MCS For the Last Time......I swear

[SheilaAnn]

Way to hustle!

[captainlee]

Beautiful set up, both smoker and pool. Post your first smoke.

[DavidNorcross]

Congratulations! This will not be your last time though. MCS has a hold on you. Enjoy!

[CaptainMike]

Nice ride, Clyde!

[WI Bubba]

WooHoo! New cooker day! She's a beauty.

[drobinson]

Wow!! I'm green with envy-------------

[HawkerXP]

Nice! Congratulations!

[Alan Brice]

Wow! That looks to be the Lambo of stick burners.
I love my scissor Tongs.

[fzxdoc]

It would have been tough to stuff that stick burner down the chimney. Santa must be relieved.

Enjoy cooking on your new toy. Let us know how you like it.

Kathryn

[Lynn Dollar]

I use the poker and tongs from an old fireplace tool set.

A 6 gallon Behlens bucket with a lid is handy at the end of the firebox.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Behrens-6-Gallon-Galvanized-Steel-Round-Trash-Can-with-Locking-Lid-00108/202264761

[sclawrence2013]

Lynn Dollar I already have that exact galvanized bucket, but hadn't even thought about an old fireplace tool set. Awesome suggestion. Thank you.

[klflowers]

Very very nice.

[dpearce]

I see the title of this post but I’m not sure I believe it! Very nice!

[sclawrence2013]

dpearce Yeah, I've been called out a few times in this post about that. Thank you.,

[jfmorris]

Beautiful cooker! I hope you really enjoy it!

I will second/third the advice about your wood. You really cannot burn full logs in the firebox without either running excessively hot, or trying to damp down the fire to where it starts burning black and sooty. To burn a small, clean hot fire and be at smoking temps, you will need to chop most of that wood you are getting in half, and then split again into smaller pieces using something like the Kindling Cracker.

I advise being careful using something like a chop saw or miter saw for chopping firewood in half. Hunks of wood can bust loose and fly out. I had it destroy the blade guard on one of my miter saws, using it to chop firewood in half. I think the safest and easiest thing would be what is called an "alligator lopper" or "alligator chainsaw". It has two opposing blades that come in together to cut the log. I just don't know if they make one big enough for some of the logs you might get. Those might need a conventional chainsaw.

[Uncle Bob]

If you already own a reciprocating saw (aka sawzall) that too is a safer alternative to a chop saw with an appropriately sized wood cutting blade for shortening split lengths.

[sclawrence2013]

I do have a nice Milwaukee reciprocating saw. A new blade for that would certainly be cheaper than a whole new saw. I had no idea purchasing a new cooker was going to require honing my lumberjack skills, but here we are.

[jfmorris]

sclawrence2013 I've used my Dewalt riciprocating saw with a 14" pruning blade to cut a lot of logs and tree branches. That should work well.