A "peach" of a score

[J Graz]

My wife's uncle(a farmer)just ripped up 1/3 of his peach orchard and will be replacing with apples. Needless to say he has a pile of peach trees all stacked up about 60'Lx30"Wx20"H. I will be going there on sunday, and I have about 2HRS to get what I can.
Would the best pieces to get be the trunks? The trunks at the widest points are about 6" diameter.
Unfortunatly I did not have any time to prepare for this so all I have is my Bronco to fill up. He plans on burning to pile to the ground in the very near future. So hopefully I gat get a second pass.

 

[Bill Hays]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The trunks at the widest points are about 6" diameter. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's what I'd aim for. They'll break down to good chunks. 4-5" even better. Get as much as you can!! Sweet smelling fire wood, that is if you can't utilize it all in you smoker.

Bill

 

[Mike Resler]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by J Graz:
My wife's uncle(a farmer)just ripped up 1/3 of his peach orchard and will be replacing with apples. Needless to say he has a pile of peach trees all stacked up about 60'Lx30"Wx20"H. I will be going there on sunday, and I have about 2HRS to get what I can.
Would the best pieces to get be the trunks? The trunks at the widest points are about 6" diameter.
Unfortunatly I did not have any time to prepare for this so all I have is my Bronco to fill up. He plans on burning to pile to the ground in the very near future. So hopefully I gat get a second pass. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

WOW! What a waste of good smoke wood.

Just take all you can and don't worry where it came from on the tree.

Does he know he could sell the wood for smoking?? Maybe you could smoke something for him with the wood and get him to see what a waste of a great resource he is getting ready to do.

 

[J Graz]

Well I got about 50-60 Lbs, mostly large branches 4-5 inches diameter. I will just cut into 2-3 inch rounds. 3 questions:
1)Once cut how long should they season?
2)Is it true that Peach needs to be used within a short time of cutting? I read that somewhere.
3)The bark seens to be very thin does it need to be removed?
I'm hoping to get back out there to get some more later in the week if it's not burned by then.

 

[Brett Fields]

Show him all the wood on ebay. It's sell-able.

 

[J Graz]

I mentioned to him about selling. As a farmer He has six roadstands scattered around on the way to and from the Jersey shore. He could just sell logs, I imagine word would get around pretty quick, he just has no interest. I just wish I had more notice so that I could have invited others to get some. He is most likley gonna burn on tue/wed hopefully I can get back there before that.

 

[Todd Randall]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">1)Once cut how long should they season?
2)Is it true that Peach needs to be used within a short time of cutting? I read that somewhere.
3)The bark seens to be very thin does it need to be removed? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Once you get it cut up, it will dry and season fast, 4-8 weeks would be plenty good enough. Some burn fruit wood green without any issues too.

I have never read that wood has an expiration date. Some believe that there is a perfect moisture ratio and that if it gets too dry then it doesn't taste or smoke as good. I don't really believe any of that. I wouldn't worry about it.

I used to always remove bark, but I don't so much anymore. There are your purists that absolutely believe that it makes a difference, others could care less and never notice any difference in taste. I wouldn't worry about it.

Nice score. You should show him the markup on smoke wood, once he learns the profit margins of it, he might get REAL interested.

Todd