First session going now

[Xandrellas]

A bit of a feeding frenzy may have ensued =)

Agreed - that Pit is hungry!

[FireMan]

Love the pic of bones & meat & bits & pieces all over the place! Welcome, eat good & have fun! Oh, you will need plenty of wood to keep that Pit fed, plenty.

[mcook2201]

Greetings and welcome from another North Carolina neighbor.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

[58limited]

I was cutting some hickory with a miter saw once and the wood caught the blade and kicked into the aluminum back guard and broke it. I bought a replacement guard and still use the miter saw on my fire wood but I make sure to go slow and that the wood doesn't bow out away from the guard - I think that is what happened when it broke, when the blade went through the wood it pulled the bowed out part towards the center and caught the blade.

[Xandrellas]

Solid idea! I threw the butt onto some pink butcher paper on a rack on an oven sheet at 300 - watching the ol' Meater+ to see how we're doing. I expect 1-2 hours more should send it nicely. I usually do a Coleman stacker cooler w/a towel inside. I see these crazy restaurant-quality cases that can hold X temp for near infinitum and ooh it looks fun lol

[Dr. Pepper]

Xandrellas I agree, once I am ready to wrap (I use butcher paper), it goes inside into the oven.

For the wood, I bought a Costco large plastic storage box, the black box with the bright yellow top. If I fill that to the top, I can get three cooks out of one box full of cuts.

[Xandrellas]

Well noted - Yeah the FUD (fear/uncertainty/doubt) around using a precision tool such as a miter or band saw seems like severe overkill for my use case, though if I had the interest in woodworking I would feel spurred into it by this lol

For my first session - I'm calling it a win - though I'm sitting close to stall time on the butt - probably just going to finish 'er up in the oven, BTUs are BTUs but this wood be pricey haha.

I'm certainly on the hunt for wood - need to buy a truck now haha

[Dr. Pepper]

Looks great! Yes, when you load wood in the hopper, it is easy to shove the poppets open with the end of the wood pieces.

[jfmorris]

Welcome to the Pit! You've got a great smoker there, and looks like you are turning out some great que on it! Ribs look fantastic, and I bet the butt finishes great too!

I will throw out that the kiln dried wood like the B&B or other stuff at the big box stores may be, is not going to produce quite the same results as good seasoned firewood. I know sizing wood for the KBQ is not fun, but agree with others that those alligator loppers might be the way to go. I don't think I would use a bandsaw for firewood though! That almost seems sacrilegious use of a fine woodworking tool. Be careful if you use the miter saw. I had a piece of wood break off one time when cutting pressure treated dimensional lumber that had a split in it on my miter saw, and the chunk that flew off pulled up into the blade guard, and shattered the plastic of the moving blade guard. Thankfully it didn't hit me or my face, and the blade guard was replaced by Ryobi for free (I had to send them the saw though). Firewood will be even more likely to split like that than 2x4 and 2x6 lumber.

[Dr. Pepper]

I have the B&D corded, purchased before they offered a lithium battery model. I did break a part when I had ran it against the concrete step. I ordered and replaced the part. Now going strong for the past two years. I also purchased the Worx in order to have a battery option, which I use when I'm more than 10 feet from an outlet. Also easy to use. For less than $100, well worth a try. And, if it saves you a finger or two, it's a real bargain!!

[Xandrellas]

@Xandrellas Since you mentioned the difficulty of using a reciprocating saw for your KBQ wood, here is something I posted on another thread:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...69#post1085069

Well noted! I had seen that particular post and others yesterday RE: shortening up splits and, while I recognize that engineering is a series of compromises, I found conflicting information/experiences/responses regarding almost every approach. I have a miter saw sitting unopened in the back of my SUV and have one friend saying I should go buy a $1,500+ band saw (even though I have literally zero other use cases for one lol) and some, like KBQ throwing in a recommend for a lopper or as posted there as well, a Worx. I suppose it wouldn't be too insane to try some of these other approaches out!

[Xandrellas]

I just let these ride - no spritz or wrap. Within 4.5 hours they hit 195+ probed tender and I was hungry. I probably could have let them go another hour or so if I truly wanted. I usually followed (with previous cookers) the 3-2-1 rib approach but I think, after like 5 rounds of that method, I just don't like it.

EDIT : Top poppet closed, bottom poppet opened the entire cook. I need to go buy some clips, these babies are sen-si-tive.

[ofelles]

Welcome from the California Delta. Lots of great info on the KBQ here.

[Dr. Pepper]

@Xandrellas Since you mentioned the difficulty of using a reciprocating saw for your KBQ wood, here is something I posted on another thread:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/grills-and-smokers/logs/karubecue-kbq/1085046-chicago-wood-supplier?p=1085069#post1085069