WinonaRail's Wood Yard

I probably wouldn't try to service the air bags. But that's just me. All my idiot lights are on all the time. I just ignore them.

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I made a trip about half an hour away to snag some sugar maple. The homeowner came out with a saw. Looked like maybe a 14" bar. He said the wood was hard and he struggled to cut it. I pulled my Echo CS-590 out of the truck. It cut like a hot knife through butter. He helped me load. There's still a little more left.

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That's a nice load, Gary.
Bet he liked watching your saw eat that wood...

 

I didn't say anything about my saw or his. Didn't want him to feel bad. He said he had to sharpen his chain 3 times and it still didn't want to cut.

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Delivered ten bundles yesterday. Turns out the guy is using them for smoking wood. I guess red maple could work for Maplewood smoking. He was a woodworker and had plenty of kindling. May be the start of some retail bundles sales for me.

I offered up my other species to him for future smoking wood sales and decided to list smoker bundles on FBM at $10 each. Minimum order five bundles.

 

Well done! I find that people are willing to pay a premium for certain barkless woods. I have enough sugar maple to keep making bags but I use other hard maples for bulk smoking wood. You might even have success selling honey locust and mulberry. Obviously if you have standbys like hickory and cherry you may want to mention those in your CL post and let the customer choose what wood they prefer. Good luck on your retail endeavor!

 

It was another strong week of sales at the roadside stand. Totals included 10 campfire bundles, 10 bags of smoking wood, 3 loose stacks of smoking wood, 4 small and 2 large loose stacks of mixed hardwood, 6 bags and 2 bundles of kindling and SOME mini bundles. One particular genius decided to ignore the clearly posted signs (2 of them) saying that the unit size is 3 bundles for $10 (which is a bargain). They took 2 bundles and paid $6 (they have poor math skills). But it was still a profitable week so I don't have a right to complain.

Spotty storms started rolling through yesterday morning and continue throughout tonight. Then it clears out and cools off. I'm expecting another good week.

 

I listed it with sugar maple, cherry, hickory and mulberry which are the four I have dry and ready. Is HL a smoker wood? I sell it as a high end btu wood when I have enough.

 

I've never seen anyone else selling it. I put some out in the stand a few weeks ago and sold 2 bags so far. I prefer the smell to oak but I've never cooked with it. The internet says you can so it must be OK.

 

Interesting. I've heard of using oak too. buzz-saw uses it. I've supplied him with several species to try.
I have apple rounds but they are green. Will smokers buy green wood? I've heard conflicting opinions. It will obviously generate lots of smoke.

Got gas the other day at my best bundle buyers. Looks like nothing has sold in a week. The heat continues here so looks like sales are dead. One of the others inventory has gone down a little. He has two separate log racks. I could always call him and reload one. 45 bundles worth.

 

Way too much smoke ( for me anyway) to use green. Maybe a couple chunks on charcoal in something like a weber kettle but not for me in a stick burner.
The smoke comes naturally with dry , clean wood. The wood makes the heat and the smoke flavor just comes with it.
Oak is a great all around wood to cook with and readily available so it is my go to wood.

 

I've had requests for apple but don't have any. Might be worth splitting and stacking. I've had a few people ask for partially seasoned smoking wood but most seem to like it dry.

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Good to be proactive and offer to bring more bundles! Especially if you don't have to be in a rush to make them.

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Our local restaurant gets red oak from us for his smoker, he cooks chicken ribs and pulled pork with it.
Another guy got post oak to cook brisket, like they do in TX. Another guy with the big BBQ food trailer uses hickory, pecan and cherry to cook with, oak for the smoke show...

 

Ill have to drive by there tomorrow and check.

 

While processing the load of maple I brought home, I needed to beat the July heat. I set up the canopy next to my bucking platform and unloaded from the truck. After bucking, I loaded rounds into the Gator and moved to a tote where I located the splitter. A couple loads later and the truck was empty, all while keeping comfortable in the shade.

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Great idea with the canopy. Uncomfortable enough in the shade let alone working in full sun. I've been splitting in the shade myself.

Maybe we have to do like T.Jeff Veal and get a gigantic fan. Helps dry the wood faster too!

 

I've done the fan trick. Starting with green wood, it would take a LONG time to get it dry. If I have a tote that's almost ready, I'll hit it with a fan for a few hours to finish it off when I'm running low on inventory.

 

I texted one of my stores and he said bring an order so I stopped at storage to work on it late yesterday. My heart sank when I walked into the yard. Front stack had collapsed. 6-7' tall Leaning from uneven drying. You can see the stack behind it has a sever lean too. It gets some good afternoon sun. Sassafras, dead ash, and cherry in the mix. I restacked keeping the cherry on top and put the dead ash in the next bay. 11-12 month old splits.

 

Gotta make shade however you can on those hot sunny days.