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So, my SM045 came in today, and after I got it set up and the seasoning started, I called my dad to tell him (well, ok, to brag). It turns out, he has about 1 ton *each* of apple and cherry (along with several hundred pounds of hickory, beech, and maple) in his shed that he had cut up about 2-3 years ago for fire wood (shortly thereafter, he installed a gas fireplace).

Is the wood still ok to use in my new smoker, or is it too old? Is there a way to tell if wood is "too old" to use? Finally, any suggestions on using maple and/or beech?

Thanks in advance!
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By the time it'll take you to get through two tons of wood, it might be too old. But 2-3 years is perfect, moisture should be gone, should burn quite well. Never used beech, maple is kind of a light smoke. Personally, anything less than two years I think the wood is still too wet. Still has a lot of moisture in it.
You'd best get busy smokin' with that much wood on hand! Cutting it to proper size may be a chore though...2" squares should be about right...you can always use a hatchet to split 'em to the right weight.

Don't use long sections that you have to lay in the wood box along the grain if you can help it...they don't work as well as setting the shorter wood chunks across the grain (in my experience), although it never stopped me from using a particular chunk of wood.

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