I have made both fine sawdust pots, well one small pot and another from cedar shavings from my planer.
Both look cool but I don't expect them to last if I plant them. The sawdust will start to decompose and lose it's bond to the cement.

I haven't used sawdust, just wanted to add a thought/question here. We use peat in our mixes so that it will break down and leave the tufa with crevasses, nooks and crannies. If you use peat with sawdust, won't they both break down? What will you have left that will hold any kind of shape?

You could make some fine looking bowls though, and sawdust has potential for things like masks.
I scrapped up enough fine cedar sawdust to make a small 5 inch bowl using sawdust and white Portland, Acrylic admix.
I let it cure and then scubbed it with a brass brush and vinegar. This fuzzed up the surface but brought out the cedar.
Then I burnished it with a chunk of metal getting the surface smooth and shiny, then applied a few coats of concrete sealer.
It had a beautiful shiny hard white with wood fleck finish. I suppose I could have used a Briwax to finish it and it would have looked better.

I will return to wood sawdust this winter and try to make a large mask. I want to see how a really fine sawdust carves.

But I doubt a planted trough would last very long but I have no proof that it wouldn't.:)

This is OT but you can do some cool stuff with sawdusts of several colors and ordinary wood glue. I've made decorative moldings this way.
Mix it up in a thick paste and it can be molded, sanded and finished. It can look quite nice.
You could make a bowl or pot from TiteBond 3 and sawdust and it might even defy water and rot.

Thanks for the feedback. I had the same thoughts about using both sawdust and peat moss...might deteriorate pretty fast. I just might try the wood glue and sawdust suggestion over the winter too. Might as well use the sawdust for something!

the whole reason, the whole meaning, of HYPERTUFA is to use at least 1/3 peatmoss so that when it DECOMPOSES it leaves holes and crevices to resemble TUFA, which is a natural rock with crevices and holes. My assumption would be that using about 1/3 sawdust would eventually create a similar texture when it DECOMPOSES, as it is meant to do. That is why Hypertufa was invented in the first place.

So sawdust could be used INSTEAD of peat? I've got lots of sawdust too, would be great to use it up that way.

I used saw dust last year. It does make a nice smooth surface, but I found it slowed the cure rate quite a bit and I was not to happy with this. I am way to excited about unmolding! If you use sawdust, be sure not to use any chemically processed woods, like partical board and treated stuff.
Jo

I've got to think like BB on this one -- the whole theory is that the peat moss weathers out of the mix, so sawdust should do the same thing. I thought the point of using the crete, peat moss, perlite mixture was so that the stuff would weather out and leave holes and pits so that the finished product would eventually look like aged limestone..."instant antiques" without the decades of waiting...

Thanks, Club 53, that is exactly what I was trying to say, but maybe you got it "to the point" better than I did. Perlite and vermiculite make the mix lighter, and these do NOT weather out, but sawdust and peat moss will rot out and leave the texture. Hope whoever wants to use sawdust understands.

I spent $20 for a small sandblasting attachment for my compressor and you can blast the soft perlite and vermiculite out of the surface for instant age.
You can also wire brush it out of cured tufa with great results.:)

TE, that's a neat idea, sand blasting. Does it use sand, with a compressor? Who sells that?

I bought mine from Princess Auto, their own brand for $20CDN.
They don't do an online catalog.
But it is almost identical to this one.
For my purpose it works well but there are lots better sandblasting tools than this one.
You should see what it does to uncured concrete.:)

Here is a link that might be useful: Small sand blaster

Tufameister, I think that your cure rate and heaviness of your sawdust piece is because the sawdust absorbed alot of moisture. If you work with sawdust again, don't add the peatmoss and don't use vermiculite. These products absorb alot and the more water you have in your mix, the slower the cure. When your piece is fully cured and dry, it will be very light.

Tufaenough, we would love to see the results. I have never seen anyone take perlite and vermiculite out of the surface of tufa. Please get yourself a camera. You can get them cheap on ebay. Don't need anything fancy. You can then get on webshots and put all your work on there for us to see. Right now you are just a tease!

