Wood sawdust sampler

232
12
I found this test tube stand at Urban Ore (my local salvage yard) for $1 and figured I could do something with it.

Decided to fill it with test tubes with various species of sawdust.

From left to right: Afrormosia (African Teak), Honduran Rosewood, Gaboon Ebony (Ebony from Gabon, ), Cocobolo, Purple Heart, and last but not least, Bubinga at the far right.

The test tubes are 20mm diameter by 150mm length with cork tops. Got them off Amazon.

I had all these sawdusts from wood I have milled over the years. I save the sawdust so I can make stains to rejuvenate wood that may become faded over time.

12 Comments

Great idea, however much more ambitious than my interest. I always use a little sawdust for minor fixes and wish I had a way to organize and save some. This would do the trick.

.................. John D....................

I feel like I'm slumming. I keep my sawdust samples in little ziplock baggies. I'd probably use a tube stand if I had one. :-)
Nice, looks really cool.  I with GeorgeWest, at this point, I am still using zip lock bags, but yours are way better looking.  

Yolanda

Good way to display and the glass lets you see clearly what is inside.

Gotta say though, to the lay person that doesn't know the name of any exotic woods, they may think you have  kept "samples" of  random foreigners you have ground up in your garage. Would also explain all the racket from the tools at odd hours. 🤠
Soylent Green!  It's People!

I wonder if the exposure to (more) light will affect the color?  

EDIT to add:  Using collected sawdust to freshen wood tone would be a great blog topic.  

--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

Nice way to keep your sawdust. I use pill bottles to keep my sawdust for filling cracks and voids. I must have 30 different kinds already..cheers, Jim 

Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day

I use anything that is available. Zip-locks, boxes, kitty litter bins, … and now recently, test tubes.

I filled these tubes with stuffs from zip-lock bags.

We can compare the color to the stuff still in bags kept in the dark. That would be interesting to see if the minimal light in my shop causes any color change. Everything is dated and some of the sawdusts are 3 years old now.

You are right, people might think these are the names of people I ground up and the date is when I had a meal. 😂 
That is so cool! Love it. Great idea. Thanks for sharing. 
i keep my sawdust in my dust collector ! am i missing something ? 🤔😁

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Costs a lot of money to work these woods. Seems like a shame to just dump the sawdust in the trash. Would be interesting to come up with a use for it. Personally, I use a coffee grinder to make very fine powder and scoop 1/2 tsp into a cup of acetone to leach the color into the solvent in a mason jar. Use a coffee filter to filter out the swarf. Add this pigment to your favorite oil. Store in glass mason jars with metal lids.

This “essence” can now be used not to stain other woods but to rejuvenate the very wood that it came from. If you notice the wood aging because, for example, the sunlight tracks a path via nearby window that causes a streak or dry spot on your furniture, you can fix it.

The “stain” is a 100% color match for the wood because it came from the same wood. It’s foolproof.

A lot of people like to talk about how they never stain wood, but that’s in the context of applying a color that did not originate from the material you are applying it to. Plus, you get this color for the mere cost of acetone, mason jars, and coffee filters.

That is, only if you mill your own wood.
I have another 14 test tubes, I should buy another rack and fill it with tubes full of acetone and mix up some tiny samples. I could then have a third rack where the samples have been filtered and prepared for use. I could then pick and choose a color for trans tinting wood (think guitar flame effects — adding color, sanding, coloring, sanding, etc, until you get a desired effect), but using wood colors instead of dyes
Bubinga tinted maple? Ebony tinted rosewood? Purple Heart tinted Holly? Who knows. It’s just a little fun

More projects