New to here been smoking meat in Sydney Australia and have a queation.

[jas]

Have just been offered a truckload of Oregon and told it is one of the hardest softwoods.
I have read that soft wood is not recomended could it be useable to smoke meat?

I expect my set up is nowhere near as advanced as most of you.
Generally the meat is only on for about 2 hours, comes out real smokey and nice.
I have a 44 gallon drum cut in half.
Bottom half has a door and the fire in it.
Top Half of the drum is upside down and placed on top.
Inside the top half there are 3 holes to let the smoke through.
There is a hot plate to dispurse the heat and grills to put your meat.
Also have a temprature gauge plus a lid off an old webber type BBQ.
Mates call it the darlec smoker as it looks a little like a darlec out of doctor who...
will add photos.
Thanks.

 

[fireguy]

Never heard of that wood... welcome though.... good luck

 

[kookie]

Welcome aboard........Cool looking smoker........Never heard of the wood though........

 

[bb53chevpro]

Welcome to the forum. I have never heard of the wood either.
Andy.

 

[aussiemick]

G'day Jas. What part of Sydney you live in? I lived in greystanes for 19 years. Welcome aboard

 

[sumosmoke]

Welcome to the SMF family, Jas. That's a unique looking rig you've got yourself, I'm sure it does the job mighty well!!

What type of wood are you looking to purchase? Oregon wood? I did a search on that type of wood and nothing turned up.

 

[navionjim]

This must be some different kind of Auzi terminology. I'm from Oregon and most of the commercially cut wood is Douglas Fir. You definitely don't want to smoke with that. But there is also a lot of undergrowth Alder too. If you can determine that it is Alder, then it's good stuff. Welcome to the fold.
Jimbo

 

[desertlites]

welcome to SMF,cool smoker you built there-I also searched and could'nt find the wood your refering too. trees that bare needles are soft woods(not good for smoking) trees that bare leaves are hardwood-some are good for smoking some not.there's a thread in here somwhere that lists good woods for smoking.

 

[teeotee]

Don't think Jas wants to be using that wood for smoking with. Found this on an aussie website.


Oregon (or douglas fir) has long been recognised throughout Canada and the United States as one of the strongest softwoods on the market. It has a reputation as an excellent all purpose wood of great dependability and appearance.

http://justwoodaustralia.com.au/

That is a pretty cool smoker you have there tho !!

Wow haven't heard a dalek reference for a while. - exterminate, exterminate :-).

 

[desertlites]

good job teeotee-I was figureing it was douglas fir-ya he don't want to be smoking with that!

 

[teeotee]

I spend most of my work day sitting at a computer. It's a good distraction to have something else to do other than my current project - data entry into our new database yawwwwwnnnnnn !!!

 

[travcoman45]

JAS: Welcome aboard, glad to have ya! You don't wan't to use any kind of softwood for smokin. Not even real good for the fireplace. The problem with softwoods is it tends to create cresote, ya know like the stuff on railroad ties? You will enjoy your smokes much more using hardwoods such as oak, apple is nice to.

Your load of oregon would be alright for a campfire if your so inclined.

Good luck.

 

[jas]

The wood that was offered to me called Oregon is what you guys call Douglas Fir (as noted by teeotee).
I asked the guy if it was also known as Douglas Fir and he though it was not.
So I suused it out further.
"Oregon or Douglas fir, is native to eastern America, from Mexico to British Columbia. There, it is one of the most important commercial softwoods. On this side of the world, it is grown in plantations in western Victoria and New Zealand (in limited quantities)." http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/good_wood/oz_pln.htm

Bottom line it's not good for use in the smoker...
So not too pleased about that as had already accepted the truck load.
May give it one try and see how bad it is.

In a month or so I plan on going to Ottowa, Canada and will drive to Chicago, what are my chances of tucking into some quality smoked tucker allong that 12-14 hour road trip?

Thanks again to all for replies and welcomes.

*To AussieMick of Greystains I live about 10 mins away from Maroubra beach.

 

[richtee]

Don't even try the wood, Jas..you'll ruin the meat. Campfires it will perform admirably on tho.

Fruitwoods and hardwoods...altho you guys got some weird wood down there... Kookaburra in the gum drop tree?

 

[pacnwsteve]

folks have it right here. Doug fir good for campfires, bad for smoking. Good luck.

 

[aussiemick]

I miss the beaches and salt water.I used to snorkel round maroubra