Old Wood

[Jason B]

I have access to a ton of peach wood but I am not sure if it would be worth it. It is an old peach orchard an the trees have been dead/on the ground for 5 years or so. Reckon it's worth a flip?

[The Czar]

Eek.....

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[Miketheforester]

Other than the wood being very dry, it might be all right. The best pieces would probably be pieces that have been held slightly off the ground by limbs etc. It will probably have bugs under the bark, but that is no big deal, because the bark should fall off fairly easily when it is split and you would be fine. However, if it has lots of larger bug holes going into the wood or a lot of soft wood on the outside the wood may be no good because it will either put off an unpleasant smoke or burn fast and unreliable. But if its free, the worst you can do is give it a shot. I have access to a lot of free wood at work, some of it is normal and some of it has issues, but most stuff burns just fine even if it looks a little rough.

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

[Gizmo]

All that potentially lost peach wood ….

And I was having such a good day …

[Jason B]

No worries Rick. There is still 20 acres of dead trees standing, I just haven't asked about those yet.

[Gizmo]

Sheeesh! Don't scare me like that …

[Smokeone]

Peachy! I would follow MTF's advice.

[Frank_Cox]

Mike sure does know the wood! Begin a forester and all lol, maybe we can do a wood swap buddy!

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[Puff]

image.jpg

Since the topic is here, how old should wood be for the best smoking? I have acres of oak and some of it has 22-26" diameter logs at the trunk side. After I cut and split them, how long should they "dry" before the best use and what is the best size to split them down to?

[Gizmo]

I think most common blocking is 14 to 17 inches then split it all down to about 3" X 3".

With the exception of hickory and ash, 2 to 6 months after splitting and ricked outdoors should cure out most woods enough to get rid of the "green" odor/taste. Ash should sit a year (personal experience) and hickory you can cut in the morning and burn that night if you like and it doesn't seem to matter…

Try to use all of it up in 2 to 3 years if stored outdoors ….jm2cw

[Rev.Mike]

someone was asking me the other day about using persimmon, any one ever use it? i have no idea, would think it would be bitter

[Puff]

Thanks for that absolutely GREAT answer.

[capt j-rod]

re:oak... we dry under a lean-to for a minimum of 1 year. 2 years is awesome. remember, you want btu's not smoke. smoke comes from apple, peach etc wet wood. Heat comes from dried seasoned oak. keep it out of the sun too. We noticed sun bleached has fewer btu's than covered. fwiw

[Gizmo]

capt j-rod is that red or white oak? just curious