Old Wood Question

[Lew Newby]

I had the opportunity to pick up several hundred pounds of Hickory and Ash planks and then I got into smoking food. Most of this stuff isn't suitable for furniture but I think it's good for smoking. I'm concerned that there's probably some fungus on the outside and some of it has rotted spots in it. I'm thinking the rot will burn off quickly and isn't a problem but wonder if I should plane the boards down to good wood before using it in the smoker. Any thoughts?

 

[Paul K]

Lew,

The biggest concern with wood like this is has it been stained or varnished. If so, you don't want to use it. If it's still raw, then most likely it's fine to use. If you suspect mold/fungus, laying it out in the sun and giving it a proper drying should do the trick. I've used wood that's been well weathered as much of my oak and pecan resides outside and I've never had any issues with it. I wouldn't bother with planing it, but if you have 100 lbs +, I might opt to ditch the rotted pieces.

Paul

 

[Bob Sample]

Did you get it direct from the mill or is it left overs from a manufacturer. A lot of the wood used by manufacturers has been treated with insecticides and such lovely things. If it's raw wood from the mill you should be good

As Paul said dry it and air it a bit and you should be ok. If it's really bad give it a scrape to get the worst off.

 

[RichPB (richlife)]

Another thread here discussed whether "old" wood may be "too dry" for smoking -- looses it's flavor (?). Chris A. showed that soaking it overnight doesn't really do much good (limited penetration), but the suggestion (with limited empirical support) was that soaking for 30 hours or more might help.

I'm not sure any soaking will do any good, but I have some really old red oak that seems to burn way too quickly (flames) it's so old and dry. I have it sitting in a basin of water now. We'll see.

Rich

 

[Lew Newby]

This is some old, rough hewn lumber, definitely raw. Someone donated a big load of lumber to a local charity but they couldn't use all of it and gave it to anyone who would haul it away. Since I posted this I planed 40 ft of Ash to get two 4 ft boards. It was good enough to make a shelf for our fishing clubs grill. Thanks for your input. I'll use the unrotted wood and I have enough to last a long long time.

If anyone lives nearby you're welcome to pick up some ash and try it out.