# another newbee from florida...



## scorpio_fl (Dec 9, 2006)

I just built a smoker...and I think I'm messing up as I tried to use just oak wood...18 inches long, cut and split for a fire place...I need to go to charcoal and use the wood for smoke only, right???


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## bwsmith_2000 (Dec 9, 2006)

Scorpio,
     Acutally, you can do it either way. However, I suspect most of us use the combination of charcoal and wood chunks. To use the larger cuts of wood, you really need a primary fire and then the smoking fire. By that, I mean to establish a small fire on the side (SoFlaQuer has a great explanation of this along with pix. .... do the search button for "Burn Barrel." There's a sticky on it.) This is true wood smoking and is the way (a very long time ago) we all used to do BBQ. But now, it's less work and simpler to just get your charcoal going and put a few (ususlly soaked in water) chunks of your chosen wood on top for the smoke flavor. 

Also, welcome to the forum! Keep us posted often and send pictures when you can.


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## ultramag (Dec 9, 2006)

Welcome to SMF scorpio!!! You have any pics of the homegrown smoker to share?


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 9, 2006)

I can't get the pic to come up


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 9, 2006)

here we go


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## Dutch (Dec 10, 2006)

Welcome to SMF, scorpia. You say that your oak is split for fire place use. I'm assuming that this from an 18 log split into quarters?  If you plan on using the wood for flavor, you may want to split each quarter section in half lengthwise again. You want to use just enough wood to produce a thin blue/gray smoke. If you have a bellowing white cloud coming out of your smoke stack, you have too much wood on the fire. It will take some playing with the wood and fire to figure out just how much is enough.

Best of luck and keep us posted on how you're doing.


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 11, 2006)

hey dutch...I'm seeing what you're saying...I had to split the oak down more anyway to get it burning good...and the smoke coming out of the stack was billowing white...way too much smoke, even though it did my heart good  to see my smoker was doing a good job of smoking...but...sunday I took what I'd learned from this forum and tried to get a good fire going and learning to maintain the temp in the cooker, when I had the temp too high and closed off the air intake to the firebox the smoke went down to lightly wafting a little smoke(not billowing)...I'm still messing up aren't I??? shoutd I go to charcoat as the main heat and spice it up with the oak???still learning...But I'm going to get this...well gotta go take the second day of the e-course, thank-you for your reply...buddy b...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 11, 2006)

by the way...I have a 3ft by 12 in round  fire box under a 4ft by 20 in round cook tank. they are joined yy 7 in of 4 in pipe...not a small cooker...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 12, 2006)

bwsmith thank-you, gonna try to find soflaquer...what's a sticky?later...buddy b...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 12, 2006)

ultramag, thank-you...can't get the pic to come up...are you on messenger...If I could send you the pic maybe you could post it???later...buddy b...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 12, 2006)

lets try this again2


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## ultramag (Dec 12, 2006)

Yes I have messenger. If you want to send it I will post it for you. If you email it, please put in the subject line it is from SMF so I know it's OK.

[email protected]


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## msmith (Dec 12, 2006)

Welcome scorpio, im new to the site also and am learning a lot of new ideas here. Cant wait to see the pics of that smoker. Just wanted to say hi.

Marvin


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 13, 2006)

I think I got it...with a little help from a friend...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 13, 2006)

number two


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 13, 2006)

and three...this feels so good after all the frustration of not being able to send them...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 13, 2006)

mssmith...obviously not as pretty as yours, but I think it will work...


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## mctrick (Dec 13, 2006)

try to convince the chicken it a sauna and have him jump in.


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## msmith (Dec 14, 2006)

Scorpio it dont matter how it looks but how it cooks, thats a nice set up and it will cook as good as any around. Im very lucky to have the one ive got I have full acess to a metal shop thanks to a very good friend, thank you for the compliment. And happy smoking.

Marvin


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## Dutch (Dec 17, 2006)

scorpio-fl,

 Forums have three types of posts-Announcements, which are at the very top of the forum; Sticky's are topics that have been modified to remain 'stuck' at the top of the forum and usually contain information that is often requested and made a sticky by a moderator; and finally general posts, such as this one. Unless this topic is kept active, it will eventually fall off the main forum page and end up in what we call the "archives".


