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Found in a recent bag of Royal Oak

Shiff
Shiff Posts: 1,835
edited May 2012 in EggHead Forum
I was dumping in some Royal Oak charcoal last night and found this railroad tie nail.  Doesn't look like it has been used (not banged on the top) but it made me wonder what kind of wood they are using.image
Large BGE
Barry, Lancaster, PA

Comments

  • gtk10583
    gtk10583 Posts: 77
    Obviously using wood heavily soaked in creosote.
  • Wow. That is the weirdest one yet.
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    If it doesn't look like the nail has been used, then it probably didn't come out of an old railroad tie.
    The Naked Whiz
  • jjmills
    jjmills Posts: 117
    So you paid $6-8 for 1.8 pounds of steel and 7 pounds of coal. 
     LG. BGE  Straight up Cheese head from Little Chute, WI
  • MikeP624
    MikeP624 Posts: 292

    Can you email or call the company about this and get a free bag?  If you even want it. 

    I understand the occassional piece of rock, but a railroad spike is ridiculous.

  • Shiff
    Shiff Posts: 1,835
    If it doesn't look like the nail has been used, then it probably didn't come out of an old railroad tie.
    I agree that this nail hadn't been used, but how did it get into the bag of charcoal?  I am going to try and contact the company.
    Large BGE
    Barry, Lancaster, PA
  • cortguitarman
    cortguitarman Posts: 2,061
    Did you burn through all of your Humphrey? I've found one rock so far in the Humphrey.
    Mark Annville, PA
  • Shiff
    Shiff Posts: 1,835
    I'm trying to finish up my last Royal Oak and Wicked Good before I switch to the Humphrey. We've been away and haven't had as much time to cook as I'd like.
    Large BGE
    Barry, Lancaster, PA
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited May 2012
    would think some of the stuff is from metal found along a tree line.  almost like the thing was driven into a tree as a hinge on a gate or something.

    hard to say whether they source their wood from 'virgin' areas, or if they also use wood from farms and yards (tree cutting)

    rocks can get incorporated into stumps, but i'm thinking the rocks we find are from the lump being dozed across a yard and dumped in piles on the ground.

    i might mention it to them in an email as sort of a "hey Royal Oak, you'll never guess what I found..." rather than "I demand a free bag you sunsab!tchin rip off artists!"  gotta think it's of course an accident.

    there was a guy who swore he'd demand a free bag of Brand-X lump once his pile of rocks hit 20 pounds, but i shudder to think how much this stuff would cost if we had to pay someone to check each piece of jet-black material as it went into the back, to verify it was lump. 

    and, to beat a dead horse, out of curiosity, i weighed a bag in which i'd found a decent sized rock. it was a 22 pound bag sold as 20 pounds.  hard to **** about being sold a rock when the bag was overfilled to begin with
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    I would guess that a significant portion of RO's source wood is slabs from lumber mills.  That was certainly true at Streumph's operation in Missouri.

    Regardless, I'll bet that if RO responds, it will be a well-worded and polite version of "how the heck do we know?  We don't do it deliberately."  I wrote Cowboy (it took 3 emails) about a piece of plywood I found in their lump back when it was the scraps from millwork and their reply was essentially "we try hard to ensure this doesn't happen, but sometimes it does".  I'm thinking if RO knew how it got there, it wouldn't have been there to begin with. 
    The Naked Whiz
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    my inclination is to excuse it as a normal part of a rough and tumble operation.
    i emailed them once about some severely sparking Argentinian lump, and although they replied, now that you mention it, their attitude was sort of just a verbal '>shrug< more than anything.

    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • MikeP624
    MikeP624 Posts: 292

    Not sure how the process works, but it seems to me that metal scraps could easily be taken out with a large magnet.

    I envision at some point the wood riding down a conveyor belt where the could be a large magnet that picks out unwanted metal pieces.

  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,432
    So you paid $6-8 for 1.8 pounds of steel and 7 pounds of coal. 

    >:)
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • Eggucated
    Eggucated Posts: 213
    I wonder if some tree huggers put that into a tree to tear up chainsaws or a mill?  Although you said it hadn't been used so that kills my theory.
    Thanks, Mike "Live in such a way that if anyone should speak badly of you, no one will believe it."
  • Sgt93
    Sgt93 Posts: 728
    Wow!
    XL BGE - Small BGE - A few Komodo Kamado Serious Big Bad 42s
    Follow me on Instagram: @SSgt93
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    Mike, I'll bet that having a large magnet to screen lump for metal objects would not be worth the cost.  I'd bet not very much metal gets into the lump and even if it does, it does no harm.  In all my years, I can only remember 1 piece of metal (although it could have been a couple of more times, who knows).
    The Naked Whiz
  • R2Egg2Q
    R2Egg2Q Posts: 2,136

    Here's a recent RO find for me:

    image

    image

    image

    1 lbs, 14 oz of metal.  Fortunately, I wasn't dumping my lump on this cook and pulled this out of the bag by hand.  I'm wondering if maybe mine was part of a scoop for the lump but I have no idea how they "harvest" the lump.

    Other than the occasional rock, RO has been good for me and I'm hoping to avoid more finds like this.  I haven't written the company yet but have been meaning to.

    XL, Large, Small, Mini Eggs, Shirley Fabrication 24x36 Patio, Humphrey's Weekender, Karubecue C-60, MAK 1-Star General, Hasty Bake Gourmet, Santa Maria Grill, Webers: 14" WSM, 22.5" OTG, 22.5" Kettle Premium, WGA Charcoal, Summit S-620 NG

    Bay Area, CA
  • misu
    misu Posts: 213
    Who cares, does it burn? :)

    I just bought a pallet of RO from restaurant depot today while they had it on sale, they used a forklift to put it in my truck. I'm proud :)