Okay, I made off with the neighbor's peach tree. Now what?


 
J

Jennifer K

TVWBB Super Fan
Yep, neighbors over the road took down their old peach tree and I helpfully suggested they could just dump all that unwanted wood in my driveway. Touched by my generous nature, they plied me with cake and non-alcoholic beverages (they're teetotalers). I'm still on a sugar high this morning, so it seems appropriate to get busy cooking a big pork butt to balance out the diet.

I figured while the WSM is chugging away, I'd best do something with all that peach wood, what with the Other Half hellbent on grooming cars all day and my motherlode blocking important driveway real estate.... sigh.

So my question is, what do I need to do to make BBQ wood? Do I cut off all the bark or something? Keep only the big pieces and put the little stuff into Fireman Dave's wood shredder? Use an axe or a saw? Should I just stack it all somewhere first to let it dry out?

Ideas would be most welcome. Meantime, I have to go fire up the WSM.
 
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First: of congrats!

Second: i would cut it down to small peices(fist sized) let em dry a 2-3 month. Its a matter of weeks if you cut some of almost chip´s style. Lay out in the sun and dehydrate.

Need some Axe skill to do this but i guess you can do this.(love your hands?) Let the Mr go out
and make chips
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Once they are dry...You will have some great smoke wood. Aging wood?...Some ppl say that. But i smoke with dehydrated "almost" fresh...And its great.
 
Jennifer,like Daniel said,congrats! Free smoke wood rules!
Anything smaller than 1" in diameter,go ahead and shred. Larger than 1",cut into 2-3 " lengths and let dry for at least 6 months. I know this from experience! After they have dried,it's easier to take the bark off.
Once they have dried totally,you can add 4-5 pieces of the smaller chunks or 1 or 2 bigger ones. For the medium size pieces,I use a hammer and chisel to split into smaller chunks. I haven't had a chance to use the larger(5+") pieces. I guess I'll figure out what to do with them when I get to them!
 
What Daniel said. Cut it to stackable size and let it season. Make sure there is plenty of air flow through the stack. As far as the bark is concerned I wouldn't worry a bout taking it off unless it is really thick. Not sure what peach bark is like.

I usually let my maple season for 6 months or so but have used it sooner. If you don't leave it long enough you will get bitter smoke.
 
I'll throw down my 2 cents and agree witht the others. Treat it like firewood. Fruit wood makes for great flavor. Save the little tiny "scraps", as they dry quick and make for a great smoke on a kettle cooking something fast like a burger.
 
As I'm a tool junkie too, I'd view a load of smoking wood as a chance to buy a new tool.

I'd first cut it up and split it like firewood so it can dry & season. There are tons of sites on how to keep it off the ground, stack it for circulation and cover it to protect from rain.

Split some into smaller pieces about like a wood softball bat or your desired chunk diameter. Grab a bucket and take a couple of those smaller splits and head to your handy new benchtop table saw: http://www.amazon.com/Rikon-10...id=1307804925&sr=8-8

cut to desired size, the small chunks will dry quicker.

Good Smokin'

Ken
 
Guys, I appreciate the advice - busy stacking that wood in the back yard now, so I can get it dried as a summer project.

Delegating the chopping and sawing sounds like the way to go, since my honey only needs the flimsiest excuse to head out to Home Depot and ogle tools. If I actually suggest the purchase of that bandsaw on Ken's link... holy cow! This is a win/win.

Thanks again, guys.
 
A bandsaw is really a lousy and dangerous tool to cut round logs/brances of wood.
A bandsaw needs a piece of the wood that can be placed flat against the cutting table.
A much better tool would be a saw horse and a cheap electrical chainsaw.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Geir Widar:
A bandsaw is really a lousy and dangerous tool to cut round logs/brances of wood.
A bandsaw needs a piece of the wood that can be placed flat against the cutting table.
A much better tool would be a saw horse and a cheap electrical chainsaw. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Where I am at bandsaws are used to resaw round uneven logs into square rectangular pieces of wood for them be run through a joiner/ planer process. In my opinion it is probably the safest saw in the shop as it cuts vertically top to bottom and all you need to do is keep your hands out of the way, unlike a table saw or chainsaw on a saw horse. Just my honest opinion Geir, and I have a full shop in my garage.
 
Jennifer, you made me spit my drink out when I read that first paragraph! Lucky you on the peach wood, wish I could find some up here in Ottawa.
 
