Choosing and finding wood

[Archena]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

The use of "Seasoned Wood" . What is seasoned wood, I thought it was wood that has been allowed to air dry for a few months or was heat dried for some commercial use. How do you manage to dry large amounts of wood for a wfo? I know I do not have a oven yet, but from what I read you that do enjoy yours on a regular basis.

Seasoned = air dried

Fireplace Lowdown: Seasoned Wood, What Does That Mean?

Buy a truck and hit Selma in a couple of months - you will find a year's worth of wood on curb sides waiting for pick up. WA lot of people get old trees cut in late winter/ early spring while the leaves are still off. Dead trees are available year round, of course! :teeth:

Seriously, over on the west side toward Orrville I used to see massive amounts of wood waiting for the garbage pickup.

[Archena]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Coolness!

In Alabama, you usually see wood in the fall or spring when people are either trimming (Fall) or cutting down (Spring). Actually, the majority of the bulk in land fills here is wood from homeowners. After I retire, I'd love to get a portable saw mill and just go around sawing up the big trunks. You see some nice specimens go wanting and a heck of a lot of perfectly good firewood go to waste.

[david s]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I had a Lychee tree lopped recently and asked the guys to leave me some short lengths to split. It is beautiful dense burning wood. I'm sure if anyone contacted these guys you'd be able to get free or cheap wood, but you need to leave it for a year before burning.Get it cut to short lengths so it's easier to split.

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I got home this evening and saw the my neighbour had got the council around to lop the gum tree outside his house. Stacked neatly (for collection tomorrow) was a whole bunch of very nice wood. He was happy for me to take it so I popped around and dragged all of the big bits to my front garden and cut them up into decent lengths for drying and burning in the WFO.

It will need a few months to dry properly and I will remove and split the wood later so that it dries right through. We are coming up to the hottest month in the year so it should hopefully not take too long to reach the burning stage.

As there are about 600 different varieties of Gum trees in Australia I have no idea which variety this is. I'm guessing it could be red gum based on the colour but all the gums are hardwoods so all would be suitable for use in the WFO.

So, always be on the lookout for wood suitable for use in the WFO - there seems to be quite a bit out there going begging. We are due for a bulk rubbish collection here (council collects junk and garden waste like bushes and wood from your house) so I may just have a quick look around the neighbourhood over the weekend and see if I can find any more which I can grab for free.

Rossco

[BurntFingers]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Even though I "age" my firewood for the house wood burning appliances-cook stove, fireplace and multi-fuel furnace and WFO for at least a year. After firing the WFO and baking I load the oven with enough wood for starting the next fire. The residual heat in the oven further dries out the wood so it starts quickly. I use a patterned layer around the perimeter of the oven and a stack in the center. The wood I use is about the size of my arm from wrist to elbow and the same diameter. It is not too big nor is it too small. I light the center and the perimeter catches on shortly after that. The oven is almost up to temperature when that layer is all burning and glowing coals. I add more wood then check the temperature of the center hearth. If it is up to temperature. i.e. browns a handful of flour thrown in, I start forming my pizza's.

[nandj1966]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

The use of "Seasoned Wood" . What is seasoned wood, I thought it was wood that has been allowed to air dry for a few months or was heat dried for some commercial use. How do you manage to dry large amounts of wood for a wfo? I know I do not have a oven yet, but from what I read you that do enjoy yours on a regular basis.

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

There is no doubt there is "good" and "bad" wood in relation to WFO fires. I think key factors that would affect it's good/bad rating are density, moisture content and impurities in the wood. To demonstrate this - have you ever tried to barbeque using wood that doesn't reatin heat and burns too quickly/smokes (impurities)? I certainly have and it's not fun at all and can even taint the meat.

There is no difference if the wood is burned in a BBQ or a WFO - it's properties should remain the same.

Just consider the top pizza restaurants for a moment. Given that they run their operations for profit, do you not think that they would use cheaper woods if they produced the same results as more expensive wood types? I'm sure they would if it was in their interest to do so - but of course they don't. They know that the quality of the wood is an integral element of the WFO cooking process.