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 9, 2006)

I just built a smoker...and I think I'm messing up as I tried to use just oak wood...18 inches long, cut and split for a fire place...I need to go to charcoal and use the wood for smoke only, right???


----------



## bwsmith_2000 (Dec 9, 2006)

Scorpio,
     Acutally, you can do it either way. However, I suspect most of us use the combination of charcoal and wood chunks. To use the larger cuts of wood, you really need a primary fire and then the smoking fire. By that, I mean to establish a small fire on the side (SoFlaQuer has a great explanation of this along with pix. .... do the search button for "Burn Barrel." There's a sticky on it.) This is true wood smoking and is the way (a very long time ago) we all used to do BBQ. But now, it's less work and simpler to just get your charcoal going and put a few (ususlly soaked in water) chunks of your chosen wood on top for the smoke flavor. 

Also, welcome to the forum! Keep us posted often and send pictures when you can.


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## ultramag (Dec 9, 2006)

Welcome to SMF scorpio!!! You have any pics of the homegrown smoker to share?


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 9, 2006)

I can't get the pic to come up


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 9, 2006)

here we go


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## Dutch (Dec 10, 2006)

Welcome to SMF, scorpia. You say that your oak is split for fire place use. I'm assuming that this from an 18 log split into quarters?  If you plan on using the wood for flavor, you may want to split each quarter section in half lengthwise again. You want to use just enough wood to produce a thin blue/gray smoke. If you have a bellowing white cloud coming out of your smoke stack, you have too much wood on the fire. It will take some playing with the wood and fire to figure out just how much is enough.

Best of luck and keep us posted on how you're doing.


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 11, 2006)

hey dutch...I'm seeing what you're saying...I had to split the oak down more anyway to get it burning good...and the smoke coming out of the stack was billowing white...way too much smoke, even though it did my heart good  to see my smoker was doing a good job of smoking...but...sunday I took what I'd learned from this forum and tried to get a good fire going and learning to maintain the temp in the cooker, when I had the temp too high and closed off the air intake to the firebox the smoke went down to lightly wafting a little smoke(not billowing)...I'm still messing up aren't I??? shoutd I go to charcoat as the main heat and spice it up with the oak???still learning...But I'm going to get this...well gotta go take the second day of the e-course, thank-you for your reply...buddy b...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 11, 2006)

by the way...I have a 3ft by 12 in round  fire box under a 4ft by 20 in round cook tank. they are joined yy 7 in of 4 in pipe...not a small cooker...


----------



## scorpio_fl (Dec 12, 2006)

bwsmith thank-you, gonna try to find soflaquer...what's a sticky?later...buddy b...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 12, 2006)

ultramag, thank-you...can't get the pic to come up...are you on messenger...If I could send you the pic maybe you could post it???later...buddy b...


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 12, 2006)

lets try this again2


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## ultramag (Dec 12, 2006)

Yes I have messenger. If you want to send it I will post it for you. If you email it, please put in the subject line it is from SMF so I know it's OK.

[email protected]


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## msmith (Dec 12, 2006)

Welcome scorpio, im new to the site also and am learning a lot of new ideas here. Cant wait to see the pics of that smoker. Just wanted to say hi.

Marvin


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 13, 2006)

I think I got it...with a little help from a friend...


----------



## scorpio_fl (Dec 13, 2006)

number two


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## scorpio_fl (Dec 13, 2006)

and three...this feels so good after all the frustration of not being able to send them...


----------



## scorpio_fl (Dec 13, 2006)

mssmith...obviously not as pretty as yours, but I think it will work...


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## mctrick (Dec 13, 2006)

try to convince the chicken it a sauna and have him jump in.


----------



## msmith (Dec 14, 2006)

Scorpio it dont matter how it looks but how it cooks, thats a nice set up and it will cook as good as any around. Im very lucky to have the one ive got I have full acess to a metal shop thanks to a very good friend, thank you for the compliment. And happy smoking.

Marvin


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## Dutch (Dec 17, 2006)

scorpio-fl,

 Forums have three types of posts-Announcements, which are at the very top of the forum; Sticky's are topics that have been modified to remain 'stuck' at the top of the forum and usually contain information that is often requested and made a sticky by a moderator; and finally general posts, such as this one. Unless this topic is kept active, it will eventually fall off the main forum page and end up in what we call the "archives".


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