White Oak, Finally!!!

I finally got some white oak. I am shocked at how wonderful it smells while splitting. It smells sweet, almost like wine and I cannot wait for it to get seasoned and try it. It smells so good, I would like to split a piece of the heartwood and and bring it inside just to smell it.

Does anyone know if it would lose its flavoring when kept for years? I have access to a lot of it and would like to take advantage of it. But I have never kept wood for a long time for smoking. I have a large area where I can store it under cover but still exposed to the wind and some sun as you can see. I also put pallets down to keep it off of the ground. I am just concerned that it may dry out too much if stored for years.

A guy roughly 1.5 miles from me recently logged a huge property, and there are an incredible amount of large white tree oak tops. I could wear myself out storing it and put it to good use if it will last. Has anyone ever burned really old seasoned wood?

Thanks

Well if it does dry and lose flavor, I do have a woodfired pizza over. I already have some really dry red oak split about five years ago. It makes great coals for a base in the offset and I change to newer wood to cook with. If I have to, I will do the same in the future with the white oak too. It won't go completely to waste regardless.

Juggy, thanks for the tip about keeping it out of the sun. I will now be stacking it farther in and completely out of the sun.

Charny, I also just recently got my first stick burner and bought a load of red oak which I am currently using. I used to live in Niagara Falls and don't remember ever seeing white oak up there. Most of the oak down here is red also and I am well familiar with the smell. I may be weird but I kind of like it, but I have heard so much about white being very good on beef. Luckily there are pockets where white oak is common here also. Glad to hear that you are having good weather for Qing. Enjoy!

Fsonicsmith said:

I see that you are near Cincy. I am in Columbus. If there is any way you can hook me up for some of the same white oak I would be most grateful. None seems to be available in my area.

Click to expand...

I sent a PM.

Juggy D Beerman said:

David, If you use a tarp to cover the wood, remove it once in a so the wood does get exposed to daylight for a few days to keep any mold from developing on the bark. As I said earlier, try to keep some of the bigger pieces in one piece so the season more slowly. Once the wood seasons to a point where it does not have the "flavor" to its smoke, as the others have stated, it will still make good base wood for coals in the smoker.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip about leaving some of them unsplit. That makes life a little easier for now. I recently found out that a friend of a friend of mine sells wood and used to work for the county. He still has contacts and through them, has access to all kinds of wood. Most of which fell on power lines, public property, and such. After talking to the guy I found out that he can get fresh white oak nearly all of the time. Through him, I could get a rick or so every year and keep rotating it. This is exactly why I asked the question. I had a hunch that when it sits for too long, it would degrade in quality some.

I probably need to sell some now, lol You can see in the background in the pictures, I have stacks of would that are 5' tall and 8' wide. There are two of red oak, one of shagbark hickory, one of pig nut hickory and now I will have more than one stack of white oak. More than four people who smoke as often as I do, need for a few years. I never undo anything but I wish I could learn sometimes!!! I never gave too much thought that it would degrade in quality as it aged when I started.

I never cover my wood and always leave it exposed to the air. It is always stored under the cover of a large overhang off the side of my barn which you can see in the pictures. I will store it farther back now to keep it out of the sun, but it will not be covered by a tarp or anything like that. The overhang is 25+ feet deep but still gets good airflow. The roof is red and it gets hot under there in the summer. It seems like a good place for storing wood to me.

Thanks for the help!

PGarSD said:

That Oak looks awesome and, I'm jealous of all of the storage you have!


Great question (and answers) on over-seasoned wood. I split up (processed?) two fairly large California Oaks in August and now have a ton of wood seasoning all over my small yard. I suspected but didn't fully know that overseasoned wood loses flavor. I'll have to do a serious amount of smoking on the offset over the next two years (or so) while the wood is in its prime.


Next time I'll leave some of it in rounds to slow the seasoning process.

Click to expand...

What I would like to do is to get some of the logs in 12' lengths and store them whole, under the roof, out of the sun, and exposed to wind. But it would not be easy to get a trailer and tractor back in this property without tearing up the guy's yard.

I have a friend at a wood-turning club that I belong to. We turn wood bowls and other things on our lathes. He cuts a nice tree from his place, blocks it up off the ground in a shady place and it lasts for years. It gives him the ability to cut as many pieces as he wants to work on and the wood stays good and doesn't crack. That is what got me thinking of trying to store a few logs. I may try that just as an experiment. I do have access to a neighbor's woods behind me that has some medium-sized pignut hickory. I might store a couple of logs and see how that goes.

bonz50 said:

nice haul!!!! I really need to get a gator/side by side around my place for several reason not the least of which is for my disabled daughter to ride around in with me (she enjoys it). I'm also in process of installing a lean to on my barn similar to yours (laying out the slab at the moment). when it's done it's gonna be wood storage and cook shack. i'm still a year before completion tho, hope i can find some white oak around me as well. plenty of hickory, pecan, peach, apple and red oak but white oak seems a lot tougher to find.

Click to expand...

If you have land, a side-by-side is indispensable. I only have 8.5 acres but I fenced it off into four paddocks to rotate grass-fed cows, goats, and free-range chickens. I must have put in 350 posts and I used the heck out of my gator. Back then I had a Bobcat for our business too. I still wish I had it also. But we retired and were done with the animals and sold a lot of it. Some of the funds from that are going to Shirley Fabrication though. So I won't miss my Bobcat too much, lol.

I'm sure you will love having a lean-to also. After getting rid of our equipment, I have found a lot of good personal uses for it. I do think that the slab is a great idea too. You are doing the right thing! Enjoy!

Tony, God bless your wife, daughter, and you. I hope you all have better days ahead. Good for you taking care of them!!!

The space you are going to create sounds great, and I'm sure you will enjoy it. The possibility of getting the extra land sounds good too. I have 8.5 and I always tell people, I wish it was 80.5 or 800.5, lol