A couple years ago I took out two apricot trees and cut them up for firewood. I made a bunch of tiny cookies out of the limbs and saved a bunch of the sawdust for smoking. Now that I’ve learned to like it so much (it’s actually become my favorite wood for smoking) i’m trying to find a safe and efficient way to process it into chips and chunks for the smoker. Anybody got any good ideas or suggestions? I’ve used a hammer and chisel, my sawzall, chop saw, hatchet, quarter inch impact driver with a speed bore bit, they all get it done somewhat. But none of the methods I’ve tried seem very safe and definitely not efficient. Oh.... and it’s very hard and dry now. Don’t own or have access to a chipper
Closest place to rent a chipper is 65 miles away. Only thinking about doing 3-4 five gallon buckets full
I've made chunks from apple and hickory, simply by cutting to size and splitting. I've not needed to use chips, where I have the chunks, of any size I wanted by splitting. If I needed to make chips, I suppose I'd start with longer pieces and whittle into strips. Have a buddy or two over, and have a whittling session, beer optional. Of course I'd have to prepare something to feed them, with the whittled strips.
What about something like a debarking attachment for your chainsaw. You may need to separate the fines from the chips, like separating the wheat from the chaff. Personally I would also cut 2-4" long cookies and split by hand with a hatchet like kindling. Slow but worth the effort.
I cut rounds into 1" thick cookies, debark the cookies then use hatchet to split into desired chunks for smoking, which are about marble to 1/2 a golf ball size. Also, I think it is important, when I cut the cookies, I use my battery operated Stihl chainsaw in which I use vegetable oil for bar oil. Don't want any regular oil in wood product I'm using to smoke food. Specially important is using the sawdust for smoking.
I used an electric hand planer to shave down some trusses on a house prior to sheathing. It shot out these chunks. Really cool tool and those little chunks would be great for smoking. Bigger than sawdust but smaller than briquettes.
Find yourself someone who has a wood turning lathe. In no time flat they can take a round and make a slug of shavings.
Another thing kinda related I have always wondered about how things would come out using some Ash for the wood to smoke. Anyone ever tried it?
I use my bandsaw to cut up little cookies from branches, or to chunk up small splits. I've tried lots of stuff but this seems to work the best.
How about buying a cheap chipper? For that volume you wouldn't need much. SunJoe electric is about as cheap as they come $100-150 and you can get it shipped.