Desert wood for cooking?

[Singe]

Does anyone have any experience using hard, slow-growing desert wood (also known as grease wood, iron wood) in a WFO? (I'm from the Mojave Desert, southwestern US.) A friend in the know recommends walnut as optimal, but I'm big into local resources/bioregionalism. And procuring walnut wood is outta my budget. This desert stuff burns hot and sooty; I can guess the outcome, but would love some experiential input. Thanks!

[Greenman]

Re: Desert wood for cooking?

We have some slow growing extremely hard woods in central Australia. One is also called Ironwood and they all burn hot and slow. I have been thinking of bringing back a load next time I travel that way. You mentioned that yours burn sooty, it might be worth a try to see how they burn in the much hotter fire generated in a WFO.

Let us know how you go.