# What to do with pecan wood?



## gadeerwoman

Need some ideas on what to do with some pecan wood. I have a 200+ year old pecan tree that is not going to make it more than a couple more years I'm afraid. Tree is about 5 foot in diameter and has some huge limbs. It just lost 3 limbs this week due to stress from the last few years drought. Just couldn't take the weight of the leaves and pecans this year so it shed limbs that are 12-18" in diameter. Lot of memories in that old tree so I'd like to get something made to remember her by. Checking into a box turkey call and some ink pens. Anybody got any other ideas for me?


----------



## Redbow

Pecan wood will make a good archery bow. Wish I had some of it! 

Sorry about your tree I hope you have another one to take its place!


----------



## OkieHunter

Sure make good firewood for your smoker, Pecan is all I ever use in mine


----------



## Milkman

I would make some furniture type items, wood trim for the house. Curtain rods, picture frames, deer mount plaqes,  antler plaques, Get someone to make a baby bed and pass it down to generations in your family, the possibilities are only limited by your willingness to spend money.


----------



## gadeerwoman

Milkman, my 'willingness' to spend money exceeds my 'ability' to spend money these days. The willing part has had to be 'spayed'. Think I'll have to see what I might be able to make myself when it comes to furniture. Like the antler plaque idea. Might have to put that to the test.


----------



## JohnK3

When smoking beef, pecan is the wood of choice.  Forget mesquite, that's fence-wood.  Pecan gives a nice flavor to brisket, sausage even pork and chicken.

I will take some of that pecan wood off your hands, if you find you have too much of it.


----------



## bighonkinjeep

Pecan is in the hickory family. Whatever you can do with hickory you can do with pecan. Sure keeps the house warm when burned in the fire place, makes good barbecue as mentioned.


----------



## discounthunter

if your willin to spare the wood im sure there are folks on here that can do it justice for little or no coinage.i for one dont wood work for profit,i enjoy being a starvin artist,thats why i hunt.

with as much wood you have in that tree,the possibilities are enormous.


----------



## Paymaster

As others have said,good fireplace,campfire and smoker wood. I love the scent of the smoke of pecan and hickory.


----------



## gadeerwoman

Some will be used for deer camp and smoking meat, but I'm looking for ways to make some sort of keepsakes from the old girl. She deserves some special place in the house. She's seen a lot in her 200+ years: provided food and shade and wood for the indians in her early days and still did the same for us all my life. I raked and sold tons of seedling pecans from that tree as did my Dad when I was growing up. I'm going to see if I can't dry some out for some woodworking this time. 
And it's taken me 3 days of 2 hrs a day just to trim the limbs down to where I can get to the dog pen this time. She's got huge limbs on 2 sheds, wiped out 1 side completely and put at least 8 limbs thru the dog pen fence in the past couple years.


----------



## hummdaddy

smoker wood


----------



## mickbear

JohnK3 said:


> When smoking beef, pecan is the wood of choice.  Forget mesquite, that's fence-wood.  Pecan gives a nice flavor to brisket, sausage even pork and chicken.
> 
> I will take some of that pecan wood off your hands, if you find you have too much of it.


i'm glad somebody else thinks the same as i do about mesquite


----------



## RBaldree

*what to do, what to do*

I am a wood turner, and things that size can be turned into beautiful bowls and platters if treated properly when cut down.  It is very difficult to find wood thick enough and solid enough to be able to turn large items, so see if you can find someone who wants to be able to turn some from it, and work with them to get the wood properly treated as soon as it is cut down.  Don't wait till it rots before you cut the tree...

Pecan has a lot of silica in it, and can be very dulling to cutting tools and saws and the like.  It is why it leave a lot of ash when burned, that has much of the silica in it.  Good luck with it!

Robert


----------



## 24tesla

All sorts of things can be made from it. We had a live oak that had to have a huge limb cut to repair a septic tank in La. just before we sold and moved to Ga. My wife was partial to the old tree, so I saved it and since I turn wood on a lathe, I used it to turn all new fan and light pulls for the fixtures in the new house, I made several votif candle holders, stick style, and a few bowls and writing pens. If interested, let me know. I would not charge much as I do this for a hobby, would just need to recover my material cost like sandpaper and if pen or candle holders were made, I would want to recoop my cost of the parts for them. Shoot me a PM or email. I can also send pics if interested.


----------



## JohnK3

mickbear said:


> i'm glad somebody else thinks the same as i do about mesquite


mickbear, when I was growing up in Texas, mesquite was what the farmers and ranchers used to make fences out of.  Nobody had heard of smoking meat with it until I moved to Atlanta back in '79.  Then, a few years later, I see all these Texas-styled steakhouses pop up braggin' about cooking their steaks over mesquite.  I still prefer pecan or hickory to this day.  Heck, I'll smoke meat over apple, cherry, maple, alder or beech before I'll smoke it over mesquite.


----------



## Bitteroot

Some of the limbs can be used for wood turnings and such. The smaller stuff is firewood and smoker wood. If the trunk is as large as you say, I would try and get a portable saw mill owner to come out and flitch cut it into about 3 inch slabs. Sticker it and put it aside to cure. It will make beautiful furiniture in a couple of years and you will be reminded of it everytime you use the piece. Other uses would be a large mantle or natural table top. The flitch cut will allow you to dry it, and give you time to decide what uses would be best. Then you may need to resaw to desired "furniture" thickness pieces and the 3 inch cut once resawed will still allow for some 1.25 plus slabs.


----------



## Wild Turkey

get one of those chainsaw nuts to carve you a giant indian or such from the main stump.


----------



## topcat

JohnK3 said:


> I still prefer pecan or hickory to this day.  Heck, I'll smoke meat over apple, cherry, maple, alder or beech before I'll smoke it over mesquite.



That makes 3 of us.  Nothing like pecan for pork and chicken.  I always have a 5 gallon bucket full next to the smoker.


----------



## gadeerwoman

24T, I sent you a pm. Sounds like some items that would be very good for this situation!


----------



## GADAWGS

That tree deserves to be preserved somehow. If you have a sawmill close by, take it to them and let them saw it up in planks and let it dry for a year or so. If you get some milled up in 2x2x8 blanks I would be happy to make a turkey call out of it. Makes great strikers as well.


----------



## Nicodemus

I bet a piece of it would make a purty mantle shelf for the fireplace.


----------



## Fishin & Hunting

*What I do with it*

Having been making picture frames, bow holders, and a couple mount plaques.


----------