Rossco

[Fairview WFO]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Me too! that's why I hired out the stone veneer work. I figured I'd handle the ugly stuff that gets covered up. After I finished the oven dome and wood pergolla I was worn out anyway. Here's a pic of the guys laying it up.

[BurntFingers]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

That is some really nice stone work beautifully done. I wish I had that kind of diy talent.
Bill

[Fairview WFO]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Ah, 3 doors, I like the idea of a wood door to dry wood in between firings. I also still need a door during firings as I've only made one for baking so far.

[BurntFingers]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Hey gang-
This is my first post as a part of the community. I am going to build this spring and hopefully enjoy my oven this summer, but I am intrigued by the wood supply. I live in Oregon where fir and pine are plentiful and everyone uses them in their wood stoves. Are these not good for ovens as well? Or is it a case of- use what you want but some is better? Thanks for the help.
Thom

Welcome to the board. In the US as far as I know, all clean dry not-chemically treated wood per pound gives off the same heat which is about 7 to 8 thousand BTU's. See: http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f16/...wood-9872.html for more posts on this topic. The difference is the amount (pounds or kilos) of wood needed to reach the desired temperatures for pizza or baking.

With reference to the door issue. Some WFO people have multiple doors. I have 3 each with a different purpose. An inner door (steel and insulated) for bread baking or roasting with no fire. An outer door (vented) to build up heat with a roaring fire. A wooden inner door to use to dry wood between firings.
Bill

[RTflorida]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

Rossco, I have to agree with you on the wood. Not all free wood is good wood. I picked up a ton of free kiln dried scraps that came from molding and door plants here in FL. I guess this group of guys tried to make a new ecco friendly fire log from these scraps, and failed. Long story short.....50% of the wood I picked was poplar. I knew that poplar tends to smoke a little so I only chose the smaller 1x1s, 1x2s, and 2x2s to use for the initial start up. Man, was I wrong about 'a little smoke'....this crap is nasty, acrid black smoke that continues to pour out of the oven even when it is up to temp.
It may have been free but was certainly a mistake. I will porbably have to pay to get someone to get it out of here. I'm sticking with the woods I know - oak (no swamp oak), hickory, citrus and other fruit trees.
Maybe you can help with this one - Australian Pine, several wood suppliers sell it here, they call it iron wood and say it burns long, hot, and clean. One supplier even has references from several Miami restaurants that burn it. It is not a native species here (considered a pest) and is becoming readily available. I don't know much more, other than it is not in the same family as the soft pines native to America. IS this a true Aussie tree as the name implies? Any experience burning it?
These guys get a premium price for it, so I don't want to waste money of more smokey garbage.

RT

[heliman]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I don't use pine type wood in my oven. Last time I did I got a tar residue running down the SS flue and it was really difficult to get off. That wood had been seasoned 5 years so it would appear that the impurities are contained within the wood itself and no amount of seasoning would fix this.

That being said, I like spend a bit more to get the right wood and I have to say it's worth every cent spent. It sounds like false economy to buy the cheapest wood available just because it would "burn" and "give off heat".

Rossco

[Spunkoid]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

I burn mostly Pine, pretty much because it is readily available. I have been known to burn a lot of lumber scraps as well... The key is to make sure the wood is seasoned and dry. I can get the oven pretty much as hot as I want it, just build a bigger fire.... The denser the wood, the hotter it burns but you can compensate to a degree by building a larger fire. You probably have more choice than you realize considering the area you live. My grandparents burnt mostly spruce and poplar in their oven on thier homestead way back in the day....

[peter]

Re: Choosing and finding wood

You wil find that the harder the wood the better the heat. Generally the conifer family of woods provide great amounts of smoke and tar. As time progresses and you are able to build a fairly decent stock you may like to start with a softer wood and then progress to harder wood to "finish off" the heat. I.E. you can go so far with softer wood and the harder ones take you to the heat threshold you ultimately want.
Hope this helps
Peter
Michigan