# Make your own sawdust for AMNPS?



## perdurabo (Dec 30, 2013)

I own around 30 acres of land in Central TX with tons of mesquite and post oak on it and Ive got a lot of already cured wood just sitting there waiting to be used.  It seems stupid to mail order pellets or sawdust when I have so much free wood just sitting there (plus I'm from central TX and we are particular about liking our smoked meats to taste like its been smoked with native post oak wood).  Trouble is, I want to use my AMNPS for smoking cured sausage below 165 degrees, so I'm not in a position to make the wood I already have into chips or chunks.  It has to be sawdust or pellets.

I don't want to invest in a $5k+ commercial pelletizer, so its going to have to be sawdust.  Whats the most efficient way to make sawdust out of split logs of cured mesquite or post oak?  Just chop it up as close as you can with a miter saw that has a dust capture bag on it?  Seems like it'd take a lot of time to make a bunch of it that way.  Are there faster or more efficient methods that make it easy to capture the dust?


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## kc5tpy (Dec 30, 2013)

Hello.  A chainsaw is obviously out of the question because of chain oil so I can't think of any better way.  Maybe others will have suggestions.  Good luck.

Danny


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## pc farmer (Dec 30, 2013)

I caught abunch out of my chainsaw when I was cutting hickory.

Everyone on here told me not to use it cause of the bar oil.

Other forums said it is fine to use.  I dont see any discolored sawdust that would indicate oil.

It burns just fine.  I havent used it on any food yet thou.


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## Dutch (Dec 30, 2013)

Short of hiring a tree removal service to come in and run you seasoned wood through their tree chipper. I know that Lowe's and Home Depot carry chippers, it should work ok for chips but I'm not sure how it would work creating sawdust.


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## woodcutter (Dec 30, 2013)

I've been using black cherry hunks from my woods. I blow off my table saw and the floor with a leaf blower when I start and while I'm cutting the hunks I'm accumulating saw dust. Just sweep it up. I have a tray to spread the dust out because it never seems dry enough when it is first cut.  I planed a bunch of white oak with a planer but I can't seem to keep those chips lit. I've tried the chainsaw without oil and those chips will stay lit. I'm not sure why.


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## dward51 (Dec 30, 2013)

Dutch said:


> Short of hiring a tree removal service to come in and run you seasoned wood through their tree chipper. I know that Lowe's and Home Depot carry chippers, it should work ok for chips but I'm not sure how it would work creating sawdust.


I've got two chipper/shredders, a Troy Built and a Sears Craftsman (MTD makes it).  The product the chipping blade makes on both of them is no where near small enough for use in the trays or tubes.  It makes flat wide cut chips very similar to what you get in the chip bags commercially available.

I've used sawdust from where I cut up some pecan into chunks and it worked just fine.  I split the pecan into 2.5 to 3" splits and then cut those into chunks on my radial arm saw.  Figured I might as well try the sawdust as well and it also worked.  So you can use a saw to take small passes and make lots of sawdust if you have the time.


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## JckDanls 07 (Dec 30, 2013)

I've done it with oak on the table saw...  it was actually oak boards and not logs...  As Woodcutter says...  clean the table saw and floor all around it....  set the fence right next to the blade so you push the wood to the fence and make a pass or 1,000...  take a blade width at a time....


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## daveomak (Dec 31, 2013)

If you use a carbide tooth and a 40-60 tooth blade, the sawdust should be fine enough to burn properly...   It shouldn't take too long to get a couple days worth of dust...   It will works fine in the AMNPS.....  

Dave


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