Pizza fuel question


 

Timothy F. Lewis

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I'm just getting things sorted out for using my Pizzaque when I get the heat deflector cut and, I was thinking about fuel. The popular method is to use wood splits when firing things up but, I have a buddy who is a cabinet maker, he uses a lot of oak. I could put ten pounds of trimmings in there at a shot on top of charcoal base, blast furnace heat
The question, as you might expect, is whether kindness dried "cabinet grade" chunks would be a reasonable fuel additive? It would be a virtually free source of fuel, he has barrels of trimmings, oak, ash, sycamore cherry, walnut, you name it it gets thrown in fireplaces all over town! Why not under some pizzas? I know the stuff is too dry for smoke medium but as for pure heat? Why not? Let me know if you have any deep seated concerns.
Thanks in advance.
 
Yea, it will be fine for a blast furnace heat.
But like you pointed out kiln dried cabinet wood is too dry for smoking and cabinet grade Oak is usually dipped in chemicals to avoid discoloration from moisture ( so it doesn't turn black)
So I would never use any cabinet grade lumber for smoking.:wsm:

Tim
 
Just had a rather involved conversation with my cabinetmaker friend, he says:
"No treatment for anything I've ever used just good hard oak straight from the sawmill!"
So, no, I won't smoke with it but, I'm thinking it should be pretty good for a pizza project.
 
I have no concerns as long as it's pure wood, no chems.

I wonder though what kind of heat shield you came up with at last. Can you post some pics about your PizzaQue setup? Also, did you fire your kit up yet since you sniped it on eBay? :)
 
Still waiting on my heat shield and, no I've not fired or heard of any of the gift recipients firing them up either.
It's the synchronicity that has not fallen into place yet.
And likely won't until spring at this point, I'm off to for a family visit for a week and being Michigan, it might be snowing when I get home in a week!
I don't do any of the media that the forum requires as far as posting pics but, I will take them and who knows, I might figure out the intracies of loading them later.
I will let you know when the temperature reaches 650!

Tim, where did you find the information about treated oak? It doesn't really make any sense, lumber from the sawmill will go to the canibetmaker for construction, then it gets a finish. Do you have any data to support the statement? I'm not picking a fight but, curious.
 
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Tim, where did you find the information about treated oak? It doesn't really make any sense, lumber from the sawmill will go to the canibetmaker for construction, then it gets a finish. Do you have any data to support the statement? I'm not picking a fight but, curious.

Lumber from the sawmill still needs to be dried, and unless your bud does air dried slabs it probally spent some time in a kiln.

Back on the old forum we had this same question come up ( using cabinet scraps for smoking ) and we had a member that worked in a kiln chime in.
Basically he said most hardwoods are dipped in a chemical to prevent mold, mildew and insect damage during storage, etc.
I remember that and tried to pass that along, Google Kiln Dried Lumber and you'll see.

Tim
 
Thanks Tim,
But, it would seem to me that that particular form of treatment would only permeat the surface and as the material is cut down, there wouldn't much of that surface left, just blue skying on that. I'll look the data up.
Again, not smoking but, the issue is still is it a bad idea? For developing the highest temps requested for pizzafication, will there be any ill effect?
 
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One option is to have your friend confirm with the sawmill that they don't use chemicals in their drying process. If they don't then you're good to go.

Even if the sawmill sprays chemicals on rough hewn lumber the spray is a surface treatment and planing it to smooth lumber will remove all of the chemicals. That's very different than pressure treated lumber. Don't burn that stuff.
 
Exactly the way I was thinking Lew, once the outer material has been cut away, sanded off or whatever the underlying material has nothing on it.
As for "treated lumber" the only time I use that is for ground contact stuff, I don't like it at all and, you are absolutely right DO NOT BURN the stuff, period!
 
Thanks Tim,
But, it would seem to me that that particular form of treatment would only permeat the surface and as the material is cut down, there wouldn't much of that surface left, just blue skying on that. I'll look the data up.
Again, not smoking but, the issue is still is it a bad idea? For developing the highest temps requested for pizzafication, will there be any ill effect?

Like your OP mentioned " blast fire heat" and my first post agreed with you.
As far as dealing with woods that have or have not been, dipped , sprayed etc the choice is up to the individual.
IMO as long as you let it burn-off any surface or topical applications before you add meat, your good.
Smoking properly, needs wood with the right moisture content, and cabinet grade lumber is too dry to add flavor IMO.

Tim
 

 

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