to STM.
So I had this 5 gallon bucket with a pile of clean Lizard Littler (fine ground English walnut shells) and a nice sprinkle of it does the job.
And the shop smells great, too.

I tried wax once. Never will again.

But the clean fine ground walnut shells works great for me. It's clean. It's drier than a popcorn fart. And it smells great! ;)

Just wanted to add be careful if you use the lizard litter. I have what they call the desert mix that has sand in it.

Also, for those who do not do wood working in any form, try buying an old fashion pencil sharpen and use the shavings. Pencils are cheap, you can pick them up at the dollar store or at your local county fair a lot of booths give them away as advertisement. I would think the graphite might even have some benefits. Or you could use wooden dows.

Has anyone ever used pencil shaving and is the graphite a benefit?

[gwpercle]

I really appreciate you guy's going over the fluxing subject again. I started reloading and casting in 1967. The Layman #3 manual said use beeswax/boolit lube, so I did. About 1980 got RCBS manual , it said use Marvelux. It wasn't untill last Friday that I stumbled on a mention of sawdust right here on this site... never heard of it before. I think I got it ...white pine shavings or sawdust.

There is still so much information I have yet to learn, I had no one to teach me and had to learn everything from books , trial and error. Back then there was no internet or sites like this. I just learned how to somewhat navigate the computer, I'm only barely functional in this media. The reason I'm keeping at it is because of this wonderful source of information on casting,reloading and shooting.

Thanks so very much to each and everyone for sharing your hard earned knowledge. I'm not going to waste time testing fluxes ... there is no need to reinvent this wheel.

Old dog learns new trick...gary

[geargnasher]

The problem with all of the Lyman books, even the 4th ed. casting manual, is that much of what's there is 19th-century technology, taken from a 19th-century understanding of the world. How many elements have been discovered since then?

Think of Lyman casting advice like 19th-century medicine. You had Asprin and Penecillin (sp?) then, and wax and lead-tin binaries, maybe if you were lucky you got some information on antimony from a few mid-20th-century articles. All that is very much subject to change based on technology and understanding.

One of the many reasons that I feel we're in the true Golden Age of boolit casting right now.

So take full advantage of the new knowledge and techniques that have been developed and shared here, your results will show it.

Gear

[QuickRick]

I like the coffe idea. My coffee grounds will definately give my lead some extra FPS upon exit!

Sure makes sense to me. I am going to start saving my coffee grounds...

[shooterg]

Decaf or regular coffee grounds ? hee hee

Do high caffeine boolits go faster ?

[waksupi]

I use my coffee grounds to put on the garden. Worms love it! Years ago, Grumble sent me a box of pinion pine. Best smelling stir sticks I've ever had!

[btroj]

I have tried the corn cob and walnut media. Doesn't seem to work as well as sawdust. Not enough surface area, also seems to leave chunks that I don't like. Keep finding it in my pot even after a good stir and skimming. Seems to get held below the surfaces of the melt.

Sawdust is so easy to find, cheap, and works. Why use anything else?

[milprileb]

If you have tried wax, bullet lube, marvelux and then try saw dust.

You will always use saw dust from then on. This forum and members are

shooting you a straight arrow shot on Best Flux !

[MajorJim]

Until Pat gets back on his feet, anyone know of a good source for sawdust?

Also, is hardwood better than soft?

I am a little leery of using stuff from Home Depot stuff - the compounds they use for plywood and other manufactured wood products can offgas some less than healthy stuff.

[Longwood]

Until Pat gets back on his feet, anyone know of a good source for sawdust?

Also, is hardwood better than soft?

I am a little leery of using stuff from Home Depot stuff - the compounds they use for plywood and other manufactured wood products can offgas some less than healthy stuff.

Scroll down and see how many times Wal mart and pet bedding show up.:bigsmyl2:

Case polishing media, or wet then dried wood pellets work quite well.

Pat's stuff is reported to smell better.

[Longwood]

Also, is hardwood better than soft?



