oak sources?

[seravitae]

Hi guys,

considering the astronomical prices of a small amount of oak chips at homebrew stores, i was wondernig if anyone had any tips for locating oak suitable for aging.. Im hesitant to just go to some wood/timber place and ask for some because its probably been treated with craploads of pesticides and other nasties.

Any ideas how or where I might try for "organic" / non-treated? My only other idea was to buy an old barrel, use it as is, or chip it up and use it in glass bottles. Still astronomically priced though.

[Dnderhead]

saw mills, firewood etc most hard wood is not treated as it is too hard to penetrate air dried is best then tost

[punkin]

There's only twelve pages in this whole section. I reckon if you just scanned the topic titles of the first six or eight pages and spent an afternoon reading the posts that directly related to your question, you'd get all the info that anyone will post in this thread.

Four or five easy ways to do it have been described in twenty threads.

[lawnman 2]

do what im thinking about doing head out to a winery close to you and go and buy a whole barrell empty of course lol
take home take apart and saw down into oak srtips and hey presto oak ya heart out

[HookLine]

Wot lawnman 2 sed.

[potbelly]

You could do what I did. Depending on where you are, it may be a relatively inexpensive option. Buy a plank made for cooking and rip it into strips. I bought a maple plank and a red oak plank for about $4 each. They are about 6"x12"x3/8". Ripped into strips 3/8" wide I can get about 24 sticks that are 6" long, maybe a couple more if I had a band saw (I used a tablesaw). Char them up using a torch, or toast them, and drop a couple into a litre of your favorite spirit. Worked for me.

[SuperDavid]

Depends on what country you are in.
if you are in the states like it seems alot of these guys are, you'll find oak just about anywhere.

if your in Australia like me it's not as common. But you will probably have some luck calling around at woodworking type places.
I managed to score some American white oak off cuts for free from a place called Carba-Tec. They sell wordworking tools and wood.