Saw dust instead of wood flour?

[Profezzur]

After doing a lot of searching in my part of Minnesota, I have found that wooden boat building is not a past time in the land of 10,000 lakes and wood flour is about as rare as a mosquito free summer.

I did break down and bought a couple pounds from Raka but was wondering if saw dust would work ok? I've been working on the free pontoon for a few weeks now and am at the point that filling in the seams would be nice to start but I don't want to wait for the wood flour to show.

This is my first build and I'm planning on a larger one over summer, I just want to get this into the water so am I safe to use saw dust or no?

Thanks!

[jem]

woodflour is nothing more than clean and filtered (to a maximum size) saw dust.

I used some mahogany saw dust from a local cabinet shop and it worked like a charm.

[zeb]

I used some mahogany saw dust from a local cabinet shop and it worked like a charm.

Me too,begged from a local cabinet shop,Ive heard of people using real flour too!!!!!!

[jem]

I've heard folks use cooking flour, talc, and other weird stuff.

cooking flour and talc will be heavier. Will it matter much in a paddle craft?

nope.

[tx river rat]

I am not as experienced as most guys on here but I have used the cooking flour and sawdust with good results. I like the look of the sawdust the best it is closer to the wood tones
Ron

[Profezzur]

Awesome, thank you very much for the replies, I wasn't expecting them so quickly!

[Jerry-rigged]

If by "saw Dust" you mean shavings from a table saw, or joiner, probably not. If it is dust from a sander, then yes.

When I need to color match a piece of wood, I will use dust from my sander. If I don't have any handy, 60 grit on my 5" RO will make about a 1/4c-1/3c in 15 minuits.

Be sure to "Sift" the dust with a bakery sifter to get the larger "bit" & UFO's out.

Also note, on the color match thing, the wood flower mix comes out much darker than the wood you got the dust from, so lighten it up with some baking flower.

Jerry