Like Bob S said let the wood breathe, keep it stacked off of the ground on a haunch or some type of a rack.
The little buggers really love fruit-wood.
How you cut and split your wood is open to everyone's opinion. I use a sawzall with an 8" pruning blade to cut the bigger limbs into smaller chunks. For branches I just use a bow saw. Now for splitting the chunks I like to use a hatchet as a wedge and strike it with a mallet or dead blow hammer.(keeps your fingers out of harms way)

Tim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Phil Perrin:
Silly me used a miter saw to cut the hickory into 2-3" lengths! Hey,it was what I had available.
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</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
And you have been lucky also!
You could do this hundreds of times, but all it takes is that one time to come back to bite you in the end.
I'm a Carpenter and I've been on the back end of kick backs which aint pretty!
IMO I wouldn't recommend any one using a chop box or miter saw for cutting up smokewood.

Tim
 
I've done this as well, due to convenience, and against better knowledge. I got what I deserved. I chrushed the gearbox on my miter saw, and had to buy a new one. Using this kind of saw on wood that does not have at least one flat surface, is hi-risk. I still have ten fingers. That is just because I had a lucky monent.

In my opinion this applies to bandsaws as well. I'm fully aware that bandsaws are used to split logs, but then the logs are usually locked in a grip/cradle made to make the operation safe. By the way, splitting is not the same as cutting logs into small pieces. It is two different processes if you think of the direction of the growth of the tree.

I'm not a carpenter, but I have worked many years as a trained wood work teacher.
 
I don't worry with removing the bark unless moldy, and I wouldn't be concerned with seasoning fruitwood, either. In my book, it's a GOOD thing for the wood not to catch fire before you get all the meat on the cooker.

One other thing regarding seasoning, not to insult someone's intelligence, but a purposely removed tree is often "seasoned on the stump".
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This has been a really informative conversation and the comments from Geir and others made me very aware about keeping my fingers! I had a go at sawing some branches with a hand saw and that wasn't so bad. The hatchet and mallet method got those pieces to split fine, thx Timothy. Phil, the chisel and hammer worked great to get those splits smaller and I kept all the little scraps so I can use them when I run the Performer - good plan, thanks John. This is just great - I have heaps of wood and I can work on it a few bits at a time. Daniel, Bob, Dave...took your advice and made a good rack for storage, left the bark on since it's dry and looks good.
My neighbors are so happy to have gotten rid of their peach wood, they're now eyeballing an apple tree. I'm like...can that maybe wait till next year...
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Jennifer, yes, do be careful.

I cut apple and peach myself, and even though the splitting is a cinch, cutting ROUND pieces of wood into short pieces is a PITA. Maybe one day I'll make one of those sawbucks(?) to help hold the sections in place while cutting, but I've been using a miter box or just been wedging the splits in the wood pile. I cut as needed to slow down seasoning.

Regarding seasoning, as I alluded to, I'm not in the camp that says it's all good as long as it's not rotten. I don't like really dry, overly seasoned wood, (like a lot of the wood that comes in a bag) and I don't like how it ignites so easily, either. Besides, champion cooks like Mike Mills and Myron Mixon are known to smoke with green apple or peach, so why not?

Anyway, talking about a whole tree, I suspect that even if you store all of it in a dry spot (termites?), you probably won't ever use all of it before the last of it gets too dry to be good smoke chunks...At least that's my case with the neighbor's apple tree. I guess I should've asked them if I could cut it before it up and died.
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Regardless your neighbor's apple tree, if they cut it down, I'd suggest going ahead and taking some off their hands. I actually prefer it to peach, on ribs and chicken at least. It's a little sweeter and the smell of the smoke is heavenly. Yeah, my wife likes all those Yankee candles and such, and I think that one of the best smells in the world is the smoke from "just right" seasoned applewood burning clean in an offset smoker.
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No offense to anyone of you that use a mitre saw to chop up smoke-wood. Thats your choice and something that you have to deal with in the end.
I have a problem when somebody suggests or recommends using that same saw on something that is unstable as a tree branch. We talk alot of food safety on this site, well lets talk about tool safety. A miter box is not designed or should be used for cutting up chunks of smokewood. PERIOD
If you want to use one. fine.. just keep it to yourself. I would hate to see a newby reading this thread saying well so in so with X amount of posts says its fine to use a MB on SW then they turn around and hurt themselves.
Just my rant, and I'll get off my sawhorse now.
Peace!

Tim
 
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