Using sawdust as ground cover?

[mobilman44]

For those of us playing with trains prior to the '60s, dyed sawdust was almost the norm in ground cover applications.  Scale was a consideration, but anyone that messes with wood knows sawdust can vary from "dust" to 3/8 inch pieces or larger - depending on the saw and material.

I still have a few coffee cans of the stuff, but it just doesn't beat what is now available.  

[marksrailroad]

I've used a little sawdust here and there on my layout but very sparingly. The dust I used came from my band saw and is very fine almost like a powder. I used it in my cow and horse pens as well as my saw mill. I do however remember when people would dye it and use it for ground cover on their layouts back in the 1960s and 70s.

[cowman]

When I started modeling, I used Rit dyes to color my sawdust.  Various shades of green or if you are doing fall, yellows and oranges.  It used to be abailable in grocery stores.  You might have to go to a craft shop now.

Not really hard to do, but as mentioned above, with all the ground cover material available today, it is more work.  Also, if you are looking for a consistant texture you need to screen it.

Good luck,

Richard

[gregc]

i don't think it would scale well.    things tend to be larger than they should be when modeled.

even if there were large 1" curls resulting from some industrial tool, they would need to be 1/87" on the layout. 

[rrinker]

 There was a time that was the go-to material. I remember having bags of sawdust and then buying some clothing dye at the grocery store and dying batches of it in various green shades in the laundry sink, then spreading it out on newspaper for DAYS to dry. My Mom wasn't too happy, but I really didn't make a mess except a bit on the basement floor where the liquid soaked through the newspapers I was drying it on. I think i used it on both an N scale and HO scale layout, and the results were less than impressive, at least compared to what I was seeing in the model magazines at the time (I'm pretty sure ground foam was available by this time, though not in the varieties we have today - I was working from 50's era books). The next layout after those was the last N scale layout I built, and last layout I built before HS and college, and on that one I did use ground foam ground cover and I was MUCH happier with the results.

                                    --Randy

 

[DigitalGriffin]

Thanks bear,

I saw the threads where people mix paint with sawdust.

I was wondering how it looked in the raw with no coloring as a saw mill ground cover.  Or if there is a better material.

["JaBear"]

With the advent of all the commercially available scenicing materials, I would suggest that the use of sawdust is now regarded as “old hat” and no longer worth the trouble preparing it for use as groundcover.

 

But if you have a ready free supply and are prepared to make the effort, then you do have another available “texture”.

 

Google “model railroad sawdust” and you will find some information / tutorials that could be useful to you.

 

Cheers, the Bear.

[DigitalGriffin]

I was wondering if anyone used sawdust as sawdust for ground cover?  I thought it would make logical sense around a planing mill.