Choosing and finding wood

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I just started firing my oven and noticed this post. I am a small furniture manufacture and always have a barrel of 4-5" pieced near the chop saw. Since there is no aftermarket for recycling this product, it goes in the trash. We use primarily alder which has worked great in the oven.

Check your area for local furniture or cabinet shops and I'm certain they would rather give it to you as apposed to paying to have it hauled off in the trash.

Is this wood not treated with chemicals thereby making it unsuitable for use in the WFO?

I only use super dry wood straight from the bush which I know does not contain any contaminants - as attractive as the idea of recycling and cost saving is...

[Archena]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I doubt it's treated unless they're making outdoor furniture with PTL for some reason.

[pacificfurn]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Rarely is lumber treated before it is made into furniture. We manufacture upholstered furniture and the lumber is kiln dried and dimensioned. Makes for a hot fire with no pops

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Thanks for clarifying!

I'll look into this option locally then. It would definitely be good to as (at least) a supplement to the main wood supply.

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Just a cautionary note for any Aussies are using Mallee Roots (mentioned in my earlier post) in a WFO. I added 2 pieces of it to my oven this afternoon at about 5 pm and the fire got ridiculously hot and I struggled to get the temp down from over 500 C (932 F). The underside of the pizzas were actually burning within 15 seconds of being added to the oven! I even tried a damp mop to try and get the heat down but to no avail. I would suggest sticking to White Gum (Wandoo) as a safer option, with Mallee added in small quantities for a hotter, longer burning fire.

[GotRocks]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Hey guys,

I am new to the forum, and I do not have a WFO yet. But it is in my plans for commercial use. Hence me reading this forum.

I do have a catering business where we specialize in wood-fired BBQ. we use mobile BBQ pits and cook with 100% wood for all our products. So I know a bit about cooking with wood.

Milled lumber scraps may be good for kindling, but they are not going to be your best heating woods. The reason being is the moisture content is too low, the wood gives up it's smoke to early and your not getting to use the full combustion of that smoke. You may notice increased fuel usage and lower temps from mill-scraps. They may also have been treated with a fungicide or insecticide. I just would not feel comfortable using it for my food.

I prefer moisture contents between 18%-22%, I burn red Oak, and sugar/hard maple because that is what is what I have in abundance. I pay $75.00 per full-cord (128 cu-ft) in 10-cord loads, of 8' length logs, I cut, split, stack & season it myself. if I order cut,split & delivered, I see anywhere from $160-$180/cord (4'x4'x8' stack)

A wood moisture meter is a great way to check how dry your wood is, but by simply knocking 2 split pieces of split wood together you can tell if it is ready to burn. it should sound like a baseball hitting a bat. if you get a dull thud, it is not ready. If you use a meter, split the piece in half that you want to check so you can get at the middle for a more accurate reading.


Oak likes to hold its water, I commonly see 24-36 months of aging before I can cook with it. Stack it in the sun, make sure you have enough room between stacks for airflow on all sides and it helps if you stack it off the ground too.

Maple is usually ready to cook with after sitting cut & split for 12 months.

When you drop a tree, keep the leaves on for a few weeks, this helps get some water out by the natural capillary action through the wood.

I can usually tell if wood is ready to burn by feel alone, when it is getting ready to cook with, you'll also see cracks in the end grain and that is a good sign you're getting close and it should get the smack-test.

PALLETS? no way, no how! they are treated with insecticides and fungicides to stop the spread of invasive species, I would not use them in any equipment I plan to cook in, not even for kindling.

Maple creates tons of coals and a heavy ash, oak creates lots of live flame with little coals, and little ash. I mix 60/40 for the desirable qualities of both.

If you are forced to purchase wood, know your legal terminology, descriptions like "ricks, racks, face cords, & loads" should be avoided, stick with full cords or fractions of full cords for measurements of volume of wood.

if you order 1/3rd of a cord, you should have a stack 8'wide, 4' tall, of 16" splits. 1/4 of a cord has the same stack dimensions, but the wood is cut at 12" lengths.

A standard 1/2-ton pick-up truck bed holds right about 1/4 of a cord if stacked neatly up to the bed rails, with 2 armloads extra to make up for the wheelwell space lost, This will also be your maximum payload weight too.

So if someone tries to call a pick-up truck load a full cord, they are lying to you, because it could not physically hold it, and the weight of a cord of seasoned hardwood is darn near 4,000 pounds. if it is fresh cut, it could weigh near 6,000 pounds.

I am mentioning this because there are people commonly calling fractions of cords full cords by mistake. the legal terminology for wood as a commodity are set up by the fed, and each states "Weights & Means" statutes, and the only legal measurement is cord and fractions of cords, Pay attention, do not get ripped off.

I had a guy quote me $120/cord for split, delivered hardwood 2 years ago, I said "I'll take 10 cords right now" we arranged for delivery and he showed up in a 1/2-ton truck and called that a full cord. I said do not even bother unloading it. He argued with me and stacked it to prove his point, and the stack dimensions came out real near 1/4th of a cord. I gave him $30.00 cash for that load right at his asking price, then I asked if he still wanted to bring the other 29 loads. He declined for obvious reasons. When He originally quoted that price, I asked if he was referring to full cords, not fractions of a cord. He said $120/full cord, cut split & delivered" He obviously did not know what a full cord was.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

That makes metric look so much more user friendly.
At least you can see straight away if its a cubic metre or not without getting the tables book out..

[GotRocks]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

That makes metric look so much more user friendly.
At least you can see straight away if its a cubic metre or not without getting the tables book out..

What is the metric equivalent of a cord of wood?
My friends in Canada use "Cordwood" terminolgy too, and they are fully metric in their country.

I do not think there is a metric equivalent measurement for firewood, if there is, could you please post it so I can learn it, thanks.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

They sell firewood here by the cubic Metre, when it arrives, or when you have stacked it, it is easy to see if its a metre or not..
I doesnt matter what length the wood is.

[Archena]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

? Wouldn't a 2 meter length kinda throw off the whole 'cubic' part?

Seriously, I don't get what you mean by "I [sic] doesnt matter what length the wood is."

[brickie in oz]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I think you are all thinking too hard about Metric?

Cut the 2M length in half, even in if just in theory, its still part of a cubic Metre..

Metric is far easier to work out once you get your head around it, in fact its 12 times easier.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

What is the metric equivalent of a cord of wood?

1 Cubic Metre is about 36 cu ft

I pay $75.00 per full-cord (128 cu-ft)

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Australian Bottlebrush....

I helped a neighbour cut down a Bottlebrush tree in his front garden today and he offered me some of the wood for the WFO.

It was a dense wood and a lot drier than the gum that I got recently.

Just wondering if anyone has used Australian Bottlebrush in a WFO.

[Archena]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Um, no, I get cubic measure, metric or standard. It's the 'length doesn't matter' part that makes no sense. It matters if for no other reason than a large pile of random lengths would be nearly impossible to organize let alone visualize into a cube.

A cord is merely 4' x 8' x 16" - nothing difficult to visualize there if you're used to standard. A cubic meter is just 1m x 1m x 1m - also easy to visualize, granted, but a much smaller mass.

[GotRocks]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Um, no, I get cubic measure, metric or standard. It's the 'length doesn't matter' part that makes no sense. It matters if for no other reason than a large pile of random lengths would be nearly impossible to organize let alone visualize into a cube.

A cord is merely 4' x 8' x 16" - nothing difficult to visualize there if you're used to standard. A cubic meter is just 1m x 1m x 1m - also easy to visualize, granted, but a much smaller mass.

I am not trying to bust balls, but your measurements posted are only 1/3rd of a cord.