# Maple wood info needed



## smokesalittle (May 28, 2013)

I have a good supply of maple trees on my property and I am going to start trimming them for use in my smoker. I have read tons of post on here about maple wood and how great it is for smoking, but have not found any information on curing it or not curing it. I know obviously cured wood is optimal but is there any down fall to using it green? I suppose if it has to be cured for 6 to 9 months or until the ends start to crack as I read in one post, I can go back to buying wood for this year but if I have free wood on my property it would be really good if I could use it now.


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## woodcutter (May 28, 2013)

Green wood doesn't work very well. You do need to season it. Maple will season in 9 months if it is in a sunny and windy spot. Splitting it also helps. I split pieces to under 4" so my table saw can cut them into pieces about 1 1/2" thick. This also speeds up the drying.


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## smokesalittle (May 28, 2013)

Just wondering I have used green hickory before and it worked ok other than burning slower is that the problem with green maple?


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## woodcutter (May 28, 2013)

Smokesalittle said:


> Just wondering I have used green hickory before and it worked ok other than burning slower is that the problem with green maple?


To me it the smoke tastes different on the food. Maple sweetens the meat when it is dry and seems less sweet and maybe a little bitter with green maple.


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## mneeley490 (May 28, 2013)

Bitter, and green wood can exude nasty creosote.


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## cliffcarter (May 29, 2013)

If you are going to be using chunks of wood cut them 2-3 inches long and split them up 1 1/2-2 inches thick and store in a dry place, they will be ready to use in 4-5 weeks. Fire wood sized splits for an offset stick burner will take 6-8 months depending on the size you split them and drying conditions.


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## oldschoolbbq (May 29, 2013)

Smokesalittle , you _can_ burn green wood if you pre-burn it in a pit of sorts. This boils out the water content and thus the Creosote and Phenols as the gasses combust. The embers left from the pe-burn is geat for cooking and will give off only good smoke.













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__ oldschoolbbq
__ Jul 6, 2012





  a modded barrel like this will be a blessing when faced with GREN WOOD. A grid as this(#) of 4 rods about half way down the barrel and some holes for air , and you got it. Drop more logs in as they turn to embers .

A hole at the bottom will access the Embers for the Smoker FB. Watch the temp. from here and add coal as needed.

Good cooking and as always . ..


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## smokesalittle (May 31, 2013)

Well problem solved I ran across a guy yesterday that had cut down an 80' tall sugar maple 3 years ago and just happened to have about 10 or more cords of cured sawed and split wood and he gave me about a half a rick of some really nice stuff, this will last me until I can get some of mine cut and cured. He wanted nothing in return, I was really wanting this to smoke some buckboard bacon this weekend, been curing 10 days tomorrow so it is ready to smoke and I thought the maple would be worth trying I will take him a package of bacon in return for his kindness. In the mean time I have also found out my son has cut down a butternut tree so I will be picking up some of that to try as well, I believe this has been cut down for a year or more so it should be ready to go as well. Thanks for all of your comments, advice and suggestions for now the problem has been solved. Now I just need to find a source for some oak, cherry, apple and hickory, I have a ton of maple trees and other varieties but so far I have only located 1 lone hickory tree on my 3 acres and I am not willing to sacrifice that, I did find a couple that are about 1/2" around but it will be years before they are ready for the smoker so for now I will have to beg, barter or buy some.


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## mneeley490 (May 31, 2013)

Sugar maple is a great wood to smoke with. I use it on bacon and turkey.


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