For some time I've been trying to work out what to do with my shavings. The pile under the lathe in the shed had built up to over a foot thick and I am producing a lot more than I can now use. Judging by the questions I get at shows there is a lot of interest. Recently I've started bagging the lathe shavings for bedding (a friend's chickens love them) and separately from the shave horse shavings which are great for fire-lighting.
So thanks to Matt and his oak shavings at the recent QECP show I have some hessian sandbags and will try to sell the shavings when I am demonstrating. Matt also pointed me in the direction of shavings for use on bbq's both for firelighting and also to provide 'wood smoke' flavour.
My experience with my friend's chickens is that they prefer my green (dustless) hardwood shavings to the commercial pine shavings, so they should be worth a premium. I'm going to start at £2 a bag, which appears to be around 1.5 to 2kg gross. I'm looking for a premium price as I only have a limited supply and I think the local hardwood should be worth more than the commercial pine shavings.
I've prepared 8 bags and we'll see how I get on at the Weald and Downland's rare breed show this weekend. I should have been doing all the urgent things on my list today, but I could resist trying to make some progress on another bowl, unfortunately I didn't quite finish it show I hope to get back to it on Monday when I get back from the show.
2 comments:
Sounds like a cheap price - the hessian bags alone must be worth that - how about onion/carrot nets, they come in pretty cheap if you can buy in reasonable quantities. I find a mixture of shave horse and wet pole lathe shavings make an excellent midge repellent when burnt slowly and smokily. You need to watch the wind direction though - I think I put off a couple of potential customers last week as the smoke was in the wrong direction.
Post a Comment