Author Topic: What woods can I burn in a WFO? (Read 4667 times)

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #40 on:** March 18, 2011, 12:57:25 PM »

Quote from: widespreadpizza on March 18, 2011, 12:48:29 PM

JT, I would not use charcoal, that wood be outrageouesly expensive! I doubt you would even get to temp on a bag. -marc

Marc thanks for saving me the experiment. I burn it in my ceramic smoker and it comes up to temps pretty quickly.

Chau

widespreadpizza · « **Reply #41 on:** March 18, 2011, 02:36:49 PM »

JT, I do not know if anyonesuggested this, but have you looked on craigslist for free wood? There is quite a bit listed up her in the NE usually, of try a tree removal company? I bought a splitter, and do not pay for wood anymore. My brother works for a golf course, so I get it there. Just a thought -marc

c0mpl3x · « **Reply #42 on:** March 18, 2011, 05:30:17 PM »

i use about 3-4lbs of charcoal every hour once i have a hot bed of coals in my frankengrill, if i don't supplement it with wood feedings

chickenparm · « **Reply #43 on:** March 18, 2011, 05:31:20 PM »

JT,

Your PM box is full.I was not able to send you a reply back.

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #44 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:54:47 PM »

Good tips Marc and Jon. I was thinking the same about using the lump coal pieces to refresh the fire so I wouldn't have to cut up wood chunks.

Bill my pm box has been cleaned out.

widespreadpizza · « **Reply #45 on:** March 18, 2011, 07:05:19 PM »

JT, personaly, I have never needed small chunks of wood for maintaining fires. One small log at a time works just fine for me once up to temp and with a nice bed of coals. YMMV. -marc

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #46 on:** April 14, 2011, 06:07:11 AM »

Quote from: widespreadpizza on March 18, 2011, 02:36:49 PM

JT, I do not know if anyonesuggested this, but have you looked on craigslist for free wood? There is quite a bit listed up her in the NE usually, of try a tree removal company? I bought a splitter, and do not pay for wood anymore. My brother works for a golf course, so I get it there. Just a thought -marc

Thanks for the tip Marc. Sent you a PM but just in case there are other opinions out there, I'd like to hear them.

I went on CL and did find a person giving out elm wood. He had about 10 cords of it but most of the big stuff is gone now. What he has left is 2-3 cords that are about 3" in diameter. He's got a chainsaw and will help cut them to 16-18" lengths. That would be a perfect size and I woudn't have to cut them down further.

Some say don't use elm and others say it's okay. It's free so I'm not complaining. Would I be able to get up to temps of 800 or so with elm? Or would it be a futile effort? I'd like to know before I spend the effort of bringing too much of it back to my yard.

TIA,
Chau

carbon · « **Reply #47 on:** April 14, 2011, 02:48:57 PM »

I also often use a lot of junk wood (left-over lumber from projects), including unseasoned free wood from neighbors' cut downs, etc. ...only for initial fire and to bring the oven up to temp. Then I'll use good wood.
The only problem with this approach is that it produces a lot of undesirable smoke for the first few minutes and neighbors might think there's a fire somewhere. Living in a densely populated region, I get paranoid when I do this and hear sirens in the distant (which is often).

andreguidon · « **Reply #48 on:** April 14, 2011, 03:52:39 PM »

i do the same as Carbon, use left over lumber to start the fire and wen i get to temp i use good wood... that makes the fire up cheaper....

chickenparm · « **Reply #49 on:** April 14, 2011, 05:14:36 PM »

Wonder if stuff like this is any good?$$$ maybe?

http://www.lignetics.com/fire-logs.html

Maybe you can make your own presto logs like Doc Brown did..the yellow log pushed the temps to 2000 F!

andreguidon · « **Reply #50 on:** April 14, 2011, 05:22:22 PM »

i used this for a while here in brazil, the problem was it made allot of flaky coal that just kept the oven dirty..... maybe you could start the fire with that, just scoop out the flaky coal before you start burning the good wood....

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #51 on:** April 14, 2011, 10:53:06 PM »

Quote from: Jackie Tran on April 14, 2011, 06:07:11 AM

Some say don't use elm and others say it's okay. It's free so I'm not complaining. Would I be able to get up to temps of 800 or so with elm? Or would it be a futile effort? I'd like to know before I spend the effort of bringing too much of it back to my yard.

I'm confused. Spend $1000's on a ODK, put tireless effort into your dough, and then not spend a couple bucks to have the wood you want? Why? I can get a 1/2 cord of seasoned oak here for $90. Pecan for $120. Is it that much more other places?

CL

widespreadpizza · « **Reply #52 on:** April 14, 2011, 11:06:15 PM »

Craig, It sounds crazy, but as I told Chau earlier, I dont like burning money, which is what I equate burning wood with. I have no problem with the investments to get there, but when the fuel has little to no direct effect on the finished product, why spend the money. I have burned ash,red oak, maple, poplar, birch, hickory, apple, white oak, pine during warmup, and I am sure a couple others that are slipping my mind right now, and none have ever come close to giving me this wood tastes good, or this wood sucks. IMO it is nothing like BBQ, there is very very litle flavor contribution to a pizza given to it from the wood. When you get yours going you will see the line between smoke and superheated air about 5 inches off your oven floor. There is just no smoke there. As long as you wood is dry, and you have plenty of it, you should be happy. The one disclaimer I have is that there may be some noxious wood out there that I have not encountered that will add an undesireable tatse to pizza, but i have not found it. Thats all I got. -marc

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #53 on:** April 14, 2011, 11:18:48 PM »

Quote from: TXCraig1 on April 14, 2011, 10:53:06 PM

I'm confused. Spend $1000's on a ODK, put tireless effort into your dough, and then not spend a couple bucks to have the wood you want? Why? I can get a 1/2 cord of seasoned oak here for $90. Pecan for $120. Is it that much more other places?

