apple wood

[bucketboy]

we trimmed our orchard and are new to wood heating , wondered if apple would burn alright

 

[smokinj]

Burns Great good for the bbq as well!

 

[midwestcoast]

Yep, burns great, smells great, cooks great and usually is pretty tough to split by hand. If you've got a lot you could consider trying to sell it for cooking/smoking. I'd just burn it.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Keep in mind apple wood, like oak, is very slow to season (dry), so if you just cut it this year it won't likely be ready to burn till next year at the earliest.

 

[mrplow]

On a related note, i have a friend who owns 80 acres of uncleared dead apple orchards. The trees all had to be killed, so they hired a guy with an excavator to pull them out of the ground. It's been sitting there dead for a year in a hot, dry climate (Yakima, WA). I'm wondering if it's likely to be partially seasoned.

Should I split everything big enough to stand up? I wasn't planning to split rounds smaller than 5".

 

[TreePointer]

As others have stated, it has high BTU's and is great for cooking/smoking. I highly recommend an hydraulic splitter for apple.

 

[Jamess67]

I just split up some apple and wouldnt have touched it without a splitter.

 

[Battenkiller]

I've burned big chunks of it in my old wood furnace, but never tried to split it. Burns as hot as just about anything out there. Apple crooks and elbows are highly prized in the small boat building world for making breasthooks and "knees" (support brackets) to attach seats, transoms, etc. This is because of its very tough nature under stress - very unlikely to split apart. This quality sure would make it tough to split by hand.

 

[ansehnlich1]

hey hey, living close to orchard country, I get some apple from time to time. Takes 2 years to season.

 

[Elderthewelder]

On a related note, i have a friend who owns 80 acres of uncleared dead apple orchards. The trees all had to be killed, so they hired a guy with an excavator to pull them out of the ground. It's been sitting there dead for a year in a hot, dry climate (Yakima, WA). I'm wondering if it's likely to be partially seasoned.

Should I split everything big enough to stand up? I wasn't planning to split rounds smaller than 5".

how much of it did you get, what type of vehicle did you use to bring it over the pass? sounds like a good hook up

 

[Backwoods Savage]

On a related note, i have a friend who owns 80 acres of uncleared dead apple orchards. The trees all had to be killed, so they hired a guy with an excavator to pull them out of the ground. It's been sitting there dead for a year in a hot, dry climate (Yakima, WA). I'm wondering if it's likely to be partially seasoned.

Should I split everything big enough to stand up? I wasn't planning to split rounds smaller than 5".

Welcome to the forum to both bucketboy and mrplow.


Apple is one of the very best heating woods. Get all you can! As for the wood being partially seasoned, yes, partially, but a very small part. It needs to be cut to length and if possible split too before real seasoning will happen.

 

[Deron]

I agree, I use Apple in my CookShack smoker...great flavor.

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

I love processing apple . . . while you really need a splitter to process the gnarly tough wood . . . the sweet smell alone while bucking and splitting it up makes it worth the extra work . . . not to mention that once seasoned this is a primo wood for long, hot burns.

A benefit is you can use this wood for smoking meats . . . has a wonderful flavor.

Local place to me is now buying apple wood at $700 per cord . . . even at that price though I wouldn't be tempted to cut down all the apple trees in my yard. I've used some of them in the past for cooking, given away some to my Amish neighbor and the rest go to the turkeys and deer . . . I enjoy the apple blossoms in the Spring as well . . . and so the only apple I cut is dead or when there is one in my way . . . or when I accidentally landed a dead elm on one . . . other than that I keep the apple trees.

Mr. Plow . . . sounds like you have a great source . . . but the wood really needs to be bucked and split to allow it to season . . . seasoning in tree-length form doesn't really work out so well.

 

[jeff_t]

I helped a friend trim up a bunch this spring. I've been burning the small(2-3") rounds this fall and it's fine. We burned a few larger(6") rounds in the campfire over the weekend and it seemed pretty dry too. At least it didn't sizzle.

 

[billb3]

I've gotten some of the apple from the orchard up the street.
Anything not worth thier while to cut, split and sell is free.
Some nasty crotches, crooks and odd pieces.
But it makes nice firewood if you can let it sit and age.

 

[krex1010]

Apple burns great but I don't get it often so I save it for the BBQ, I like being warm but LOVE apple wood smoked ribs and pulled pork and chicken and salmon and brisket and well I'm sure you get the picture.