Chainsaw and wood

check with your local sawmills....probably have a lot of slabs for free.

I love my chainsaws. I have several. They are kept under lock and key. Probably the most dangerous tools I own (other than screwdrivers, always manage to stab myself with those things). Unless you have access to a forest, it may not be the best tool for your situation. As JPW23 said, check around with local sources. I have a local firewood supplier that sorts out all of the oak and hard maple for me. It's a much appreciated effort on his part. His supply is greater than demand. I offer a little extra cash for the sorting, we got a good thing going on. Going rate in my area is 75 to 80 bucks for a pickup load. I pay $85 for a sorted load. He loads it in my truck with a skidloader. My truck is an old beat up 1988 F250. No problem with the lift and dump technique.

What's a sawmill?

Oak IS a prefered smoking wood!! :-D

I've got a 16" gas and 14" electric that have fulfilled my need for cutting power. I have local availability for lots of oak.

Tim, up in Marianna, FL, keeps me supplied with pecan, hickory, and the occassional plum/peach/etc.

When I don't have pecan or hickory I use straight oak...I personally like oak. It gives a nice flavor and color without much chance of bitterness.

chad said:

Oak IS a prefered smoking wood!! :-D


When I don't have pecan or hickory I use straight oak...I personally like oak. It gives a nice flavor and color without much chance of bitterness.

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I concur. Clean burn with oak will serve you well.

mbowker641 said:

Sorry, didn't mean to dis oak. Just looking to try some different woods. Also, when people refer to cherry, do they mean the fruit wood or the furniture cherry?

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You ain't really gonna burn up Aunt Em's china hutch are ya:twisted: :biggrin:?
Dave

If you are just going to cut wood for smoking and maybe a few limbs around the yard you do not need anything expensive.

Wildcat said:

If you are just going to cut wood for smoking and maybe a few limbs around the yard you do not need anything expensive.

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Agree. I've done both the gas and electric chainsaws, and if you are doing light duty around your property and cutting smoking fuel, I prefer the electric. Less maintenance, and cheap. No chemistry [mixing oil and gas]. If you don't do the tune-ups etc, you can buy a new electric for what a visit to the service shop costs for a gas unit.

True about the electric, they do tend to be under powered but they smell a lot better and are virtually maintenance free. I have had a quality Homelite and had cut many a cord of wood with it until it bought the farm (intake manifold cracked) and have yet to replace it. Here in North Texas you can buy a big sack of wood for next to nothing and cut it up with a band saw or table saw or whatever you have available.

MBowker I would contact someone like Uncle Johns up in St. Johns for some apple wood. Cherry wood im not sure. Crack the yellow pages and look for orchards. Otherwise contact some Tree Trimming services and tell them what your looking for.

Never used any cherry "fruit tree" wood, but the other cherry tree wood works great. Seems milder than hickory to me.

I generally cut between 4-6 cords of wood a year and my Stihl MS290 serves me well.

Soapbox....as Kevin said, I cannot stress how dangerous these things are. I have had some very close calls and all because I was doing something stupid and I knew better. Rule of thumb, if for even a second you don't think it's a good idea, don't do it. These are one of the few tools I don't loan out. If someone needs something cut, I'm more than happy to go do it for them and not have to worry about them either tearing up my saw or themselves. End soapbox.

I don't know if this will help but I have several sources I get my wood from. I get slabs from a sawmill. My buddy owns a 10 ton dumptruck and me and a few neighbors give him gas money and a case of beer and he'll haul a load to our place. It's a crapshoot with that stuff though, sometimes you get some good stuff, sometimes not. But if you have a keen eye, you can get some good wood.

If we see any land developers in our area clearing land, we'll stop by and talk to the guy running the dozer. Chances are, unless their real picky about the whole liability thing, they won't care if you get a couple of truckloads. This is usually my best method for finding specialty smoking woods like wild cherry and persimmon. Most of the time, they're the same way as the sawmill people, the more you haul off, the less they have to burn.

And last, I've got a buddy with about 80 acres of wooded area that he wants "thinned out" over the next few years. Also a good way to find specialty woods but we usually keep this as a reserve so we'll have wood available for years to come.

Another source I just happened upon was a place that made ax handles. I'm sure they make other handles too but I called it the ax handle place. I had to pay for this wood though. It was basically a bunch of hickory 2x2's about 4' long that didn't "make the cut" to become a handle. This was before I moved out to the sticks though. Good smoking wood though. If you go this route with any company, just make sure the wood isn't treated first. I'm sure this costs money and most places won't do it beforehand but it never hurts to ask.

jgh1204 said:

What's a sawmill?

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its a noisy, smelly place where they cut up trees into rough lumber:biggrin:

jpw23 said:

its a noisy, smelly place where they cut up trees into rough lumber:biggrin:

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Sounds like the head at Lowe's.

I've been real happy with my McCulloch chainsaw. The Stihl's are best but pricey for occasional use. I've heard some bad reviews on Poulan and Homelite from friends and family, but no first hand knowledge.

mbowker641 said:

I've thought about maybe a Poulan or Homelite, but I've got this thing when making purchases. I do some research and then buy the absolute best I can afford, especially when it comes to tools. Currently, my needs are only for around the yard and smoking wood, but I like to be prepared in case something comes up, you never know. Am I being silly? Maybe. I don't know if it's a guy thing or what.

Anyway, thanks for the ideas on where to get wood. The guy at the saw shop mentioned that he had a somewhat large apple tree on his lot he wants taken down, maybe if I buy a saw from him, he'll let me have the tree. I'll just have to wait for it to season.

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I have a whole bunch of experience with chain saws both at home and work and will say for what you want to do, you can go wrong with a decent Homelite. I would get an 18" bar and a spare chain or 2.
The Stihl is a great saw but is more saw than you need but can understand the inate tool fetish thing ( I have it badly).
I will say be careful! If you havent used one much, they can get away from you very fast!
Also if you havent felled many trees, I would start out cutting smaller stuff and work your way up to cutting big trees.
I actually like to use smaller chunks of barely seasoned wood to smoke with, i think you get more flavor if the wood still has the sap in it somewhat.