Chipping Wood

[kevin13]

Has anyone chipped wood to use in your smoker? I have a 30" MES that typically does best with wood chips and I just stumbled across the chance to get some freshly cut cherry wood.

What would you use? Maybe a chisel or a bandsaw to cut into small pieces? Any info. is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[travcoman45]

I chunk mine out with an old miter saw, then ya could just keep splittin the pieces till ya get what ya wan't.

Fer my chips, I got a 8 horse chipper that I run the small stuff through. Course I process a fair amount a wood each year so there's always sumtin ta do.

 

[meat hunter]

Cherry is a good score for sure. But using a chisel would take forever. A bandsaw would be better if no other options are available. Cut it into small disks maybe. Know anyone that has a wood chipper? Make short work of that wood. Borrow it in exchange for some smoked meats

Don't use a chainsaw, as you know the oil from the bar will get on it.

 

[kevin13]

I have a friend that might have a chipper, not sure...just have to ask. Anything I need to watch out for? Do you just pick the chips off the ground or bag them directly off the chute?

Regardless of method used, do I need to remove the bark? Does it impart any unwanted flavors?

 

[ronp]

That should work either way, Piney sent me some pecan that was done on a band saw I believe and they worked fine.

 

[hemi]

To be honest with U when I want chips for a cookin' I just cut 2-3 inch sections of wood with a saw and then I pull up a stump, sit down and
just use a hatchet to split it into small slivers. don't take long and if you see something U don't like, U throw it out.. Hemi..

 

[smokingohiobutcher]

Quote
[Don't use a chainsaw, as you know the oil from the bar will get on it.]


Bearcarver told me it would be ok to use a chainsaw as long as you clean out the bar oil tank and use any kind of food grade oil as your bar oil. such as veggie oil, canola oil, ect.
I haven't tried it yet but he should know.

SOB

 

[travcoman45]

Just try ta make sure there ain't no leaves on it.

I built a wood box I blow mine inta. Ya could rig up somthin usin a tarp so ya don't get no dirt an contain em some. Wood chipper works great, anythin an inch er under I chip, over that I chunk er split when we get up over bout 2 1/2 inchs.

Buy yer self a cheap electric chainsaw, use vegi oil an all will be well. Or ya can get a sawzall an do it that way to.

 

[kevin13]

Great, thanks for the info.

Is there an issue with leaving the bark on?

 

[smokinsteve]

I have a question about this.  Does it make a difference what OTHER wood may have been put through the chipper?  I know any conifer wood is a no-no.  The chipper I have access to has probably run just about every kind of wood there is through it.  Will that affect the chips come out?

 

[michael ark]

I use compound miter saw.I don't worry about saw oil from a chain saw cause i season my wood outside and after a Autumn of rain a winter of rain and snow and a spring of more rain any oil left is gone.

 

[alblancher]

Smokin Steve,

Are you in Hazmat like your Avatar indicates?  You probably know more about chemistry  then any of us on this board.  I would think that if your chipper was cutting pine for a couple of weeks straight it would have a pretty serious sap build up on the blades and chutes.  You may pickup a bit of that on anything you run through it, but I doubt there would be enough to make a difference in flavor.  Especially after the first couple of pieces.   I think the big problem with softwoods is that they burn too fast and the sap gives an off flavor to your food.  I would be surprised that there are any true medical reasons to not have a bit of pine in the smoke.

 

[bbq phil]

Anybody use wood slats from old wine kegs?

 

[captturbo]

I have been making most of my own chips for quite a while. have a particularly sweet machine for it. It's an early 90s Super Tomahawk from TroyBilt. 8HP with a chipper chute and 16 swinging flails for the shredder chamber.

I don't think you have to worry about other woods being previously chipped. The machines self clean when chipping anything. I do chip some ponderosa pine from time to time for property maintanence. I even run untold tons of horse bedding through the shredder chamber regularly and have no worries about fouling the wood chips.

Before I actually chip wood for my smoker (which is usually sea grape or button wood) I run a partial limb of sea grape through the machine. The wood flying around in the drum vilolently cleans everything out of there. Once that is done I position a 32 gallon trash can in front of the discharge chute to collect the product and feed in the limbs for the mission. I can make a year's supply of smoking chips in a couple short minutes. These chips are perfect for the MES 30 and I'm sure they would work in other smokers just fine as well. Unfortunately I don't think they would work in that AMAZN contraption since they are not all uniform in size as is sawdust.  bet I could screen out the larger particles and have a mix that might work though. Hmmm. Wish I had one to borrow to confirm that idea.

 

[shamong9]

Kevin13, I think you should age the cherry before chip and you use it.  I do some wood working, and have a plainer that i have tried on some black walnut. I hope the walnut is good, I normal use apple, cherry, and mesquite.

 

[tjohnson]

Tree chipping and planing are 2 different things

Trees and limbs are chipped while wet and then dried.

Dry wood is really tough on chipper blades.

TJ

 

[doctord1955]

i have been using my sears woodchipper for years to make wood chips

built a 4x8 frame covered it with hardware cloth and have it up on milk crates so i can dry wood chips

 

[smoker21]

Cherry wood is great to smoke with!  I also use a miter saw to cut the size pieces I want.

Enjoy!!

JD

 

[SmokinAl]

I use a chop saw to cut splits into chunks.

It's a lot cheaper than just buying chunks.

 

[new 2 da que]

Great thread!  I have an apple and cherry tree in my back yard and have always wanted to use the limbs as my smoking wood.  So, it sounds like  we need to season the wood first, then cut limbs 2-3 inches long, then chip with a hatchet.  I hear any fruit tree works - has anyone smoked with peach??  I have a peach tree in the back too!