What to do with wood chips?

[meipo]

I remember once seeing a thread here about what to do with the many wood chips we constantly produce.

One new use I found is to use them for saving and over wintering plant bulbs. I just went to a plant swap. The wood chips kept my snowdrops, daffodils and star flowers really well. The recipients were very happy. They wondered where I found so many wood chips for this. Sometimes people use saw dust, but they can get mushy and messy. Wood chips are much easier to handle and won't be as dusty.

What other uses do you have for your wood chips?

meipo

[Thomp]

i keep my 3 year old grandson busy,,, he's filling a water bottle here,,,

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

I dump mine in the compost pile.

[Irish]

Grin ...

Get two very round plastic soup bowls - one large and one medium in diameter.

Make a thinned mixture of wood glue and water - about 1/4 water to 3/4 glue.

Mix the wood chips with the glue mix.

Put some glue wet chips into the large bowl. Pack them about 1/2 inch thick around the sides of the bowl.

Take the small bowl and squish it down into the large bowl to press the chip layer together.

Let that set up long enough that you can pop it out of the large bowl.

Let it dry.

Get an EBay account.

Sell them as bird nests for crafters at rediculous prices ...

Oh ... you can make really small ones too that are perfect for little bird nests for the Christmas tree.

Susan

[Sharon of the Dell]

I usually put them in my compost bins with the coffee grounds and kitchen scraps, then they go into my potting soil or go around my plants. Also put them in paper bags in the winter to help get a fire going inthe wood stove or summer to get the barbecue going.

[Just Carving]

I give mine to my brother for kindling for his wood burning stove. Or I just toss it in the compost pile.

Susan, you gave me an idea--wood chip frisbees!!

[Thor]

I wrap mine up in a rolled up newspaper and keep them in a box near the woodstove to use as kindling. They light easily and get the fire going for bigger pieces of kindling.
Thor

[meipo]

Just another thought:

When you are stripping furniture, to prevent the gooey stuff from sticking onto each other and other things, you can sprinkle small wood chips onto the stripping compound before scrapping it off. For very fine detail parts, saw dust will work better.

I like Susan's idea of making birds nests and make a lot of money on eBay. With that money, we can get more wood and make more chips and then make more nests and make more money on eBay . . . I wonder if Susan has developed patterns for different kinds of birds nests? : )

meipo

[dart]

I like Susan's idea. I have my wood chips in plastic bags hanging from the ceiling in my celler. I will try Susan's idea with them. I don't like to toss them out. Seems like such a waste.