Cutting your own smoke wood

[mcokevin]

Hey all,

Quick question here for those of you that find and cut your own wood for smoking. My dad has cut down a couple of fruit trees at his house (one pear, one peach) and is saving the wood to use in my WSM.

I assume we're good to just throw it on once dry but wanted to double check I'm not missing any glaringly obvious steps that would result in either unsafe smoking or generally poor flavor.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gmc2003]

Nope no issues that I'm aware of. My neighbor has a few apple trees and when he trims he drops the branches off in my front yard for me.

Chris

 

[SonnyE]

I have a Son-In-Law in Washington State that cuts his own smoker wood. They use Alder from their 5 Acres in a Little Chief smoker to do salmon. And it was great!
But fruit woods are supposed to be great, too.

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please remove

 

[browneyesvictim]

My chipper just makes chips: too small for my mini. After I cut branches down to manageable size I then cut them up into hockey puck sizes with my band saw or chop saw. My little mini band saw has a narrower blade so that is what I mostly do, then the chunks are thrown into 5 gallon buckets (uncovered) to season. If you put the lid on or otherwise seal the bucket, the wood will mold. The pucks are easily further broken down to the desired size with a hatchet. I like golf-ball size chunks in my WSM mini.

 

[motocrash]

I have purged my 40v Ryobi of regular chain lubricant and replaced it with mineral oil from cvs.I lay down a tarp where I'm processing to contain the sawdust for easy collection.I make chunks so I cut it about 4" then split with a hatchet to about 1.5".I then put it in a milk crate over a vent and rotate once a week until satisfactorily dried.Oh-this was apple

 

[phathead69]

I cut my own hickory and got a pretty lage apple summer before last after a storm from my neighbor. One thing I found is while 70% is cut 12 to 14 inch long and split. The other 30% is cut 6 to 10 inch long. This gives me some options when adding to the fire.

 

[mcokevin]

Thanks all - much appreciated!

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please remove

 

[SonnyE]

My MES 30 also double as a kiln. When I chip up a batch of wood it gets put into aluminum pans and heated at 225* for a couple hours, stir and a couple more hours and see how they are doing. If still wet another couple hours. If pretty dry they a turned out onto clean garage floor to cool with a fan blowing over them. Pick out the big pieces of bark then into empty kitty litter buckets.

Smoked wood for your smoker....
Now that is concentrating your smoking addiction...

(It makes sense to me, my smoker is solar powered.)

 

[wbf610]

Someone mentioned using mineral oil instead of bar oil in the chain saw. If I get wood that was cut by someone else, I trim the ends with the chop saw, season, then cut to size with the chop saw as well.

If I can, I get pieces cut just long enough to fit in the truck bed, to minimize that amount of trimming needed, and thereby waste.

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please remove

 

[motocrash]

Mineral oil...Tarp...Sawdust...AMNPS

 

[Rings Я Us]

You know what? Your not a professional smoker with a stick burner or custom rig that has to impress anyone..
I would just go to the hardware store and buy an 8 lb bag of Apple, hickory, cherry and pecan wood chunks on sale for $5.00 and not worry about searching for, cutting, drying or storing any wood from anywhere..

Get a few bags of chunks and keep them in a shed or garage and it will make your life, and your families lives much more free of chores and bother.

Just my .03¢

Lol. Have fun!

 

[mcokevin]

You know what? Your not a professional smoker with a stick burner or custom rig that has to impress anyone..
I would just go to the hardware store and buy an 8 lb bag of Apple, hickory, cherry and pecan wood chunks on sale for $5.00 and not worry about searching for, cutting, drying or storing any wood from anywhere..

Get a few bags of chunks and keep them in a shed or garage and it will make your life, and your families lives much more free of chores and bother.

Just my .03¢

Lol. Have fun!

That's what I do normally. My dad literally had a pear tree and a peach tree he was getting rid of. Told him to keep the wood.

I'm not trying to be a hero, just taking advantage of free wood.

 

[Rings Я Us]

You will use one or two branches a year.

 

[Rings Я Us]

It's more work than its worth. But I guess it's good exercise.

 

[bluewhisper]

This is one thing I like about burning sticks, you can scavenge wood like this. I cut with a 30-inch bow saw.

A few years ago I grabbed some maple; whoever cut it had their chain saw oiler open so much that the cuts were painted blue with oil. I cut them off and split the rest.

 

[wbf610]

Honestly unless you are using a chain saw w/ regular petroleum based bar oil and using it to cut wafers I wouldn't worry about it. A 18" long section of wood 6" in diameter once split down or chipped for smoker duty would only have a negligible amount of bar oil. Honestly I'd worry more about the pesticides in the wood if it came from commercial orchard. If you ever used pre packed chips, wood chunks, saw dust and/or pellets I'd bet they buy their bulk fruit wood from old orchards.

Trimming ends won’t waste that much.
I live next to a 300 acre apple orchard. I wouldn’t take any wood from them. They spray several times a year. No thanks. A friend and coworker casually mentioned that he needed to cut a few apple trees down on his property. I asked what he was doing with it, he said burning it as he cut it. I asked him to save me pieces up to 6” round, no more than 4’ long. He did, and I have it seasoning now, should be ready this spring. He has four more to take down, I told him I’d help if I can load my truck up with similar sized pieces, he graciously accepted. We are taking it down with a chain saw, then going to use a bow saw to cut my pieces up, then finish with the saw. I know it’s not that much money to buy the chunks, but it’s free, should be good wood, and I get out of the house for the day. I’ll have all the Apple I need for a few years. I might do a stick burn once just to see if there is any difference in the end result. Oh, he’s thinning out some maple, cherry, and hickory as well, and said I’m welcome to all of it if I want. I’ll be set for years!!

You know what? Your not a professional smoker with a stick burner or custom rig that has to impress anyone..
I would just go to the hardware store and buy an 8 lb bag of Apple, hickory, cherry and pecan wood chunks on sale for $5.00 and not worry about searching for, cutting, drying or storing any wood from anywhere..

Get a few bags of chunks and keep them in a shed or garage and it will make your life, and your families lives much more free of chores and bother.

Just my .03¢

Lol. Have fun!

I agree with you, but why pass up free wood if you can get it?

 

[Rings Я Us]

Cutting wood for 5 minutes is not free. It's labor intensive and I would rather watch cars go by on my porch than gather or chop wood. Worth $6 to not bother thinking about wood chopping.. lol