Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Why I Don't Burn Hickory...

... in the wood stove.




I got a truckload of hickory in March, because I am going to have a pig roast in October. Nothing better for cooking a pig. I split it up in April and it was clean.



I glanced at the hickory pile today, it is infested with bark weevils. I don't want to bring them into the house on a cold January day.
Plus, hickory is very hard to split. It is, however, the best firewood available around here, it is a little better than white oak.

Pecan does the same but I bring it in and throw it in the Buckstove insert. Burns hot.

Pecan can be grafted onto Hickory stock I've been told and someone once told me of a hybrid Hican.

Any firewood that I store indoors is always dusted with DE as it’s stacked. I have never had an issue with insects after I started doing that. At the base of the woodpile it’ll often look like a bug graveyard with the carcasses of those that succumbed to the effects of DE through dehydration, spiders, beetles, etc 👍🏼

Love our Hickory here. Lots of white oak too. Burns hot and lasts.

Love our Hickory here. Lots of white oak too. Burns hot and lasts.

Creekside do y'all get all those bark weevils?

I burned wood for years and I never noticed any weevils in hickory here in Indiana that I remember.
I also liked white oak.
Beech is another one that puts off the btu’s.

Okay, since we’re on the subject of roasting pigs, and you’re a Tar Heel, how ‘bout we compare notes?
My Mom had a pile of siblings, she was 1 of 15! In the ‘90s, the second week in July she had a reunion. Usually around 125 to 150 of us, between her sisters & brothers and kids and what have you.
Every year, The Old Man and me were put in charge of getting this thing set up.
I was working 3rd shift, so I was pretty much the only help Dad had.
Through the week we got stuff ready, with the house, garage and the yard. We borrowed picnic tables and got everything ready.
It always whizzed me off, cause Mom drove us nuts! Everything had to be just so.
Anyway, Friday afternoon we’d go get the porker, usually 125 to 150 pounds dressed. We stuffed the cavity with stuffing rolled up in foil, and a couple hindquarters from deer, which we saved for the occasion.
We had a 275 gallon fuel tank, mounted right side up, on lawnmower axles with about 18” cut outta the middle, with a grate above the bottom filled with charcoal.
It had hinges, so we could open it up, and with The axles we could move it around.
Around 6 Friday evening we’d get her cooking. The first few we did we took turns setting up with it to watch, but we finally figured out the way to set it and forget it till Saturday morning.
By 2PM we were eating pulled pork, and us Oldhams had those hindquarters to ourselves!
I’ll be back.
7mm

Hank Jr always said “we got the pig in the ground and the beer on ice”!
The beer and the ice I’m pretty good at. Years of practice!
But I’ve never been to a pig roast done in the ground.
Care to fill this Yankee in?
7mm

Hickory is what they used in smoke houses, puts off little soot from what I’ve been told. It is good to bbq with, mesquite, pecan, hickory in that order in my opinion. Red Oak makes lots of soot, but bbq’s ok if that’s all you have. There is a beetle that only gets in mesquite.

If seasoned correctly soot is minimal.

Hickory will get mold or fungus in it pretty quick if not kept in the dry.

I would wrap it in black plastic for one heat wave, then move it to dry cover.

Good to use for smoke cooking meat.

serious question, have any of you BBQers ever tried burning dead fresh cut "Green" Hickory (or any other green wood) for your BBQ ???...

Never smoke with anything green, puts a bitter taste on the meat.

Uhhhh….

You sure about that ?

No.

You should use green wood whenever possible.

Yes, i do!...