A question on wood quality

[Guest]

I have some pear wood that I have been using for smoking pork butts. Great flavor!

I have used up my precut stash of large limbs and have started splitting up some large stump pieces. The stump pieces are hollow and rotted. The tree was diseased when it fell. The bugs have been feasting on the rotten wood so it is full of holes.

Is it OK to use the wood chunks if I knock most of the rotten wood off? The outside portion of the stumps is very hard, well seasoned wood.

Also, I have noticed some white and yellow filming of the wood deep inside the grooves where the stumps have split as they weathered. Anyone think this is an issue?

Thanks for having such a great forum. I have been stopping in on and off for a couple of years.

 

[K Kruger]

Get rid of all the rotten wood before trying it. Just use the outside hard portions and hatchet off all the rotted stuff. (Rotted wood can be funky when burned.)

The filming shouldn't be an issue when the wood it dry.

Welcome to the board.

 

[Bryan S]

Man I don't know. I hate to throw wood away but I really don't want to be throwing meat away from bad smoke wood. As Kevin said rid yourself of the rotten crap. Why not try it out on some hotdogs or such on the WSM first before doing a long AZZ cook and finding out that you don't want to eat the meat that you cooked over some questionable wood. As mentioned rotten punky wood is nasty stuff.