How Do You Make Your Bones?

[8Ball]

I found a guy selling peanuts on the side of the road in Georgia last year. Noticed a big pile of white oak fire wood under a tree in his yard. He let me hand pick the “rounds” that had big heart sections. He split them for me and helped me load up the truck. A few dollars and a half bottle of bourbon that I had in my truck box sealed the deal. I cut the hearts out of the fire wood and split them into thin strips with a hatchet. The left over oak goes into my smoker and grill. I have the heart strips all bundled and stacked off the ground and exposed to the weather. Figure they will be ready this time next year. I have plenty of other white oak strips that I cut on my table saw and toasted. Those stay in my freezer until I need a couple, then I make a small stack of them with a pile of white oak shavings for kindling. I soak it all down good with foreshots and then light it. Once the bones get burning good, I drop them in a bucket of water. Then they get sun dried and into the hooch they go.


8B

[Sunshineer]

Very nice do you use anything else besides white oak? I have a bunch of orange tree logs from last year's hurricane.

[Chauncey]

I usually buy oak cubes and toast them but thinking ima do some badmo barrels this next round

[SaltyStaves]

Splitting them and then weathering is assbackwards IMO. Any mold will have to be burnt/toasted, as it will be impossible to remove it from split wood. Not a flavour I want to try.
I'm not a fan of splitting white oak. The tyloses are better maintained if you saw/plane the oak.

[NZChris]

I leave the round out in the weather and split some off when I need to toast another batch. If it won't split into dominoes nicely I run it through a saw. It's then toasted to one of two very different time/temperatures protocols and I still haven't decided if one is outstandingly better than the other, or better for a particular style of product. The dominoes are kept in open containers.

To use them, I've been alligator charring them with a gas torch and extinguishing the flame by dunking them in water, but I've heard from somewhere that a fine water mist does good things so I'll be trying that next time. I don't bother with drying them before putting them in the liquor.

[OtisT]

I make my oak bones from barrel head scraps left over after making Badmo style barrels.

- 1”+ QS oak is milled into staves and stacked outside to season
- After seasoning I use my jointer to shave off a thin layer of the surface to be toasted then plane the other surface flat.
- One surface only is toasted at 400F on a hotplate for 2-2.5 hours, just over half way through the board
- The scraps left over after barrel making are cut on the bandsaw into manageable sized pieces. Dominos, sticks, cubes of various sizes. Most scraps are also split, separating the toasted wood from the raw wood. I do leave some unsplit.
- Bones to be charred are spaced out on a brick surface and blasted with a propane flame thrower for 25 to 30 seconds then doused in water, turned and charred on the reverse side then doused again. Charred pieces are left out to dry.

Otis

[8Ball]

Very nice do you use anything else besides white oak? I have a bunch of orange tree logs from last year's hurricane.

I’ve used toasted pecan with good results, peach also. I have citrus but have been hesitant to use it. I have a big heart section of cherry that will get cut into bones as well.

8B

[8Ball]

Splitting them and then weathering is assbackwards IMO. Any mold will have to be burnt/toasted, as it will be impossible to remove it from split wood. Not a flavour I want to try.
I'm not a fan of splitting white oak. The tyloses are better maintained if you saw/plane the oak.

Yea, I’m okay with toasting and charring weathered white oak. I have plenty of barrel stave cut offs handy as well. I’ve been told that I look better if I shave my ass and walk backwards too ... the strips are big enough to trim if needed.

8B