I'm with you! - BBQ 12 months of the year - even living in the rain forest of
90" of rain. We cook cakes, make bread, and generally cook as well as BBQ. We learned the needed way as the Gas Stove we had a few years after marriage went out for the third time - We were on short supply of cash - single earner on state pay - so we learned to cook everything we wanted and need.
Now 40 years later, we just enjoy to cook.
We enjoy cooking corn in the husk, beans, ribs, brisket and bread all at once! What a job.
Those are some interesting links about wood gas. What I have in mind is to use found wood to get the charcoal-maker started, and then, once the water has been driven out of the wood, I will then use the wood gas itself, in a closed-feedback loop, to make the process self-perpetuating, from that point on. Of course, I will have wood which is inside of the retort, which itself will be inside of the oven, and then I will also have wood which is outside of the retort, but which is still inside of the oven. Once the white smoke turns to blue, indicating that the water has been driven off, and that the wood gas is available, I will then light the wood gas. At that point, I will be able to smother the burning wood which is outside of the retort, since the heat from that wood will no longer be needed, and since that wood will be good for the next burn. If I discover that I do not need all of the wood gas to keep the process going, which, I suspect, will probably be the case, then, I will condense the left-over wood gas into tar, which I will then use to start the next burn. I expect that, eventually, I will run into a situation where I will not need to put any of the wood outside of the retort at all, but that I will be able to work entirely from the leftover tar from previous burns, which, again, will be converted into wood gas in a closed-feedback loop.
It's not listed in my girl friend's old truck-driving road-atlas under Texas or OK. ;) (she drove a truck for about a year and a half and almost broke-even money-wise, non-union truck driving sucks donkey dick!)
I don't want to change your plans on the "wood cooker" or any of that, just want to re-advertize the fact that water-softener outfits have used activated-charcoal they have to get rid of one way or another.
It was originally coconut shell so it's about 3/16" cubed for the most part. They need something dense so it won't take up so much room... or work better/longer with the available space. ;)
Seems to me that'd be worth a try if a guy was going to "briquette it up" anyway?
That's all we have here. I noticed when at Deming once (girl friend's family re-union, I was bored and went for a walk in the desert;) and noticed that they have both velvet and honey mesquite.
That size in a clean, heart-wood block? What do you want it for, carving? Or what?
There used to be a "desert hardwoods" sawmill near by but it closed shop. I didn't like their mesquite, it was limbs (there ain't no trunk right?;) and was way to straight grained for knife handles.
I cut my own from the root-crown-limb junction. Is that what you mean or is the straight grained stuff ok?
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Your 20" requirement is going to be tough if you're wanting that much figure. :/
Actually I have seen in some wood working stores - www types - boards... There are some large trees in southern Texas near river banks. Lots of water - means more growth. It might be wider grain however.
Ranchers have been tearing it up for years so the grass would grow. Indians used to set the range on fire to beat it back for the grass to grow.
I'm going to make caulking mallets for boatbuilding. They will be turned on a lathe. The figure isn't important, it's the density and the interwoven grain that I'm looking for. Do you know which is denser, the honey or the velvet?
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news:1116485834.311230.291790 @g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Hmmmm ... I do not think that this process is self sustaining. From observing my charcoal maker in action I don't think the wood gas alone is enought. It may be possible with a charcoal maker that distributes the heat more efficiently, but with the abundance of scrap wood I am not sure it is worth the effort. When I need to replenish my supply I just go to construction sites and ask if I can collect all the small scraps of wood. I have an endless supply since there is so much construction in my area.
The only honey-mesquite wood I've messed with was some crap I bought from Texas Knifemakers Supply. ;) They bragged on it so much, being from Texas and all, I didn't dare send it back and tell 'em it was soft-plain-ugly crap. ;)
Where did you get the idea mesquite was good at any of this anyway?
It's heavy but it's also very-high in minerals.
The stuff will darn near fill your barbque pit up with ashes in just a few fires and that also makes it burn slow, I guess?
I could hardly believe the way the hickory spike-maul handle pieces burned up fast like paper and left almost no ashes the first time I tried cooking steaks on it. It was really weird, I wasn't prepared for the quick burning hickory and had to supplement the fire with mesquite to finish the steaks. A fellow railroader recommended them as a free change of flavor... after I got the hang of cooking on the handles it sure as heck was good tasting/smelling, no kidding on that. :) Mostly just from being different than what I was used to?
I guess it's the high mineral content that's so hard on saws and axes too, but at the same time mesquite breaks easy as anything with a sledge hammer...
YMMV
Wouldn't maple or osage-orange be better as a hammer?
For sure the cool-looking crown is way-too cracked up for what you need!
I can look into some solid limb material, but even that stuff can be full of those large bug-holes. There's stories all over the place about people having thick coffee table tops and suddenly a big-ass beetle chew it's way right out through the polished surface years after the mesquite table was made. :)
Knife handles, pistol grips, cooking steaks, that's about sums up it's best uses? ;)
Bee Cave is just southwest of Austin. I myself am within hollerin' distance of the Cowtown Restaurant, where Willie Nelson filmed some of the scenes for his movie "Honeysuckle Rose". What we are known for in Bee Cave nowadays is "The Backyard" outdoor music venue. All of the big names have performed here, including Bob Dylan.
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