Dead tree wood

Wood is cheap and a CS doesn't use much wood per smoke. Use good quality ingredients and you'll get a quality product. I wouldn't mess with wood from a dead tree...

I'd give it a try.

I have used some small limbs(1" diameter) of Hickory that was not overly dead. I was at the lake and running a little short on wood, heck, it seemed to work in a pinch.I know, I should have remembered to bring some.

I'd be a little careful of using pitted wood though, but that's just me and my hillbilly ways. Sometimes a person has to do what he can to get by.

I agree with SmokinMaineiac. The dead Pecan sounds like a good candidate for the indoor/outdoor fireplace. Why risk ruining a good piece of meat.

quote:

Originally posted by MaxQue:
I agree with SmokinMaineiac. The dead Pecan sounds like a good candidate for the indoor/outdoor fireplace. Why risk ruining a good piece of meat.

Ditto. If we were talking stick smokers where you burn wood by the coord I would mix it in with known good wood but we use such small amounts in the CS.

Isn't all the wood we use dead wood?

I'd say it's dead when you cut it...but you have to wait 6-9 months to make sure it is REALLY dead(seasoned)...then most folks take 6 months to use it...I'm sure it's dead by then,maybe!

When I used my 30" X 12' trailer mounted Oklahoma Joe stick burner I used many many many cords of dead pecan. On some of our larger cooks we would have it going for 12-24 hours at a tine and you can burn a serious amount of wood.

That said, a Cookshack does not use very much wood at all! Go for quality.

The only real difference between the two would be the moisture content of the wood. Unless the tree died because of a chemical.
The wood should carry no ill efects. A tree which has died, and is still standing, will have lost all of its sap and much of it's moisture. And one which was cut while it still alive, will have sap moisture in the wood. But allowing it to air dry after being cut will allow most of the moisture to dry out. If the wood is too dry it will burn very quick and hot, and will have much less smoke flavor come from it.

Thanks for all of your help. The very very old tree died of natural causes this year and still had a good grain. So I think it would be OK but I needed your help.