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Post by longtrail on Feb 17, 2009 11:17:42 GMT -5
Was discussing our smoker with someone recently and thought back to when we lived in N. Idaho and something that happened there. We have used the hole in the ground for our punky fire for years. We don't have any trees around our smoker here, but there we did. We were smoking some hides one day, and there were some old dead roots that were exposed to the inside of the hole. The roots caught and smoldered all the way to the tree and started a fire that had to be put out by the local fire dept. and BLM. Something to think about if your using a hole in the ground for your smoker fire. Also came up was using pine cones to smoke with, we never had luck as they tend to flare up very easily. Still have great luck with cedar chips, not bark or mulch, but chips. We have not been able to get them during the winter and have been using juniper cut into very thin wafers, which works well too. ;D
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Post by phoenix1967 on Feb 17, 2009 14:38:09 GMT -5
There ya go, bustin us smokers chops again! ;D
Seriously, rent a wood chipper for a day, and toss every bit of hickory, oak, ceder, or whatever you wanna smoke through it.
Down here, that's how the backwoods people get the stash for their smoke shacks. Dunno if it'll work fer hides, but I suspect it would. $60 rental fee is not to bad for 2 tons of hickory chips (average hickory tree down here) the fellers cut, split, and toss it all in the chipper. If they dont need that much, they stack it like firewood (or for firewood).
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Post by paskinner on Feb 17, 2009 16:06:40 GMT -5
I really don't collect wood for smoking very often. I just keep an eye out while cutting firewood for peices that are just a bit punky and later I pull them out of the wood pile and cut up in small chunks with the chainsaw. I use a lot of sawdust to smother it down unless I want a real dark hide, then I let it get hotter. If I had an inline set up I bet I'd be using more really rotten wood. Maybe I'll get busy and collect a whole bag of rotten chunks and dry it, like any smart braintanner would.
Never used a hole in the ground much except when we were demoing for a group of kids and I burnt up the hide skirt and burnt a hole in my arm...not exactly the kind of demo I had in mind. But I did save the hides from burning up.
I used to use a chimney liner for smoking, worked pretty well, but required constant attention. What I use now is slower but only needs to be checked now and then.
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Post by paskinner on Feb 19, 2009 11:24:14 GMT -5
Prayers needed ;D I'm rigging up another wood stove to my smoke house and had the floor smoldering a bit. Guess I had the fire too hot. I think I'll be going back to using charcoal with this set up since the second stove is set up inline, and charcoal seems easier to control. If it all works out, it'll be pretty cool. I'll be able to do two hide sacks at once. Pictures coming, if I don't burn the whole mess down first!
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Post by fishinmusician on Feb 19, 2009 13:37:43 GMT -5
Speaking of smoking, here are a few pics from last week. I had a couple of nice days for smoking. So far I haven't burned up a hide yet! Later.. Dave <a href="http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm165/rizdog10/?action=view¤t=smokinghides1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm165/rizdog10/smokinghides1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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Post by fishinmusician on Feb 19, 2009 13:39:56 GMT -5
Did this work? Dave
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Post by fishinmusician on Feb 19, 2009 13:41:32 GMT -5
Here's the other pic with smoker in background.
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Post by phoenix1967 on Feb 19, 2009 16:13:47 GMT -5
thems some nice lookin hides brother!
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Feb 19, 2009 22:46:03 GMT -5
can't wait to see the new set up pa. good looking hides dave
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Post by paskinner on Feb 21, 2009 10:21:09 GMT -5
Nice smoking set up, Dave. If I had an open building to work in, I think I'd do something like that. Sometimes I lose a lot of smoke on windy days from the woodstove set up outside, even though the hides are in a plywood box.
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Post by fishinmusician on Feb 23, 2009 11:07:09 GMT -5
Thanks for the compliments on the hides! The actual color is more golden then the pics, which seem more brown. I did some nice yellow ones, 3 thin doe hides. I'll try to post them in the future. I have a 3 stall garage which makes it nice to smoke in. Lots of room. I used to do it in a shed, but the garage is a lot nicer. (Just don't tell the insurance company. hee hee) I can smoke in any weather, but it's hard on the fingers when it's below 0, so I wait until it warms up a bit. I'll try to keep posting pics when I can. It's always a nice reference for people to see what others are doing. Dave
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Post by paskinner on Apr 10, 2009 16:22:44 GMT -5
I thought ya'll might find this smoker interesting. Of course, it's for meat and fish, but no reason you couldn't do something similar for hides, if you can keep the heat down. I've always wanted a way to smoke hides fairly dark without having to sew sacks. I'm just not sure how to get an almost airtight smoker, which I think you'd need, and not have it get too hot. I used to do a lot in the smokehouse without sacks, but it just took way too long to get much color, but of course I never had one close to airtight. www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1299844/gonew/1#UNREAD
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