Hickory, not my favorite

[jrider]

Wow, my experience with Hickory has been much better than y'alls. Drys faster than Oak, burns longer, more coals (that's good in my case) ashes are 'bout the same (? not noticeable anyways) The sparkles don't bother me being the furnace is in the basement on concrete but I could see it wouldn't be cool if I was loading the stove upstairs.
The species I was disappointed with was White Oak, still wasn't dry after CSS for 3 years, and barely had hot coals in the morning if not careful with my ash management.

Where are you storing it and how large are the chunks if they aren't drying in 3 years??

 

[brenndatomu]

Where are you storing it and how large are the chunks if they aren't drying in 3 years??

At the top of a breezy knoll, in the sun 1/2 the day (and not covered) and 4"x4" to 4"x6" at the biggest, and 22" long. Didn't have any trouble with any of the other wood in that same stack and it was all hardwoods...Hickory, Red Oak, etc.

 

[bbxlr8]

I am with the crowd that loves hickory - mostly shagbark here. I am 5 years here on AS & burning full time and I used to save it & run 100% full open during those previous polar vortexes - damn near melted the top off my mid-sized osburn in the learning process!

I now mix all the time AND use my select hickory and cherry for smoking year round

 

[CTYank]

Of al the hardwoods mentioned so far, the only ones that don't make my "hit" list are black cherry and black walnut. Low density, just not that much heat, and the cherry typically leaves lots of unburnt coals. Cherry, I sell to customer who likes the "incense" factor.

Shagbark hickory, I'll happily take all I can get onto my truck. In fact, that's all I'm taking right now- kinda short on space, so there's no rush for the hickory to be ready, once it's split. Ditto recent arrivals of black locust & white ash.

Black locust is very tight-grained. Maybe that's why it's so slow to dry fully, and why it builds up the steam pockets which spit stuff in the stove. Still burns beautifully, long & almost ash-less. Good output beginning to end.

Havent yet touched my depth-of-winter stacks of white oak & black birch. They can handle any polar vortex here.

Friends & neighbors who like to smoke meats get smaller pieces of apple, shagbark & cherry. They love it.

 

[TheViking]

Hickory for the win with me I like burning it and it was easy to get started back from coals.

 

[haveawoody]

zogger,

Shagbark is some mighty fine firewood.
Same for me and coals with burning it, yes they can build up if your mainly burning hickory and lots of it on real cold days, but when I see 1/2 woodstove of hot coals I'm not unhappy I'm just prepared to crank the air for a few hours and watch the house get real warm

Hornbeam is far worse than hickory for creating giant semi burnt coals but the same air crank works charms on it also.

Even if you had a miller night and forgot to add air those coals in the morning make your start fire nice and warm real fast with just minimal raking.
Only pain I guess is that ash cleanup now and then and dealing with them if they have accumulated.
That is when a metal kitty litter scoop is wonderful, ash falls through and coals stay to be piled in one corner to burn again.

Think the problem is air IMO, to much coals = to little air and to much fuel.

 

[spike60]

haveawoody is probably right on the air mix. And many of our opinions are likely due to fact that various stoves may burn certain woods differently than others.

I love hickory and I'm happy to be into some right now during this cold snap. Plenty of heat and I love having nice hot coals when I get home from the store. With most other wood, it's newspaper and kindling. Only negative I see with hickory is that the bugs move in pretty fast if left on the ground.

Only wood I like better is white oak, and I'm surprised to see a couple of negative comments about it. In my experience it dries faster and burns better/longer than other oaks.

 

[Vibes]

I was told by a seasoned butcher/ barbequer/ smoke house operator, that you shouldn't cook or smoke using cherry. He said that cherry had high arsonic levels. Same reason cows won't eat cherry twigs.

The only complaining I've ever heard about burning hickory is the fact that its so hard to come by.

 

[CTYank]

I was told by a seasoned butcher/ barbequer/ smoke house operator, that you shouldn't cook or smoke using cherry. He said that cherry had high arsonic levels. Same reason cows won't eat cherry twigs.

The only complaining I've ever heard about burning hickory is the fact that its so hard to come by.

Absolutely no complaining here, in any respect, about shagbark hickory. Like some others, I love the stuff. Right now, there's a mess of it waiting out there for me on some jobs. Some of the woods roads are now ski trails. It's such good stuff, and shagbark trees live so long, when the opportunity arises ... Superstorm Sandy did me favors, with hickory, black birch and oak. Some payback for being without power for a week, while opening up trails in a NY park.

 

[Woody912]

I was told by a seasoned butcher/ barbequer/ smoke house operator, that you shouldn't cook or smoke using cherry. He said that cherry had high arsonic levels. Same reason cows won't eat cherry twigs.

The only complaining I've ever heard about burning hickory is the fact that its so hard to come by.

Wilted cherry leaves form a cyanide compound. I've cooked a 1,000 hot dogs over cherry

 

[Vibes]

Wilted cherry leaves form a cyanide compound. I've cooked a 1,000 hot dogs over cherry

And its only in the leaves?

Kind of reminds me of the guy who smoked cigarettes his whole life without a problem,

 

[Deleted member 83629]

cherry and hickory makes a nice smoke for meat heck throw a little apple in there also.
i burn only hickory,black locust,oaks. the coals are handy in my stove and my stove is made to burn coal.
i like the coals it makes when it burns down helps keep the house warm overnight.

 

[Woody912]

And its only in the leaves?

Kind of reminds me of the guy who smoked cigarettes his whole life without a problem,

Fresh cherry leaves are not harmful to cattle and I suspect most of us have eaten wild cherries. The reaction happens as the leaf is dying. As far as I know it does not happen in the fall when the tree sheds it's leaves, only when a tree or limb is knocked over while the leaf is still green

 

[Vibes]

cherry and hickory makes a nice smoke for meat heck throw a little apple in there also.
i burn only hickory,black locust,oaks. the coals are handy in my stove and my stove is made to burn coal.
i like the coals it makes when it burns down helps keep the house warm overnight.

Try some grape vine in your smoker as well. I read on this site about a guy who used honey locust for smoking hams.

 

[Zeus103363]

Must say, I will trade you my oak for your hickory any day! I smoke meats with it and burn it in the stove.


Thanks

 

[Vibes]

Must say, I will trade you my oak for your hickory any day! I smoke meats with it and burn it in the stove.


Thanks

Same in my area. Any hickory that I come across can usually be sold at a premium to a cooker. Or at least I can trade it 2 to 1 for other firewood.

 

[bbxlr8]

I

Fresh cherry leaves are not harmful to cattle and I suspect most of us have eaten wild cherries. The reaction happens as the leaf is dying. As far as I know it does not happen in the fall when the tree sheds it's leaves, only when a tree or limb is knocked over while the leaf is still green

Cherry wood is ones of the good ones for smoking and the topic occasionally comes up in those forums. It's in the leaves, small twigs & there can be some in the bark. I always use the heartwood as a rule of thumb with any species as the bark can be harsh. Many leave it on - As they say... "your results may vary"

BTW It's also in apple seeds & peach pits as well.

 

[UnforsakenGhost]

Hedge is my favorite and its plentiful in this area too, gotta watch it it gets hot enough to melt stoves tho lol and does that firework thing a lot too

 

[Chris-PA]

Well I must say I was darn happy I got that standing dead hickory snag down, as it sure helped get me through this winter. The coals were hardly a major issue, just a minor annoyance.

 

[stihly dan]

I have a little hickory left that I will save for another few weeks, I want to see if my theory of it being a great shoulder season wood for my unit is correct. In my furnace I don't see much difference in heat output or length of burn between species. Yes there is some but not much.