Apple logs

[fordius]

Thanks for the replies to my previous question about home grown wood.
All my previous experience has been grilling stuff over charcoal, no flames, no smoke, so using smoke as part of the process is new to me so pardon me if I ask some daft questions
2/3 years ago a neighbour chopped down a small apple tree, he told me he was giving the wood to a friend for a craft project.
The house recently changed hands and the new owner found about 6 pieces of the said tree under his hedge, these I have now acquired.
They are on average about 3 inches in diameter and approx 10 inches long.
I understand that apple is quite a hard wood to chop up, and I only have an average size domestic axe.
The logs are not green although they maybe quite wet.
Can I put one amongst the charcoal to burn and smoulder or do I need to cut them up?
Can I just split them into kindling size pieces or do I need to get them down to the size of the chips sold commercially?
All ideas and suggestions will be appreciated
I am hoping to be at Bristol so might be able to meet a couple of folks

[All Weather Griller]

Hello Fordius,

If they are a little wet I would just pop the logs somewhere to dry out for a little while if you can. However on the cutting front, you could tackle it a couple ways. I have used cherry acquired in a similiar manner. I avoided using a chainsaw as the only one I could get a loan of had a self lubricating chain which would have meant oil on the wood.

A friend of mine has used a well used chop saw to get them into manageable pieces but I used an old coarse hand saw to cut the wood into sections about 3-4 inches in length then I took a little axe I bought from Wilkos and chopped them into smaller chunks. It worked pretty well and gave me small fist sized chunks to be working with.

I now use chips as I can get hold of them much more readily but the chunks of wood really does take some of the effort out of it.

I don't honestly think you can go too far wrong, just avoid using any mechanical cutter that may unintentionally impregnate tiny drops of oil on to the wood. There is some thought between pitmasters on wether the bark makes a big difference, some people think it gives a bitter taste whereas others think is has no effect. I would suggest looking into this and making a decision yourself on weather you want to be smoking with or without bark.

Hope this two penneth is of some use.

Beerz

Adie