Smoking wood motherload

ksmyrl

I was on the lake fishing the other day when a thought occurred to me. A good friend, who also happens to be my boss and the dean of the college where I work, is a master woodworker. He makes furniture, bowls, and everything in between. He even made the custom standing desk (out of raw cherry) that I work from every day as a gift one year. So I called him right there from the boat and asked him about his scrap wood. He gets trees from all over the region when they fall to use in his craft. His exact words were "if you want oak, red oak, cherry, or hickory I have enough scrap that will last you a lifetime.

This morning he came by the office with a few samples and they are perfect. I'll be going by his place later this week to load the back of my truck with the best kind of smoking wood available...the free kind. If you know a wood worker, place that call. He is excited about not having to dispose of it himself.

Later...

flhxnick

I'm lucky also my brother in law is a tree guy.  He gives me oak maple cherry. Free is definitely great

rifrench

Nice! I am using my own white oak now, and will be adding hickory and cherry soon. We have @70 acres in mixed hardwoods, there is even some sassafras!

EggHead_Bubba

It pays to know a tree guy! I have one who provides me with everything I need. Oak, Hickory, Cherry and Apple. I have a decent sized stockpile but whenever I need to stock up I call him.

caliking

Lucky!

theyolksonyou

NPHuskerFL

Nice!

YukonRon

Thank you for the tip. I will check around.

Carolina Q

Where my mom lives, there are white oaks everywhere. Last summer, I visited and canvassed the neighborhood looking for deadfall. Came home with half a trunk load. Next trip, her neighbor took out a white oak so I brought some of that home too. I have a lot of white oak. And I love the stuff!

Red oak and maple in my yard, but I like the white better.

NPHuskerFL

Chainsaw in hand and waiting for neighbor to go to work  

Toxarch

Nice idea.
I just loaded up a trailer full of wood to send to the mulcher. Going to do another load on Thursday. My yard is full of live oaks, southern red oaks, hackberries (I hate them), cedar elm (dislike those), and everything is being overtaken by cedars. When loading the trailer, I cut up some of the live oaks for firewood. I rarely use the fireplace (Texas) but we do use it for pit smoking sometimes. I keep telling friends to come cut some free firewood on my place. They never do but then call up asking for it when it snows. But at that time, I'm not going out and helping them cut wood. I have access to post oak, mesquite and pecan. Can probably get some free peach if I ask around.

RickyBobby

I have acres full of hardwoods .... my problem is finding the fruit woods. I'm always coming up short when it comes to Apple, Peach, Cherry, etc.

flhxnick

is it worth making your own lump? since i have pretty much unlimited supply of oak and maple

Toxarch

flhxnick said:

is it worth making your own lump? since i have pretty much unlimited supply of oak and maple

It's not hard to do, but takes about 6 hours to burn a batch and then 24 hours to let it sit in the barrel to make sure it doesn't ignite when you open it. You just need a metal barrel and a hot fire to cook the barrel and make the lump inside the barrel. You can make good lump for cheap if you have the time.

flhxnick

@Toxarch thanks for the reply. I'm gonna try and make some and see how it comes out. Figure I do it on a weekend while doing yard work. 

Griffin

Nice score. I always bring wood back from the ranch, but its all mesquite. Damn thing is a weed in South Texas.

flhxnick

Griffin said:

Nice score. I always bring wood back from the ranch, but its all mesquite. Damn thing is a weed in South Texas.

Wish we had it up here in ny

Toxarch

You really don't want mesquite growing there. It grows everywhere and has huge thorns that can and will go through a tire. It's nice for a little flavor, but the flavor turns bitter if you use too much during a smoke. 

Look on YouTube. There's several videos of how to make lump. One guy just uses a metal trash can with a lid. Nice and simple.

Lit

If you guys have an academy by you I bought 1.5 cubic feet of Apple and peach. It was $30 a bag but considering how little you use in the egg you would probably be set for 10 years for $60.

johnkitchens

Nice score Kevin! 

flhxnick

@Toxarch didn't know it was that bad. We don't even have good bbq on long Island. It sucks here for good food

DieselkW

I have a good amount of grape growing in the wild part of my backyard, big around as my wrist. I slice off a couple feet with a handsaw, then slice that in to 2" chunks for smoking.