Applewood CL score - A good one for a change

[Thistle]

Apple sticks for kindling & the smoker from a CL score Friday on southside of town,plus 3 wheelbarrows worth from same large split limb.Normally I don't cleanup & haul away any brush unless its a paid job - but I wanted to make the yard look nice.Also I removed several dead upper branches with pole saw & raked up the leaves/small twigs.

Am returning in a few days,property owner wants a large very old almost dead Apple tree removed.She also is giving me a small but very heavy (all cast iron,NO plastic or flimsy sheet steel) 1940's Delta Milwaukee 8" table saw w/stand that needs some work.Plus told me to help myself to all the apples & tomatoes that I wanted....Gave the apples (almost 2 bushels so far) & tomatoes (about a bushel) to parents.Kept about 1/3rd bushel of bad ones/windfalls for the squirrels/raccoons/opossums etc to eat.


She was totally pleased with how things look.Local tree service wanted to charge her $600 to
remove the dead tree (fairly large for an Apple,but not as most trees go,its an easy removal) & that didn't even include touching that large split limb laying across the yard.Rest of that tree is still very healthy,there has to be 10 bushels still on it!.No wonder that big limb split IMO.

 

[Jacktheknife]

Good scores, apple makes great smoke for cooking. I am using some apple chips I picked up after splitting to smoke some ribs for supper tonight, about to get out there and get started. Happy smoking!

 

[Thistle]

Yup I hoard that stuff. Grabbed about 150lbs of storm damaged green limbs off CL in early June.Dont see it given away too often,whether the entire tree or logs cut to length piled on the curb.I REFUSE to pay the going retail price ($2-3/lb normally) for the dry processed bagged stuff at grocery stores,home/garden shops & big box stores...

 

[Applesister]

Wow that sucks...I mean good for you.. It looks like part of the trunk grew from below the graft. Like the trees had gone "wild".
Glad you like Apple, Thistle, are you gonna do anything special with the rounds?

 

[Jacktheknife]

Yup I hoard that stuff. Grabbed about 150lbs of storm damaged green limbs off CL in early June.Dont see it given away too often,whether the entire tree or logs cut to length piled on the curb.I REFUSE to pay the going retail price ($2-3/lb normally) for the dry processed bagged stuff at grocery stores,home/garden shops & big box stores...

I hear ya, I just throw a tarp down under the splitter and pick up the chips afterward. I am actually getting low on chips since I have also been using them to grill. Come next year I might have to split down some maple or something to keep the grill going. Maybe a face cord or so. Maybe all the shorties.

 

[Thistle]

Wow that sucks...I mean good for you.. It looks like part of the trunk grew from below the graft. Like the trees had gone "wild".
Glad you like Apple, Thistle, are you gonna do anything special with the rounds?

I might save 1 or 2 of the bigger rounds for woodturning.This limb didn't have as much heartwood as I prefer.The other much larger tree should have a few bigger pieces,even when working around the hollow spots & defects.Plus since its partly dead it should be drier & not as prone to major cracking/warping as the fully green stuff.Apple & Pear have very high shrinkage,they are hard to dry slowly because of their density.Even clear straight logs with straight grain tend to crack/warp somewhat badly.

Any scrap/bad pieces will go back for the smoker.Small pieces once dried can be inlay & other projects too.

 

[Realstone]

Nice. Apple almost always comes in the form of shorts & uglies, but is useful for smoking and gives the fire a pleasant aroma.
Thistle, do you de-bark the branches for smoking or throw it on 'as is'?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wish you were closer Thistle. I know where I can get quite a bit of apple this winter! Cost will be zero!

 

[Jacktheknife]

In laws seem to be getting close to having me take down their crab apple out front. Sure hope they do!

 

[shawn6596]

I live in South Bend IN. I have a neighbor with a 40' apple tree and I have a 40' pear tree. If you want to help you can have all you want except the butt log.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Nice bunch of apple there Thistle. Apple and Pear or fruit woods in general must have a lot of moisture lending to the cracking and warping it has when dried out. I still love apple for burning on a cool fall night.

 

[StihlHead]

Apple is great for smoking, and great for heating with. My second favorite smoking wood (second only to Alder) and in my top 5 for burning. They want a really steep premium for apple firewood around here (like $400 a cord, more than madrone or oak). I feed my apples and pears to the neighbor's goats, ponies and cows. I cannot possibly eat them all. O/w the wasps come for them and they become a problem.

 

[Thistle]

Nice. Apple almost always comes in the form of shorts & uglies, but is useful for smoking and gives the fire a pleasant aroma.
Thistle, do you de-bark the branches for smoking or throw it on 'as is'?

