A dead oak tree

[Mark Etheridge]

A friend of mine has a dead oak tree that he is going to burn in a big bond fire out at his house. /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif He said that the tree has been dead for about a year. I'm gonna snag me about five "firewood" sized logs. My question is can I use the wood for smoking right now? Is it dry enough or does it need more? If so, how long? Do I need to remove the bark? I'm quite sure that the tree has been sitting outside all this time and has not been covered up or anything like that.
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Mark WAR EAGLE!!

 

[Jim Minion]

You can use it right away, if the bark comes off easily you may want to remove it, but something you have to do.
Jim

 

[David Chrestay]

Hi Mark,

Go for it. I recently had a dead (1 year) shagbark hickory cut down on my property and I cut it up for fire and cooking wood. It is great smoking wood.

Check the oak for insect damage and try to get pieces that are not soft. Something killed the tree and you don't want to smoke with that. As for the bark, it depends on the condition. I'm not using the bark from the shagbark because it contains lichens, insects, fungus, etc. When in doubt, take off the bark.