# Crabapple Wood



## blackhawk19 (Jul 26, 2007)

I have read on the forum that this is good for smoking. My son cut down a 
crabapple tree in his Mother-in-Law's yard and he brought me a lot of the wood. My question is how long do I have to let it dry out before it is suitable
for making smoke. I'm going to cut it in small chunks.


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## monty (Jul 26, 2007)

Crabapple is excellent for smoking. I used it with great success just recently. Good flavor and balance.

A living tree, cut during the growing season, will require six to twelve months of seasoning if the pieces are left whole.

My advice would be to cut it into pieces no longer than four feet and stack it loosely so that it will air dry. This will shorten the process greatly. When the ends of the pieces show "checking", which is all those lines opening up in the end grain, the wood is usable.

A good test also is to bang two pieces together. If you get a dull "thud" and little recoil from the pieces it is too wet. If the pieces come together with a clear tone and bounce away from each other they are dry enough to use.

Hope this helps!
Cheers!


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## ultramag (Jul 26, 2007)

At least 6 months. Like srmonty said you can vary the amount of time it takes to season quite a bit by the sizes of logs and pieces you cut it into. I would cut some smaller and split them to season quicker if I wanted to use it soon and leave some bigger unsplit pieces that would season slower. This will extend it's useful life somewhat since it sounds like you made a pretty good haul.


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## monty (Jul 26, 2007)

I would also caution against cutting it all up small immediately! It may dry faster but then you will have to be very careful about storage so as not to end up with moldy wood. Not to mention that critters enjoy all the little crawl spaces in a pile of little chunks of wood.

Cheers!


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## blackhawk19 (Jul 26, 2007)

Thanks for the advice, I had been thinking only 2-3 months, I will cut up some small to dry quickly and let the rest cure on it's own schedule


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## smokebuzz (Jul 27, 2007)

I mix in green wood alot with dried oak with great success, i ate apples of a tree 1 weekend, and smoked with the wood the next weekend, got blown over in a storm. if you are using it as your primary fire source, then you will have to season it.


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