I'm an avid woodworker and on one of the woodworking forums, someone posted that a couple of "old-timers" told him he should never cook with kiln dried wood. I can understand not using treated, finished, or engineered wood because of all the non-wood components.Has anyone ever heard a valid reason for not doing this?

Never heard that, I thought you could cook with just about any hardwood. I had some kiln dried red oak trim left over from a project and used it in my smoker. Worked great.

Maybe some confusion in cooking vs. smoking? If it makes fire, I'd be willing to cook with it. Smoking on the other hand might require a little more precaution. I'm a bit of a wood worker and horde all my scraps for future projects. I could be convinced to use some small chunks for the smoker though.

As long as it is 'kiln dried' and NOT pressure treated.Kiln dried will smoke very well IF pre-soaked as almost all moisture has been removed during drying process.Kiln dried will make a nice hot fire.

Pressure treated could give you a good buzz though.

I'm also a woodworking, woodturner and have spent more then one day building homes.I would never hesitate to use untreated/unpainted KD wood for cooking, heating, campfires, etc.The wood is simply force dried. There are no chemicals used.As point of fact, the firewood in the rig right now is mostly KD, the rest is cut-offs from woodturning.

Cooking with kiln-dried wood? | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jul 17, 2014
As long as it is 'kiln dried' and NOT pressure treated.

Kiln dried will smoke very well IF pre-soaked as almost all moisture has been removed during drying process.
Kiln dried will make a nice hot fire.
Super_Dave
Explorer
Jul 17, 2014
Maybe some confusion in cooking vs. smoking? If it makes fire, I'd be willing to cook with it. Smoking on the other hand might require a little more precaution. I'm a bit of a wood worker and horde all my scraps for future projects. I could be convinced to use some small chunks for the smoker though.
Ron3rd
Explorer III
Jul 17, 2014
Never heard that, I thought you could cook with just about any hardwood. I had some kiln dried red oak trim left over from a project and used it in my smoker. Worked great.

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Cooking with kiln-dried wood?

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