CL

Craig, the cost of wood varies from state to state as you well know. If I could get a cord of seasoned oak for $180, we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now.

Here's the current affair on hardwoods in Albuquerque. There is only 1 person that has 1/2 cord of oak 20 miles away for $180 pick up. I have no trailer or truck. I could rent one but am looking at other options first.

One other guy has some oak but is only selling it to folks for smoking. He is selling it by the cubic foot and wants around $1200 a cord. I'm not kidding you either.

Bill has some contacts in SF, but I haven't inquired about delivery to Albuquerque. It's about $350 a cord. Not bad.

The only other hardwoods available for sale through CL in Alb. right now is a guy that has elm for $290 a cord. He also has a mulberry tree that is down but he hasn't processed it yet. Once he does, I'll buy what he has of it for $160 per half cord or $290/cord. But right at this moment he hasn't processed it yet.

So my options right now are either pay $290 for a cord of elm, or get it for free. What would you do?

If the free elm doesn't work out then I'll likely look into having oak delivered from SF if they deliver to Albuquerque.

I plan on buying hardwoods where and when I can, but if I can get free elm to warm the oven up and then cook with oak or mulberry, why would I not do that?

Chau

BrickStoneOven · « **Reply #54 on:** April 14, 2011, 11:22:38 PM »

Quote from: TXCraig1 on April 14, 2011, 10:53:06 PM

I can get a 1/2 cord of seasoned oak here for $90. Is it that much more other places?

Holy crap really $90 for 1/2 cord of oak. I wish I lived in TX. It was like $400 for a cord of oak. Friggin MA everything is so damn expensive here.

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #55 on:** April 14, 2011, 11:23:29 PM »

Marc,

You've found split, seasoned wood for free? If so, at what cost of your time?

Pine doesn't leave tar in your oven?

CL

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #56 on:** April 15, 2011, 12:02:16 AM »

Please forgive me. I sometimes (often) forget there is a world outside of Texas

I feel your pain. I do. I have at least 10 places within 30 miles where I can get a 1/2 cord of oak for less than $150 - most places are well under that. And, most of us have a truck (even the docs) to pick things up and move them around. And, that's just if I need it now.

When I'm at my deer lease in West TX, I can get all the seasoned pecan and mesquite I want for free (every year before I leave, I cut down enough trees for the next year and let them dry for the following year). Or, I can drive to my parents place in East TX and get all the green oak, cherry, and hickory (and pine of course) I want for free. I just have to cut and split it (and wait for a year to use it). I have 2 huge downed oaks waiting on my chainsaw right now. No rot, perfectly white, perfectly straight grained oak. Bonus, dad had a hydraulic splitter.

Here's a couple cords of pecan at the every day low price of $0 - each enough firewood for a 4-day hunt. Yes, we burn at least 1/4 cord of wood in the fire every day of the hunt - sometimes a lot more than that. I almost feel guilty after hearing what you guys have to pay for wood

Bonus 2, the boys are getting big enough to do some of the work.

CL

TXCraig1 · « **Reply #57 on:** April 15, 2011, 12:21:25 AM »

Quote from: Jackie Tran on April 14, 2011, 11:18:48 PM

Here's the current affair on hardwoods in Albuquerque. There is only 1 person that has 1/2 cord of oak 20 miles away for $180 pick up. I have no trailer or truck. I could rent one but am looking at other options first.

If it comes down to renting a truck, you might check out Home Depot. I've seen trucks parked at the stores down here with signs saying you can rent them by the hour for $19 if I remember right.

CL

Jackie Tran · « **Reply #58 on:** April 15, 2011, 12:57:51 AM »

I'll check into that but not hopeful. When we moved in our current house last year, we had a bunch of boxes and garbage that needed to go to the city dump. I rented one of the smaller uhauls for 3-4 hours for $75.

You are so lucky to get pecan for free. That is my favorite smoking wood.

Craig, check out this listing and tell me what you think.

http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/for/2280045746.html

He's not interested in delivering but the stack is 4' high by 8' long. 18-22" wide. 1800-2200 lbs. The dimensions sound like 1/2 cord to me. $360/cord not delivered doesn't sound like a deal though. If I am wrong about the the quantity and it's closer to 3/4 or a full cord then maybe I can offer him more for delivery. Is the weight consistent with a 1/2 cord or does that sound like more than 1/2cord of oak?

Thanks,
Chau

wheelman · « **Reply #59 on:** April 15, 2011, 09:12:54 AM »

1/2 cord - 4'x2'x8'.

pecan is my favorite too. i switch to that after i get the oven all ready to go with oak and hickory. I'll also agree that i can't tell the difference in taste from any kind of hardwood in the WFO.
bill