Just throw it on as is...don't debark anything.

 

[osagebow]

Nice score - haven't burned or worked apple yet, visited an orchard Saturday and might have a line on some for staves
.

 

[Jacktheknife]

Just throw it on as is...don't debark anything.

People keep telling that bark makes the food have a bitter taste, but I sure haven't noticed one.

 

[pyroholic]

They want a really steep premium for apple firewood around here (like $400 a cord, more than madrone or oak)

I have a small (12 apple and 1 pear, about 25') orchard to take down. Not exactly hurting for wood, maybe I could make some money. Do people want it green or dry?

 

[shawn6596]

I would guess shredded and green for smokers.

 

[StihlHead]

Not green here, but dry. It will smoke when green, but it is too variable and too hard to keep it going. I keep my spring apple wood prunings and dry them over the summer, cut them up and smoke with them in an offset smoker when they are dry. Restaurant and pizza places want them split and dry and uniform in size. For firewood, people want them in larger stove size but also seasoned for the summer at least. "Dry" here almost always means only one season, but they may take 2 seasons to get to 20% moisture for burning in newer EPA cert. and cat stoves.

I do not sell firewood, but... if I had an orchard to take down I would season and sell the apple wood for these insane prices. Seattle is only a few hours north of here. Pear is virtually identical.

 

[Thistle]

For restaraunts or heavy private users here its not shredded either.Never heard of anyone using it shredded.Unless a homeowner sprinkles some fine chips or confetti on their gas grill.Chunks from golfball sized up to 12-16" length logs.Usually dry, but mainly whatever's available at the time is the norm here.. I will sometimes add a few small green pieces to burning oak or maple in weber kettle.But when using brinkmann smoker its usually 100% dry wood with a few damp pieces just before meat goes on.

Last Monday I removed my neighbor's small almost dead Pear tree,barely 7 inches diameter trunk.Ended up with 1 wheelbarrow load & 7 plastic 50lb birdseed/cat litter bags full of sticks - about 100lbs there roughly.I still have close to 40 lbs in a box of dry chunks from dead limbs pruned off my Pear tree over the past several years.Its not doing too well,past storms have taken a toll.Will end up removing it in a couple years most likely.

 

[StihlHead]

I get all the apple I want here as I have a small mature orchard here, but if I did not I would use alder which is far cheaper and about as good for smoking with, and add a small amount of apple for flavor. I have a half cord stack of 3" and smaller branch wood of apple, pear, alder, maple and cherry that I use for smoking. I have all but the alder growing on my property. For pellets to use in my Traeger 'cheater' grill, I use apple, alder, maple, oak, pecan and cherry.

Funny thing, my cat loves smoked meat. I mean he craves it. I guess cats are big on smoke flavor though, as they dump a lot of ash onto cat food from reading the labels. That is the only people food he gets. He hunts voles (field mice) and eats them completely, head to tail. Endless supply of them here.

 

[Thistle]

Dropped the big apple on Saturday,brought home 1/2 the wood,cut several large turning blocks/slabs from the main trunk & larger limbs.The 2 biggest logs from main trunk I ripped in half to make for easier hauling (easily 125lbs each half - 2 of them are 20" wide & 24" long,up to 10" thick.Will be between 3" & 4" thick once trimmed to final size & best pieces + defects removed from each one. Did mill a couple small square blocks from the scrap with bandsaw yesterday. About 3 x 5 x 5 for one,3 x 6 x 14 for another,plus 4 nice semi-clear 5"-6" x 14" mostly heartwood logs for eventual vases,boxes,candlesticks or other lathe work....

Final tally - just under 2 p/u loads wood including rounds from 2" to 14",those massive slabs & a couple big stump pieces.About 95% will be fuel or for the smoker.2 wheelbarrows worth of smaller green & dry sticks for the smoker & 2 p/u loads of brush which I've almost done getting rid of.

Plus over 5 bushels of apples & 2 bushels of tomatoes which parents took.And I haven't picked up that vintage 1940's table saw yet,that will be in a week or two....Not bad for barely 2 days work during time I had off anyway.

Backyard smells like a cidery now.......

 

[Realstone]

Your work is probably going to be on 'American Roadshow'. Problem is, I don't want to wait the eighty years just to see it. Pictures?

 

[Thistle]

Last of it finished on Wednesday.

 

[lukem]

I cooked some burgers over apple branches the other night. Hands down the best burger I ever had. I want another. Right now.

 

[Realstone]

I see a whole lota smokin comin on.
You're right about the quality of the wood; it has a beautiful interior, but finding a large chunk without knots & checks? Best suited for flavouring meat IMO.