There was a post lately that pointed out that cotton wood, which is a soft wood, make poor charcoal for manufacuring black powder.
The poster pointed out that his tests had shown White maple burns considerably cleaner.
Would the wood that burned cleaner put more or less carbon into the melt or vice versa.
Since the process works so well with so many varieties of inexpensive or free vegetable mater, I doubt it matters much.
Wood pellets seem to work a bit better for me than the Pine pet bedding,mainly because it does not blow around as much. They also seem to work in the melt a bit better. Possibly because they are, supposedly, hardwood.
Either worked way better than every thing else I tried.
One inch of wood pellets (in a pot) made wet then dried, yields about 6 inches of sawdust which is more course with far less dust than most sawdust.

[jackj]

I understand the reason for using sawdust. And I read chapter 4 of the book. However, on the first page of the article on flux the author mentions charcoal (think Kingsford), but doesn't mention it at the end where he recommends sawdust for flux. It would seem using ground up charcoal would be ideal?

Input appreciated.

I just realized I've been reading this forum for years...and this is my first post (I'm slow...lol!)

[ChuckS1]

You could go to Tractor Supply or Southern States and get this: http://tsc.tractorsupply.com/nav/cat2/livestock_livestockbedding/0

[StratsMan]

I've used wax for years (smelly, and flames) but someone suggested a stir stick, just as Goodsteel mentions in post #46... I started just stirring with the stir stick, and my melt is MUCH cleaner. No flames or smell, either. According to what others have posted, the key is to introduce carbon to the melt. The stir stick will char in the melt as you stir, introducing the carbon. Give a short time for it all to rise to the top and skim... Bingo!! Clean melt!!

And since I'm really addicted to K.I.S.S. practices, I'm sold on this method. Though I may try a different type of stick to make my gunroom smell better... :castmine:

[Valley-Shooter]

Thanks everyone for the information in this thread. All those Lyman Casting manuals need to be rewritten.
I will be tossing the MARVELUX and prepping some hardwood pellets.

[cbrick]

I will be tossing the MARVELUX

Welcome to CastBoolits Valley-Shooter,

My condolences to your trash collector, perhaps what he doesn't know won't hurt him. :mrgreen: Don't tell him!

Rick

[ubetcha]

Burnt coffee does not smell good

[DukeInFlorida]

Softwood (like pine) saw dust seems to work better for me than hardwood saw dust. I think it's the resin in the wood that assists with the fluxing. So, if you have a choice, go with pine chips or saw dust.

It's the reason that Pat Marlin's California Flux Flake works so well. Full of resin.

[1bluehorse]

I took Longwood's advise and wet some wood stove pellets in a 3lb coffee can, put a few handfuls in the bottom, covered them in water, came home a couple hrs later and voila' almost a full can of sawdust....works great and smells like a campfire.....tried using a wooden dowel I had as a stir stick, not doin that again, P.U......stinky!!!!

[Longwood]

I took Longwood's advise and wet some wood stove pellets in a 3lb coffee can, put a few handfuls in the bottom, covered them in water, came home a couple hrs later and voila' almost a full can of sawdust....works great and smells like a campfire.....tried using a wooden dowel I had as a stir stick, not doin that again, P.U......stinky!!!!

As they dry and fall apart you will end up with even more.
I cast all day yesterday and used maybe what once was a handfull of pellets.

For those of you that can not get them, I will sell as many as Ican fit in a Priority mail box up to the medium sized one for $1 plus the cost of shipping.
I asked at the Post office and I can get a box that is about half the size of the medium boxes but I have to order them on line.
They cost less to mail.

[ColColt]

I've found burning sawdust to be a sweet aroma...much like men's Obsession. I must be getting perverted.

[Longwood]

I've found burning sawdust to be a sweet aroma...much like men's Obsession. I must be getting perverted.

When I was looking for a new house, my sweetie said "We need a fireplace".
When i tried to tell her that most are a waste of wood that makes the rest of the house colder, she said. "I don't care, I like the smell".
What a Gal, I wish the wood smell had been enough. Unfortunatly I live too close to Palm Springs where the "MONEY" smell is soooo much more effective.

[ColColt]

What a Gal, I wish the wood smell had been enough. Unfortunatly I live too close to Palm Springs where the "MONEY" smell is soooo much more effective.

When I first glanced at this and saw your avatar I thought it said Monkey!! [smilie=l:

[shangrila]

I use cedar bedding chips from Wally Mart. $3.50 a bag (that will fill a 5 gallon bucket). Works well and smells good when it burns, plus it is shavings not dust, so it's really easy to control. Just my .02 :)