jrider
Addicted to ArboristSite
Where are you storing it and how large are the chunks if they aren't drying in 3 years??
Hickory, not my favorite
- Thread starter stihly dan
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brenndatomu
Hey you woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!
At the top of a breezy knoll, in the sun 1/2 the day (and not covered) and 4"x4" to 4"x6" at the biggest, and 22" long. Didn't have any trouble with any of the other wood in that same stack and it was all hardwoods...Hickory, Red Oak, etc.
I am with the crowd that loves hickory - mostly shagbark here. I am 5 years here on AS & burning full time and I used to save it & run 100% full open during those previous polar vortexes - damn near melted the top off my mid-sized osburn in the learning process!
I now mix all the time AND use my select hickory and cherry for smoking year round
I now mix all the time AND use my select hickory and cherry for smoking year round
Of al the hardwoods mentioned so far, the only ones that don't make my "hit" list are black cherry and black walnut. Low density, just not that much heat, and the cherry typically leaves lots of unburnt coals. Cherry, I sell to customer who likes the "incense" factor.
Shagbark hickory, I'll happily take all I can get onto my truck. In fact, that's all I'm taking right now- kinda short on space, so there's no rush for the hickory to be ready, once it's split. Ditto recent arrivals of black locust & white ash.
Black locust is very tight-grained. Maybe that's why it's so slow to dry fully, and why it builds up the steam pockets which spit stuff in the stove. Still burns beautifully, long & almost ash-less. Good output beginning to end.
Havent yet touched my depth-of-winter stacks of white oak & black birch. They can handle any polar vortex here.
Friends & neighbors who like to smoke meats get smaller pieces of apple, shagbark & cherry. They love it.
Shagbark hickory, I'll happily take all I can get onto my truck. In fact, that's all I'm taking right now- kinda short on space, so there's no rush for the hickory to be ready, once it's split. Ditto recent arrivals of black locust & white ash.
Black locust is very tight-grained. Maybe that's why it's so slow to dry fully, and why it builds up the steam pockets which spit stuff in the stove. Still burns beautifully, long & almost ash-less. Good output beginning to end.
Havent yet touched my depth-of-winter stacks of white oak & black birch. They can handle any polar vortex here.
Friends & neighbors who like to smoke meats get smaller pieces of apple, shagbark & cherry. They love it.
TheViking
Can't see the forest for the trees
Hickory for the win with me I like burning it and it was easy to get started back from coals.
haveawoody
Addicted to ArboristSite
zogger,
Shagbark is some mighty fine firewood.
Same for me and coals with burning it, yes they can build up if your mainly burning hickory and lots of it on real cold days, but when I see 1/2 woodstove of hot coals I'm not unhappy I'm just prepared to crank the air for a few hours and watch the house get real warm
Hornbeam is far worse than hickory for creating giant semi burnt coals but the same air crank works charms on it also.
Even if you had a miller night and forgot to add air those coals in the morning make your start fire nice and warm real fast with just minimal raking.
Only pain I guess is that ash cleanup now and then and dealing with them if they have accumulated.
That is when a metal kitty litter scoop is wonderful, ash falls through and coals stay to be piled in one corner to burn again.
Think the problem is air IMO, to much coals = to little air and to much fuel.
Shagbark is some mighty fine firewood.
Same for me and coals with burning it, yes they can build up if your mainly burning hickory and lots of it on real cold days, but when I see 1/2 woodstove of hot coals I'm not unhappy I'm just prepared to crank the air for a few hours and watch the house get real warm
Hornbeam is far worse than hickory for creating giant semi burnt coals but the same air crank works charms on it also.
Even if you had a miller night and forgot to add air those coals in the morning make your start fire nice and warm real fast with just minimal raking.
Only pain I guess is that ash cleanup now and then and dealing with them if they have accumulated.
That is when a metal kitty litter scoop is wonderful, ash falls through and coals stay to be piled in one corner to burn again.
Think the problem is air IMO, to much coals = to little air and to much fuel.
spike60
Addicted to ArboristSite
haveawoody is probably right on the air mix. And many of our opinions are likely due to fact that various stoves may burn certain woods differently than others.
