The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1908-02-20
Uses and Dangers Of SaWdust.
(Selected.)

Everything is OF some use,
grandfather's always saying Wal
ter told himself as he swept away
pile of sawdust from the kitchen
door at his mothers request one fine
summer morning, "but | guess he
forgot sawdust. It's no account, Pm
suren
"Well, you needn't be, my boy"
said Uncle Tom, For sawdust can
be used in a great many ways, and is
no longer wasted, thrown aside, as
it once was. Do you know ] saw
bricks made of it the other day? 1t
was mixed with tar, strong pressure
applied, and there were piles of firm
smooth bricks, ready for use. Coal
tar and sawdust, mixed and pressed,
make good feul, and when you ap-
ply the highest degree of pressure
to bricks of clay and sawdust, you
can build house of them. You need
not put on laths, for these bricks will
take the plaster without them.
"In fine house | saw going up the
other day they were filling walls and
floors with sawdust to deaden sound,
and they were making mortar of
sawdust instead of sand. At the big
fish market on Broad Street l MOTTO
ed large quantities of sawdust in
which the fish had been packed for
shipping, and ice is kept in it, as you
know already.
Your Uncle Robert makes wood
alcohol with sawdust, he told me,
and many chemicals for his expert
ments. There is one kind of saw
dust that is ground to a pulp and
made into paper---a very substantial,
useful sort of paper, too.
There is brand of gunpowder--
| can t recall its label now---that is
made from sawdust. So you see,
this stuff you think so worthless is
OF good deal of account, after all"
But meant when it had been US
ed for packing bottles, like this, ;"
said Walter. "There's no use in
keeping it now, is there, uncle?"
at might be dangerous to keep
in some places. 1t might set the
house on fire, if you should put it in
the cellar, for instance, where those
cans of linseed oil and varnish are.
The smallest greasy rag, or a spoon
full of oil, would bring about before
night, perhaps, that rapid oxidation
known as spontaneous combustion,
and there would be hard work to
save this pretty cottage---if it were
saved at all.
'SaWmill fires are common be-
cause the oil from the machinery
gets into the sawdust. IcehOuses
burn down very often because the
saWdust in which the ice is covered
has received grease in some way and
slow combustion starts. Fires that
do world of damage have been
kindled from clean sawdust and a
fresh cigar stub. Sometimes the
tiniest spark, or single match, will
! fire the box of sawdust in the cellar
and set the whole house ablaze.
! 1T is dangerous thing to do
this filling wooden spittoons in vii
liage stores and hotels with sawdust;
to sprinkle it over spots of grease
and paint in big wholesale stores.
Why, there is no incendiary we should
dread more. We simply plan the
heat explosion that follows, our
selves. There are many bottles con-
tanning chemicals packed for ship
ping in sawdust. Sand should be U.s.
ed instead. 1t can receive the drip.
pings of oil, if there should be any,
and no harm will be done. Take no
risk on saWdust."
Walter was very thoughtful a mo-
ment, and then he went flying to the
coal cellar under the pretty, new
cottage his father had bought hard
ly month before, and carried out
in hurry two cans of paint and oil
close to pile of clean, dry sawdust.
What if Uncle Tom hadn't told
me about it," he said. ooh, there's
such a lot to learn in the Worldio