Smoke wood


 
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Phil Pavlovicz

TVWBB Member
This might be a stupid question, but I'm full of stupid questions. Just ask my wife. Anyways, I'm a hobby wood worker and have a ton of hardwood lumber in my shop. I have some white oak scraps left over from a project. Does anyone see a problem using scrap hardwood lumber for smoke wood?

Wood is wood, right?
 
I believe that:

As long as it is not chemically treated or varnished / have glue in it, you should be correct. Apple Wood, wether in the form of logs or sawn wood / scraps is still Apple Wood.

Although I do think I remember some discussion about how if fruit woods become too dry, they may lose some of their ability to contribute flavor to the smoke?

Anyway - if you have fruitwood scraps lying around, they should be OK.
 
Phil, a friend of mine is into wood working. I get all my white oak and cherry from him.Been doing this for years.
 
Thanks guys. I plan on relaxing in my white oak Adirondack chair while cooking some oak smoked ribs using wood left over from the same. There's something poetic about that.
 
I received a large bag of oak scraps which were not treated, varnished, or otherwise altered. I thought I was in heaven, but then I read on several other sites that it is unsafe to use this wood. I didn't understand why at the time but stopped using it.

So it is safe then??

Bill
 
The only difference between wood chunks and standard hardwood lumber that I can see is that most hardwood lumber is kiln dried, so may be a little dryer than wood chunks. I believe that after a year or so, naturally dried wood would have about the same moisture content as kiln dried lumber . In the past, I've used a piece of rough sawn cedar left over from a poject to do cedar plank salmon. No ill affects.
 
As already mentioned, as long as the hardwood lumber has not been chemically treated, varnished, painted, glued, etc, it's okay to use.

Back in VA, when I first learned about lump charcoal and sources were scraps from cabinetry mills, I went around to a few of them and asked about their scraps. All of them already had their scraps spoken for by Q'ers.
 
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