Jo

If I'm a tease then Rick must be driving you crazy.:)

I have posted several pictures here.
Posting pictures in this group has not bee a positive experience for me. You wouldn't believe some of the negative emails I have recieved.
I was actually told in one that 'this is a TUFA group not a 'colored concrete' group and I should find a more appropriate group for my concrete 'Christmas Ornaments'.
If you are part of the 'in crowd' you can post a picture of a pot and saucer that a first grader might do and people line up to rave about it.
But a life like full sized papercrete statue by an outsider goes virtually unnoticed and received little praise.
There are great works in the gallery right now that have been almost completely ignored.

My point is that posting pictures here is strictly a vanity endeavor because the comments the work will recieve has little bearing on it's quality. If you enjoy that then by all means post away.
I'm far more interested in honest appraisals so I send pictures of my work via email to people I trust to do that.:)

Gottatufa, thanks for the suggestion of not using peat moss or vermiculite along with sawdust. I do understand that the sawdust will decompose and I do like the "instant antique" look when it does. I think I will try another one without peat moss. I used mostly fine pine sawdust and the tufa has a sort of pale yellow tint to it. I'm not sure what it will look like when it's completely cured, but by using different types of sawdust it may be possible to add color variations to tufa (walnut for darker color, cherry for a redder tint, etc.) With the fine sawdust the finish was very smooth and with the slower cure rate I think would lend itself quite well to carving.

Tufaenough, I'm sorry to hear about negative feedback from pictures. Everything I see on this forum is a great inspiration to me. It's wonderful that we can learn so much from people like you and I would hate to see that change. Please keep the great ideas coming!! If it wasn't for the experiences of others we would make a lot more mistakes ourselves trying to figure things out.

Hi tufameister
The group used to be very political but it is improving every day as more new people like yourself join and participate.
It's a great place to learn pretty quickly what you can't do.
But there are million opinions on the right way to do almost anything Tufa.
That's what makes it such a great hobby.:)

TE, I don't think anyone here feels like they know the RIGHT way of doing anything. We are all experimenters, just open your mind and go with the flow. RELAX The only thing that never changes is the laws of physics. The cure is the driving force.
Jo

Hi gottatufa.
I agree.
I don't think there is a 'right' way to do tufa or decorative concrete.
But there are a few basic WRONGS and this group is a great place to learn about the whys and wherefores of those so everyone can have a good Tufa experience.

Too much water is a wrong.
Allowing your tufa to dry out immediately is a wrong.

These aren't intuitive 'wrongs' either.
It's not always easy to convince newbies of these two 'wrongs' that can turn making tufa into a miserable experience.

But as far as the 'right' way to do tufa, there are as many of these as there are people.
I for one never tire of hearing new opinions on how to do tufa. That's how the hobby moves forward.
Every time I go to my Crete supplier there seems to be new products for making better and stronger concrete.
I can't try them all so I love to hear the experiences other folks have with stuff they bring home.:)

Hi, Tufers.
I have just joined the GardenWeb Forum today. Have been reading and researching. I was excited to find these postings on using sawdust as an ingredient for hypertufa. I also have lots of sawdust (cedar) and wood love to find a way to use it up in a hypertufa recipe.
The following recipes are the only ones I could find. Does anyone have any suggestions?
First recipe is....1: cement, 1: vermiculite, and 2: sawdust (or wood shavings).
Second recipe is.....1: cement; 1: sawdust, and 2: peat moss.

Hi Tufaenough! I'm a relatively new GW member, so I'm not sure how to access photos. Where did you post them, on GW or on your personal page? When I tried to follow the link to your Yahoo group I got an error message that it doesn't exist.

thanks,

Nancy

I am glad to hear that BB and others are going for the worn limestone look, and that sawdust is good for getting those results. I got to see Florida March 2012, and people had limestone pock-marked real tufa surrounding beds, with anchors, etc as focal points in the middle, and was hoping maybe some equasion of sawdust, peat mo0ss, sand, cement, pearlite and water cold form a tufa-looking rock, well, rocks, to surround a bed of tropical annuals, or bulbs, or interesting focal point of some sort. The best part being they don 't need to be load bearing, just sit and look pretty.