Wood Shavings
Cloverdale Fuel has been providing wood shavings to customers from Abbotsford to North Vancouver for almost 70 years. Our customers are varied and include: Construction companies, Landscapers, Equestrian Centers, Agricultural and Cattle farmers.
Uses of Wood Shavings
Wood shavings are used as mulch in gardening. Shavings conserve moisture, prevent weeds and grass and keep the plant roots cool when they are spread around plants and shrubs.
Other Uses Include:
• Animal Husbandry – chiefly as bedding material
• Mushroom Production
• Food Processing
• Building Products
• Environmental Protection
• Wood Flour Products
Wood shavings is the waste obtained when wood is shaped or planed using carpentry tools or machines like planers and milling machines. Wood shavings do not have a fixed size or shape. Generally they are flat thin curls that peel off the surface of wood when it is run through a planning machine or planer. They are soft and pile up well into huge heaps. Piles of wood shavings have a cushioning effect.
Shavings normally come from air-dried or kiln-dried wood. Shavings produced from machining dry wood of a particular species afford the best prospects for marketing waste material. Uniform particle sizes may be needed for some uses. For most uses only fresh material is acceptable. Shavings, when exposed to the weather conditions, deteriorate very rapidly and lose much of their value.
Wood shavings are a waste byproduct of wood used in construction work and furniture. This waste becomes a huge burden to dispose of. However since certain processes have been developed that use certain types of wood waste like shavings, thereby reducing the financial as well as environmental cost of wasting these materials. Wood shavings are chiefly used for pet bedding products. They provide for good bedding material for our pets and other domesticated animals as they are soft and make a good bed for these pets to rest or sleep on.
Cedar and pine wood shavings are generally available pet bedding products. However, there has been a lot of discussion over the safety aspects of these beddings among exotic pet owners. Cedar and pine shavings have become popular as pet bedding material because they have a pleasant aroma about them thus controlling bad odour. They also have some natural insecticidal properties as they tend to repel bugs. These softwood shavings smell nice because of the content of volatile compounds like aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols. However, these compounds have been considered a possible health risk, especially regarding respiratory problems.
Studies in the laboratory have shown fairly dramatic variations in liver enzymes on animals used to cedar bedding. This can actually affect the metabolism of drugs including anesthetics, but there is not sufficient information to draw conclusions of a direct link between these changes and clinical symptoms. The variations in liver enzymes may be challenging for research animals, but the influence on pets hasn’t really be studied.
The apprehensions over pet bedding safety have led to the availability of alternative bedding products in the market. Aspen wood shavings are a good option that is extensively available. There are a growing number of other litter or pellet type products in the market, which are suitable for use as bedding or in litter boxes.
