What wood to build a smoker from?

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    Posted: 10 Jun 2018 at 10:23pm
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Just moved to a new place and want to build a decent sized permanent smoker house. Roughsize will be 1mx1m and 2.4m high. The bottom will be brick with an allowance for cold and hot smoking.

For the top part I want to make it from timber but don't want to use anything that's been treated. This will be in the weather so I also want something that will last.

What timber should I use for the framing, sides and roof? Also where's a good place to get fire bricks from?

All the American smokehouse plans generally use Cedar but I'm not sure how easy that is to source in NZ. Are there any suitable timbers here that aren't to differcult to get hold of but also will last? Totara or Macrocapa perhaps?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Steps Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2018 at 9:24am
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Look around for new or re cycled  ceder/ Douglas fir weather boards or tounge and groove.
 There are some great home smoker projects in older posts going back at least a couple yrs.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Tagit Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2018 at 9:52am
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Totara wouldn't be my first choice as it is full of natural insecticides and may not be so healthy to use. Maybe OK if you really got it heavily coated with smoke residues etc before putting food in it. You can probably get T&G totara floorboards to use if you did go that way. Mac is likely to split on you unless you get it quite thick and really good quality. Lawson Cypress is locally gown in NZ and durable and stable. Again though I would give it a few decent smokes before putting food in it. More available in the South Island I think. One possibility that would probably work OK would be to buy some recycled thick Kauri flooring. You would want to run it through the planer or thicknesser to clean up the surfaces (or spend a bit of time sanding), but durable and relatively food safe with a bit of seasoning. 
Kahikatea is very food safe (known as butter box wood) and pretty stable but not so durable if left out in the weather full time. It is reasonably available if you hunt around.
You can get cedar pretty easy. Use red not white cedar I think for durability. If you are in Auckland Herman Pacific in Silverdale do a lot of cedar.
Another possibility might be one of the gum varieties. Some are highly durable and I think pretty stable. Cypress Sawmill in Dairy Flat (Auckland again) do a range of gums I think
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote CrayZfish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2018 at 10:38am
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In the Shed Magazine a while back was plans for a durable smoker house using plywood, inside layer was non treated, outside layer was treated. Was a fairly simple project to follow. I loosely followed it but used American Packing timber either Fir or Birch i think? All non treated however i white washed and sealed my outside with Tung Oil, but also built a small shed over mine so its 99% out of the weather.
Mines only 600 x 600 but has about 5 racks and at the moment is gas heated, with an oven fan for circulation, but i plan on building a separate fire box as phase two for cold smoking.
 
If i can find the Shed magazine article i will post details.
 
Why choose either diving or fishing when you can do both. Besides crayfish tail is very good bait!!
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Steps Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2018 at 11:17am
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The chimeney height and diameter arecritical parts of the design.
Warm / hot air rises.. the higher the chimney the faster it draws.
by experimenting with height/ diameter one can control the the temps.. IE if have issues keeping temps down increase height and or diameter.
 If you adjust the bottom air draw (restrict) instead you run into things like bitter flavours, air currents that influence chip burn times...
 Both influence hot spots, and smoke distribution inconsistent temps at different locations in the smoker.
 Also will need a trap bend  in the chimney near the bottom.
 The warm air also has moisture, this condenses on the walls of the chimney and runs back down into the smoker.


Note : this was the 'testing' stage, the vent now runs up the inside of the wall and vented out up under the shed eaves

All stuff I found out when setting up my smoker inside the shed. Initially had issues not get temps down.. and accidentally found the 'fix' when moved permanently into the shed adding the chimney... then came the condensation issue. fixed with a bend in the flexible air ducting at the bottom with a small hole poked in, and a 1L container to drip into.

Door seals.. clean the door and a good coat of vaseline on the opposing doors jamb area. Good bread of silicone on the door, close the door and leave for 24 hrs...vaseline stops sticking to the door.. perfect seal.


 I did find that as time and heat went on  the door tended to warp slightly and leak smoke.. to fix this , re sealed and placed several rare earth magnets around the outside of the door/ jamb as door catches...rather than 1 single catch.


Racks, chose something that can lay muscles and other small items on without them falling thru at the slightest movement of a rack.



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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Tagit Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2018 at 12:41pm
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Titanium
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I like the double layer of plywood idea. Cheapest and easiest solution I would think. Just need to seal the inside properly so that it can't let moisture get between the layers. 
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Leatherjacket Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2018 at 3:11pm
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Oh thanks. I had actually seen that article a while ago but they didn't have them to back order and it wasn't anywhere online. I've just checked again and I can now order it Big smile

https://magstore.nz/collections/the-shed/products/the-shed-46-december-january-2013

My only hesitation with ply is around the glue they use. I'm pretty sure it is ok from a heat perspective but I don't know about any chemical leaching that would occur. 

I think I will just end up using some Red Cedar, but the rest of the article will be useful. 


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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote feeder Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2018 at 5:33pm
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The smoker I use when up at Kerikeri is a small garden shed lined with fibrolite, works a treat, on a concrete slab base, small chimney and a couple of vents at the bottom.
 
Cheers
The only bar to frequent is the Kawhia Bar
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Steps Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2018 at 7:43am
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Hint : do not build then find racks.. get racks then build to size
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