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What to do with small gnarly pieces of wood ?

Lynn Dollar

Lynn Dollar

is Blowin Smoke!
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I've several pieces of wood that I've not found a way to deal with. They came mostly from a pecan tree my FIL cut down. I've reworked it to splits I can use and have this leftover.


They are thick, very heavy and don't burn well. They were mostly forks in branches. They need to be cut in half but they can't be split. I've not found a way to hold them in place to cut them with a chain saw.


I'm using them now as starter wood, they do make a coal bed, but it takes a long time for them to burn down.


For size reference, that's a regular size pallet they're stored on.



Any suggestions ?


DQClxqJ.jpg
 
Chuck them up in a wood lathe and make bottle stoppers.
 
I'd cut them down with a Miter saw with a rough cut saw blade, then split them.

Caveat: I have a miter saw and a 5-ton log splitter, so there's that.... :razz:
 
If it were me I would figure out a way to use them for my pit. If they are fresh I would wait until winter and axe split then. They will split much easier in the cold. Found out that trick (from the ol timers) when I was a kid and doing wood splitting parties for friends.
 
I guess I need to be more specific. I'm lookin for a way to cut them into smaller pieces.

This pecan has been seasoning for 17 months. The rest of the tree is burning great. These pieces are still heavy, probably with moisture, IDK , its a puzzle to me why they don't season.

They don't catch fire easily Mostly they smolder for a long time, putting off a lot of bad smoke, just throwing them on the pit is not an option.

Unless ...... I can cut them up into smaller pieces , let them dry out some more, if they will.

And they're really difficult to split. The grain in the wood runs different directions where the tree put off a new branch. They're kinda like a big knot. I've used an axe and a maul, and it just bounces off.

A chain saw would only work if there was some way to clamp the piece firmly in place.

There's a lot of wood there, if I can find a way to cut it to a size that can be used.
 
I have some cherry wood that looks similar. It's larger pieces but I burn it just like the other splits and haven't had any issues.
 
Throw em on top of your pit or on the side of the firebox to heat before throwing them on the flames. Get em hot like need gloves to handle hot.
 
A band saw is pretty much the only way I can think of to safely cut something that small. Otherwise, use them in a fire pit or discard. They're not worth losing a finger.
 
BBQ Freak said:
just let them continue to season longer and use them later for smoking .
Click to expand...

I think this is the course, since I don't have access to a band saw nor have a fire pit.

And continue to use them for starter wood, even if it takes an eternity for them to ignite and burn down.

Thursday, I spent an hour with the FB door open, the FB lid open, flipping and turning one of those gnarly pieces to get it to finally fully ignite in flame.
 
You use a wedge and a sledge hammer.

They split better from top to bottom.

For future trimming info you don't cut them into Y's. Instead cut one of the branches as parallel to the main limb/trunk as possible. Then split there with a wedge.
 
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