Woodshop wood


 
J

John Frailey

TVWBB Fan
OK..I am new to larger scale smoking. Tossed the Char Broil electric smoker out the window and now have a WSM 22.5. I have a wood shop and end cuts of waste cherry and maple, not to mention being able to cut up a couple of bf of rough hardswood to size. What do you long time smokers have to say about using wood shop leftovers. Absolutely untreated in any way of course. Just raw rough sawn lumber. Much cheaper than buyiong specialty woods from a Q outlet.
 
Hey John!
A moisture level of 20% or higher is considered acceptable for smoke wood. I would guess it's all about how long your lumber was kiln dried.

Tim
 
If it's untreated it's excellent.

I wouldn't worry about moisture with lumber scrap.

If you open some brands of lump charcoal, you'll see obvious shop scrap wood in the bags.



@Timothy - it's 20% or LOWER, yes?
 
Just serfed some wood moisture charts and it looks like my worst case here is summer with 90 degrees and 30% rh which puts the wood at 7 - 9 %.
 
@ Travis- everything that I ever read about smokewood was a 20% level is highly suitable for smoking immediately without the need for re- hydration of the wood..

Tim
 
Okay, thanks.

Did some googling and found that 15%~30% seems to be a common range.

The drier the wood, the less smoke produced.
 
You are all making me think.. the wife likes "mild smoke" so I think I will start with dry wood and see what the reaction is. The searches I did came back with 15 - 25 %. Since all my past experience has been with cheapo electric units abd bagged stone dry chips I think I have a starting point to start test driving this thing.
 
Well ... any wood would add to the smoke produced by the charcoal.

With your dry shop scraps, you'll probably have to add more than usual to get a 'heavy' smoke.

Testing is part of the fun of doing it your way.
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