WinonaRail's Wood Yard

IINM he is going to Pennslyvania this weekend and was bringing some pecan chunks.

Road trip to PA Gary?

 

Apple one of my good sellers. I have maybe a half cord on hand. Score last September and a trade for some crab apple helped. The current dry inventory is mostly nuggets/chunks. Ive been asking buyers if chunks would work and the guy Saturday said yes. I've been slowly bringing smoker wood home to sell and bundle here. Seems it sells as fast as I do. I have an area that holds 1.75 cords and wanted to make a divided rack for the types I sell. Four bays for apple, cherry, hickory and oak. Sugar maple, mulberry and pear the less popular sellers.

 

Good question. I don't get many logs in their natural state. Usually dropped and delivered by tree service or I cut them up shortly after they hit the ground. I've cut some cherry that was on the ground for nearly 2 years that was in really good condition but I don't know if that's normal or if I just got lucky.

 

Hmm...that might be a little tight but I could probably make it work!

 

Only reason I asked is I have a half cord of hickory that I scored cut from standing dead trees. Also cut a small remnant hickory log last week too.

Im now pulling hickory from a CSS from January of last year so not as dry as I prefer to sell. I tell buyers this up front. I've been asking buyers and dry wood is preferred.

I have a score of fresh cut SBH coming up later this month. Heartwood will become smoking inventory.

 

I could go maybe Friday, but plans for weekend.

Six hours one way for me.

 

I've been looking for apple for a couple years and finally got lucky. I don't know if the guy has any more to cut but he knows I'll take all I can get. I ended up with a board of cherry and hickory that was already bucked and seasoned from a guy that did land clearing and had a catered smoked meats on the side. I seem to get plenty of red oak. Those make up the majority of my smoking wood inventory.

I do have some luck with pear. I keep a bag or 2 in my stand. One of my regulars was interested in a larger stack so I put together a pile of hickory and a pile of pear on a pallet. I keep chucks in a crate separated by species next to my miter saw. I cut 16" splits down to 8" for bags. The leftovers go in crates and I bag those when I get enough.

I do divided racks (so to speak) for each species of smoking wood. Basically I construct something about the size of an IBC tote out of pallets (3 sides and a base). They hold about 1/4 cord each and they are sturdy enough to stack 2 high if you have the equipment to do it. They are easy to stack in and load out of and when empty, you can move they by hand if you need to change your layout.

 

The rack I'm going to build (I hope) will be divided into four sections. Total volume of 1.75 cords and hold apple, hickory, cherry and oak/maple. Probably not full but enough to fill the orders as they come in. The 2+ cord rack behind my shed will get splits that aren't ready yet. Wish I had a nice sunny "hot spot" to put some wood to quick dry.

 

You guys will be waiting a while if you go to PA on Friday...The GTG doesn't start until the 20th

 

Oops!!! Wasnt it originally this weekend?

 

No, it was originally the 13th-15th. It's the 20th-22nd.
We have about 2/3 cord of pecan, split 7-1-24. Got some older logs, don't know how good they are. Come to the GTG and we'll bring you some.
Twisted stuff for sure...
Does this make you

 

Really depends on the species of wood. I've found hickory looses quality fast, spalts and gets punky fast.
White oak and cherry sap wood will rot fairly quickly, but heartwood will be solid for a long time. Pecan is similar to hickory.

 

For some reason i thought you had a lot more pecan than that? Im surprised its that stringy. I imagined it would split like hickory.

 

So if the meat is solid it should be good? I have some sales and then start worrying about having enough dry on hand.

Whats your opinion on the best hickory for smoking? I have a shagbark score coming up later this month.

 

Appreciate the offer!

 

We've never had shagbark, but I've heard it's the best.

 

So, you have any plans for that weekend?

 

We did one time, had a lot of logs that sat too long......
And we've cleaned some up and left if there. Nobody down here wants it.

 

Don't see anything on the calender. Normally I work on wood if nothing.

 

Split the rest of the crabapple I traded for. Oddball lengths and shapes. Gotta figure out a way to sell it? I was gonna fill a feed bag with 20lbs to see the volume. Have the customer weigh it when they show up?
He has more which is mostly smaller stuff. Probably grab that this week. How would you guys market this?