onemanlan
Full Fledged Farker
In Feb of 2020 a big ole oak tree fell on my house. Turns out it had likely been rotted from a previous drought spell & it lost its structure. In a particularly wet & windy series of days it couldn't hold up any more & generously fell on my kitchen instead of my nearby bedroom. Instead of taking my wife & I out it took out ~4 of my grills in what I dubbed grillpocolypse 2020(album link). I lost a KJ Big Joe 1, WSM 14, Weber Gasser, and an OK Joe Bronco along with some real house damage to boot.
The house damage & issues that oak caused were numerous, but it's all mostly sorted by this point. In the end it was for the better. I convereted the losses on the 4 grills into a Weber 22 Kettle & a Humphrey's Battle Box(album link).
What I also did is preserve some of it of that big bastard with intent to eventually use it for something. Smoke wood was the most logical choice, but I wanted to get something back from the whole ordeal. That time has finally arrived!
About 1.5 years after the fact the wood is mostly seasoned, the tools & space for the reclamation ready to go. Go go action mual & hammer!
First off the fallen tree in this series of pics isn't the offending tree. Different place altogether. The smaller chunks at the bottom of the pic are the oak(still not sure what type) and the upper, more light red logs are kiln dried B&B pecan splits. The chunks are ideal for my grills/smoker set up so I prefer them.
So now I'm ready for a sweet year or so of revenge smoking with this oak. I've tested it with hotdogs to 1) confirm it's oak & 2) make sure it's well seasoned. Good on both fronts. Not dead yet so must be Ok smoke wood. Now time for the reckoning... err cooking!
In all this I have to say the Kindling Kracker is the best experience I've ever had cutting up logs/splits. I highly recommend picking one up if you have to do this or fires much in your off time. I might suggest getting the bigger variety because I definitely found myself hitting the limit of the normal size. Regardless its an amazing tool.
Edit: oops had some busted links. I think I fixed them all!
The house damage & issues that oak caused were numerous, but it's all mostly sorted by this point. In the end it was for the better. I convereted the losses on the 4 grills into a Weber 22 Kettle & a Humphrey's Battle Box(album link).
What I also did is preserve some of it of that big bastard with intent to eventually use it for something. Smoke wood was the most logical choice, but I wanted to get something back from the whole ordeal. That time has finally arrived!
About 1.5 years after the fact the wood is mostly seasoned, the tools & space for the reclamation ready to go. Go go action mual & hammer!
First off the fallen tree in this series of pics isn't the offending tree. Different place altogether. The smaller chunks at the bottom of the pic are the oak(still not sure what type) and the upper, more light red logs are kiln dried B&B pecan splits. The chunks are ideal for my grills/smoker set up so I prefer them.
So now I'm ready for a sweet year or so of revenge smoking with this oak. I've tested it with hotdogs to 1) confirm it's oak & 2) make sure it's well seasoned. Good on both fronts. Not dead yet so must be Ok smoke wood. Now time for the reckoning... err cooking!
In all this I have to say the Kindling Kracker is the best experience I've ever had cutting up logs/splits. I highly recommend picking one up if you have to do this or fires much in your off time. I might suggest getting the bigger variety because I definitely found myself hitting the limit of the normal size. Regardless its an amazing tool.
Edit: oops had some busted links. I think I fixed them all!
Last edited:
