Russian Olive Wood

[shortrib]

I am currently in the process of cutting down all of the russian olive trees on my property,(30 down, 35 to go), and I got to thinking, can this be used for smoking? Has anyone ever tried it?

 

[richtee]

Good for black powder production...heh. It's a kinda fast grower tho... I'd be leery of it. Try it out. Light a chunk and sniff. Seriously, it's to the point I can tell usually if it's a good wood.

 

[walking dude]

does it produce fruit?

most fruit bearing trees are good to smoke with.........

 

[mulepackin]

I can't imagine that that stuff is good for anything. How many scratches and puncture wounds have you received so far? WD, if thorns are considered a fruit, then yeah they are very prolific. Shortrib, where are you at over there?

 

[lcruzen]

Seems like a soft stringy wood that would not be conducive to smoking meats though I've not tried it. Mine go in the bonfire pit.

 

[walking dude]

hmmmmmmm.........i wonder why its called olive wood then?

 

[richtee]

It don't fruit. It does thorn a bit tho. Looks more like a willow than anything else.

 

[desertlites]

does basswood produce bass?

 

[richtee]

LOL... Jack pines?

 

[shortrib]

Thanks guys, I will light up a piece of wood to see if it smells any good, maybe try smoking a hamburger to see if it will work.

Mule Packin wrote:
I lost track of the puncture wounds and scratches after the first day of cutting. Also found out I needed a thicker pair of leather gloves.
I need to get my irrigation ditch's cleaned out, and these things grow like weeds in the ditch. The guy that owned the property before me did no maintanence what-so-ever. I have picked up a truck load of old wooden fence posts so far and I still have the south 1/3 of the property to get cleaned up. I just spent the last three weekends with a trail cutter knocking down the shoulder high grasses. Weeknights I go and spend a couple of hours cutting trees. I will concentrate on cleaning the north 2/3 of the property, before I start in on the last part. Loan got approved now I can get my house and pole barn up, and get the well drilled and sewer put in.

I am eight miles north of Hardin, just 1/2 mile off the Bighorn River.

Later

 

[richtee]

Weird... never had any fruit on the ones we had. Gum and resin? Dunno about smoking with that then eh.

 

[tasunkawitko]

has anyone managed to try this yet? results?

we've got quite a lot of it here, and it produces a shriveled, brown thing that i suppose is technically a fruit.

 

[drlouis]

Russian Olives produce an inedible "fruit". it's a small, berry-like fruit, about the size of a raisin, and roughly the same color as the leaves. the inside contains a [relatively] large seed, and a pulp that reminds me of mashed potatoes.

I dont know if the wood would be any good for smoking or not. never burned any.

Edit: picture - worth 1k words. clicky

 

[tasunkawitko]

drlouis - i'm probably one of the few people who thinks of the russian olive as a nice-looking tree, although i will admit they can be a major PITA when it comes to landscaping.

i might try this sometime this summer - if so, will report on results.

 

[Bluelinesmokeshaq]

My wife makes me prune ours. Cant cut it down cause it smells purdy

 

[clifish]

that's got to be a record...over a 10 year old resurrected thread.

 

[archeryrob]

Funny, this grows wild around me and I have made arrows from it and like it and the wood is fairly hard. I have made chicken perches and swings from it.

I use an all wood fire, not wood on charcoal so it would be a lot of work for me to bother with, unless I wanted rocket stove fuel.