Grinder bucket disposal

F

FunkCoaster

Joined
Nov 2, 2010
Messages
172
The bucket under my grinder is getting gross with dust from steel, micarta, copper, and everything else. I assume some of the dust is sufficiently toxic that I don't want to dump it on the lawn, especially in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Recommendations to deal with the mess? My current plan is to do a cotton shirt filter and throw the solids in the trash, dump the water down the drain, chase it with a lot of water.
 
It isn't toxic - it is just steel and metal dust. If it was toxic, you would already be dead ( along with a couple thousand other knifemakers). Pour it in the backyard under a bush. If you worry about it, pour it out on an old towel, and after the water drain away and the crud pile dries, stick it in the trash.
 
im not sure how many times i have fully dumped my bucker in the last 10 years maybe 4 times i havea bucket for wood and other handle stuff and one wet bucket for metal when the steel and Ti grindings stack up i scoop out the bucket trash and then refill with more water to top off the bucket
 
I'm not so sure it's healthy for plants. A lot of steel dust somehow ended up outside my shop, it rusted, and then all the grass, moss, etc. died.
 
David Stifle said:
I'm not so sure it's healthy for plants. A lot of steel dust somehow ended up outside my shop, it rusted, and then all the grass, moss, etc. died.
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Oh sweet. I'm going to set my dust collector up to spray it on my lawn then. I hate mowing.
 
I take my drill shavings and clumped dust from the bucket to the recycle center where I take my trash and put it in the bin for metal.
 
Kevin McGovern - I'm in Columbia, not too far from you. Definitely hit me up if you want to do a get together.

I have an estimated 2 pounds of metal shavings, and 1/4 acre to spread it around. Plus, my dog is dumb enough that she'll eat it and 'relocate it' back inside.

As to toxicity, there are lots of low-impact things like dish soap, dykem, baking soda, etc that I don't want to run into the pond 50 feet away. Plus the drill shavings and such that ruin a barefoot walk when a weedwhack spreads them around.

Not confrontational, but the way I meant "toxic" was not that it kills a knifemaker by proximity. I was thinking of things in the family of batteries, quench oil, alkaline/acidic compounds that are toxic to the environment around a potential dumping spot.
 
FunkCoaster said:
Kevin McGovern - I'm in Columbia, not too far from you. Definitely hit me up if you want to do a get together.

I have an estimated 2 pounds of metal shavings, and 1/4 acre to spread it around. Plus, my dog is dumb enough that she'll eat it and 'relocate it' back inside.

As to toxicity, there are lots of low-impact things like dish soap, dykem, baking soda, etc that I don't want to run into the pond 50 feet away. Plus the drill shavings and such that ruin a barefoot walk when a weedwhack spreads them around.

Not confrontational, but the way I meant "toxic" was not that it kills a knifemaker by proximity. I was thinking of things in the family of batteries, quench oil, alkaline/acidic compounds that are toxic to the environment around a potential dumping spot.
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Will do. If you ever need anything, let me know. I do my own HT if you ever need anything run along with my batch.
 
If it was just carbon steels and wood, i wouldn't stress dumping it in yard. Add in chromium containing steels, copper, brass, bronze, micarta, g10, stablized woods, layout dye, belts and all the other goodies we grind into our buckets and i sure wouldn't want it im my soil. Whole lot of heavy metals, chems and petroleum products in our buckets by the time we fill em up.

Most municipalities have free hazmat drop off these days though. which is what i do. Drive it up, tell em what's in it and away it goes for proper disposal.
 
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