I love hickory and I'm happy to be into some right now during this cold snap. Plenty of heat and I love having nice hot coals when I get home from the store. With most other wood, it's newspaper and kindling. Only negative I see with hickory is that the bugs move in pretty fast if left on the ground.
Only wood I like better is white oak, and I'm surprised to see a couple of negative comments about it. In my experience it dries faster and burns better/longer than other oaks.
I love hickory and I'm happy to be into some right now during this cold snap. Plenty of heat and I love having nice hot coals when I get home from the store. With most other wood, it's newspaper and kindling. Only negative I see with hickory is that the bugs move in pretty fast if left on the ground.
Only wood I like better is white oak, and I'm surprised to see a couple of negative comments about it. In my experience it dries faster and burns better/longer than other oaks.
Vibes
Addicted to ArboristSite
I was told by a seasoned butcher/ barbequer/ smoke house operator, that you shouldn't cook or smoke using cherry. He said that cherry had high arsonic levels. Same reason cows won't eat cherry twigs.
The only complaining I've ever heard about burning hickory is the fact that its so hard to come by.
The only complaining I've ever heard about burning hickory is the fact that its so hard to come by.
Absolutely no complaining here, in any respect, about shagbark hickory. Like some others, I love the stuff. Right now, there's a mess of it waiting out there for me on some jobs. Some of the woods roads are now ski trails. It's such good stuff, and shagbark trees live so long, when the opportunity arises ... Superstorm Sandy did me favors, with hickory, black birch and oak. Some payback for being without power for a week, while opening up trails in a NY park.
Wilted cherry leaves form a cyanide compound. I've cooked a 1,000 hot dogs over cherry
Vibes
Addicted to ArboristSite
And its only in the leaves?
Kind of reminds me of the guy who smoked cigarettes his whole life without a problem,
D
Deleted member 83629
Guest
cherry and hickory makes a nice smoke for meat heck throw a little apple in there also.
i burn only hickory,black locust,oaks. the coals are handy in my stove and my stove is made to burn coal.
i like the coals it makes when it burns down helps keep the house warm overnight.
i burn only hickory,black locust,oaks. the coals are handy in my stove and my stove is made to burn coal.
i like the coals it makes when it burns down helps keep the house warm overnight.
Fresh cherry leaves are not harmful to cattle and I suspect most of us have eaten wild cherries. The reaction happens as the leaf is dying. As far as I know it does not happen in the fall when the tree sheds it's leaves, only when a tree or limb is knocked over while the leaf is still green
Vibes
Addicted to ArboristSite
Try some grape vine in your smoker as well. I read on this site about a guy who used honey locust for smoking hams.
Zeus103363
ArboristSite Operative
Must say, I will trade you my oak for your hickory any day! I smoke meats with it and burn it in the stove.
Thanks
Thanks
Vibes
Addicted to ArboristSite
Same in my area. Any hickory that I come across can usually be sold at a premium to a cooker. Or at least I can trade it 2 to 1 for other firewood.
I
Cherry wood is ones of the good ones for smoking and the topic occasionally comes up in those forums. It's in the leaves, small twigs & there can be some in the bark. I always use the heartwood as a rule of thumb with any species as the bark can be harsh. Many leave it on - As they say... "your results may vary"
BTW It's also in apple seeds & peach pits as well.
Cherry wood is ones of the good ones for smoking and the topic occasionally comes up in those forums. It's in the leaves, small twigs & there can be some in the bark. I always use the heartwood as a rule of thumb with any species as the bark can be harsh. Many leave it on - As they say... "your results may vary"
BTW It's also in apple seeds & peach pits as well.
UnforsakenGhost
ArboristSite Operative
Hedge is my favorite and its plentiful in this area too, gotta watch it it gets hot enough to melt stoves tho lol and does that firework thing a lot too
stihly dan
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have a little hickory left that I will save for another few weeks, I want to see if my theory of it being a great shoulder season wood for my unit is correct. In my furnace I don't see much difference in heat output or length of burn between species. Yes there is some but not much.
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