Where do you get your wood?

Dennis,

Do you have any wood workers that use a lathe to make bowls, dishes or furniture near your home? I have two such people in close proximity and have just about any kind of wood I want. I cross cut the pieces 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick and then band saw them into 1 and 2 oz pieces. I stay away from exotic woods that could be poisonous or moldy. I stick to mild fruit trees (like peach, apple, cherry and orange), Red Bay, sugar maple, alder, pecan and hickory. I don't use oak, maybe up North its OK, but not here in Florida. I order my hickory from Cookshack.

In addition, when my friends travel I have them pick me up a log (fire size) of whatever I can't get here. My neighbor brought me back six logs of alder from his Alaska trip this summer. One friend brought me back a sugar maple log from Maine and a son picked up some frozen orange tree limbs from his back yard. It's fun to collect them, but I'll never smoke them all using 3-4 oz of wood per cook.

smokemullet

Hi Dennis - I use Hawgeyes (link below). They usually have an excellent supply of wods. I have gotten my pecan, oak, maple, & mesquite from them. I see they just added peach and grape.

http://www.bbq-grill-smokers.com/outdoor_cooking.html

Hope this helps.

Bob

I been using these guys for a few years. They have a great selection.
http://www.nbizz.com/smokehousewoods/

If I trim limbs from oak or hickory trees or fruit trees, I will cut them in sizes I can use a year later after they have laid on top of my shed for a year in the weather. They actually just need about a month in the summer without all the other time. I leave the bark on. I also like to use grape vine, wild or vinifera. Nut shells are nice to use also.

I get my oak in the back yard.. but the other woods I use I get at Walmart.. Hickory and Apple mostly. I bought mesquite but have never used it after reading some of the comments.. I think I'll give it to my son. I also have alder available to me free.. and I remember eating a lot of smoked salmon when I lived at the coast.. they used nothing but alder.. All in all.. Walmart has good prices and is readily available.

I used to cook on a Kingfisher Commercial Kooker.

I would go through a couple of wheelbarrows a night, reloading every 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

We had a tornado go through my wife's old area [St. Peter] a while back and I got a lot of Red Oak from there.

That supply went dry so I went through the Yellow Pages and lined up a local Tree Service to buy from.

I get Sugar Maple from him. It's much more mellow than Red Oak, not so harsh. Comparable BTU's. Good with pork.

I pay $100 a pickup load [just under a cord], delivered and stacked.

Roger

Many comp cooks use hawgeyes,above.

They are quick and dependable.

Mike will work you through whatever your needs are.

I get my basic woods through Cookshack,as they have always been good.

Dennis,

If you'll drop me a personal email, I'll slip you a couple smoker loads of oak and pecan if you'd like.

Hook

I guess with alot of things in life its feast or famine. I noticed looking out my office window this morning that over the weekend, someone dumped what appears to be 3 truckloads of what used to be a 100+ year old oak tree. Some of the logs are over 4 feet in diameter and about 2 feet long (that's a few 1oz chunks!). I don't think it would be practical to ship any of those.
Richard

I dont think there is a hard wood indiginous to Western Ohio that I couldnt get right now. Especially Silver Maple. We just had an ice storm this past Wed./Thurs., and there isnt a yard with a tree in it that isnt scattered with limbs, branches, and trunks.
Trouble is in unwrapping the power lines from them. lol

Messing with downed powerlines may add a whole new meaning to "smoked butt!"

You guys are great--thanks for the info.

I have a apricot tree in my yard that died a couple years ago. I've been using it for a while in my log burner. As somebody said, you sure go through the wood with those things.

Here in Utah we have TONS of orchards, but I'd love to get some pecan, oak, and it sounds like I need to add sugar maple to my wish-list too.

Thanks!

I found this website but have not yet ordered from them:

http://www.barbecuewood.com//StoreFront.bok

QUESTION about these wild grape vines I have read about here. How do I know, in the off season if the vines growing around on fences and trees are grape? If I rememeber right there were small black berry looking things on them last fall but they were much smaller than grapes. Any help? Thanks. Dj

DJ
We have those here, too. They have leaves that look like grape leaves, they might be what they call foxgrapes. I don't know about smoking with them.
Peggy

DJ - just make sure they're not poison ivy vines!!

Yes, wild grapevines are good to use, properly dried. Cut them in lengths to fit in the woodbox, then put them in the sun. Uh...I think the sun will shine again. 1 month in the summer sun will do it for sure.

For anyone interested, here's a guide to wood and what flavors it gives off when it's smoked.

http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2/8.html#8.1

Thanks all. I will wait it out to see what they actually look like when they get leaves. I bought some mulberry, plum, cherry and apple off ebay. 50 lbs in fact so I should be set for , well, 10 years or so!
Is there really a poison ivy vine with a small berry on it?
Dj