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Author Topic: Favorite smoker fuel  (Read 80581 times)

Offline schawee

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #80 on: June 03, 2011, 11:48:18 pm »
i use grass :-D well the legal kind.i use the the grass cut with a bushhog .i light some  and get it started and pack it in till you can't fit no more.it will stay lit for hours.  allen, its so dry here the whole state is under a no burn ban. man i had to sneak in my backyard with my lit smoker to check on my bees :-D.          ...schawee
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Offline hardwood

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #81 on: June 04, 2011, 12:04:56 am »
Allen, I know this Italian guy that wants you to light your smoker next to his restaurant (wink, wink)

Scott
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Offline AllenF

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #82 on: June 04, 2011, 09:04:19 am »
 :lau:

Offline joebrown

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Re: Smoker Fuel
« Reply #83 on: June 10, 2011, 11:28:16 pm »
I know a 90 year old beekeeper that used a soup can to hold his smoker fuel. He found a can that would fit down in the smoker, cut the top and bottom off, placed the fuel in the can, lit one end, and stuck it in the smoker lit end down. I like the idea. It helps prevent burning your hands and the area around the can or between the can and smoker wall allows the fuel some ventilation. This helps prevent the fuel from smothering out!


What do you all use to light your smoker fuel?? I use a small hand held torch. Just turn on the gas and squeeze the trigger. Plenty of fire! Good way to clean wax off the hive tool as well!

Offline slacker361

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #84 on: June 11, 2011, 09:53:21 am »
I think michael Bush has that can on his website

Offline Jim134

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Re: Smoker Fuel
« Reply #85 on: June 11, 2011, 10:26:42 am »
I know a 90 year old beekeeper that used a soup can to hold his smoker fuel. He found a can that would fit down in the smoker, cut the top and bottom off, placed the fuel in the can, lit one end, and stuck it in the smoker lit end down. I like the idea. It helps prevent burning your hands and the area around the can or between the can and smoker wall allows the fuel some ventilation. This helps prevent the fuel from smothering out!

 I know a beekeeper in 1958 who did this.


            BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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Offline Grieth

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #86 on: June 11, 2011, 11:20:42 am »
My smoker came with an inner tin.  The bottom of the inner tin has a small bolt in the middle so it doesn't sit right on the bottom of the smoker, and has holes in the inner tin- works great!
I prefer pine needles as they are easy to get (once you fine a tree in a park or on the roadside), and the smell is really good.  Only down side is a fair bit of rosin residue.
"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings”
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Offline CapnChkn

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #87 on: June 12, 2011, 01:37:17 am »
Believe it or not Charcoal.  I start the charcoal outside the smoker, and then blow the coals to red hot.  It doesn't matter what I pack in on top of it.
"Thinking is like sin, them that doesn't is scairt of it, and them that does gets to liking it so much they can't quit!"  -Josh Billings.

Offline yockey5

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #88 on: June 15, 2011, 08:30:22 pm »
Pine needles on the bottom and a few pine cones on top. Works great, cost nothing.

Offline Jim134

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #89 on: July 16, 2011, 07:26:46 am »
Believe it or not Charcoal.  I start the charcoal outside the smoker, and then blow the coals to red hot.  It doesn't matter what I pack in on top of it.

I have done this for about 25 years and it works well



     BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
« Last Edit: July 16, 2011, 11:09:46 am by Jim 134 »
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
 John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #90 on: July 16, 2011, 08:26:28 am »
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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Offline Mishu05

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #91 on: July 20, 2011, 07:41:35 pm »
I use wood and bark from black locust and plum tree bark for a very nice smoke smell. If bees are a little bit nervous I add some wax in the smoker and they will calm down pretty fast ( also a nice smell)

Offline joebrown

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #92 on: July 21, 2011, 12:21:26 am »
I have never heard of adding wax. Interesting, I may need to try that sometime.

Offline kbee

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #93 on: July 22, 2011, 10:43:13 am »
i use straw to start the smoker then i put a good amount of walnut bark and the shell of the black walnut on the straw and it produces a very good smoke and the bees are very very calm when i use that combo. plus the bark burns for a while. i have 14 hives and when im all done inspecting them the smoker is still going...never have to re light  :)

Offline blainenay

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #94 on: December 15, 2011, 04:25:44 am »
Everybody has a favorite smoker fuel, and it's a pretty popular topic among beekeepers....What's your favorite?

I've been happily using burlap for some 50 years. It's getting harder to find, though.

Another excellent fuel is chunks of dry cow pies and horse biscuits. Don't laugh, they're great and free!
A garden without bees is bad for the soul.

Offline kingbee

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #95 on: January 05, 2012, 09:46:57 am »
Most if not all cotton harvested today is compacted into modules of 10-15 bales in the field and then allowed to sit there from several days to several weeks before the cotton gin sends a tilt bed truck to pick up the module and deliver it to the gin.  There is always several pounds of cotton with seeds remaining on the ground at each module site after the modules are gone.  If you have the farmers' permission to gather this waste cotton it makes a good smoker fuel similar to the store bought fuel plugs.

The soup can trick works but I have a refinement I want to try.  Why not make up several soup cans each one charged with a new starter and smoke generating fuel.  Then make several holes with an old beer can opener in the bottoms for both air flow and as a place to light the fresh starter fuel before you replace the old can with a fresh just lit can?  I know you would need a pair of needle nosed pliers to safely remove or replace a hot soup can in your smoker and you also need to be careful about stray sparks or embers from the first can igniting dry grass and leaves.  Has anyone tried it?  It seems a good way to me to keep your smoker fuel ready and at your finger tips.

Offline BlueBee

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #96 on: January 05, 2012, 11:40:18 am »
Believe it or not Charcoal.  I start the charcoal outside the smoker, and then blow the coals to red hot.  It doesn't matter what I pack in on top of it.
CapnChkn and I are on the same wavelength!

I got sooo tired of my smoker going out half way through an inspection, that I finally started using Charcoal too.  It keeps going and going and going  :)

Offline oregonbeeman

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #97 on: May 31, 2012, 03:31:40 am »
I use paper to start my smoker then pack it tight with dry hay. It will.last a hour.

Offline JackM

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #98 on: June 01, 2012, 09:15:48 am »
I get lots of sawdust from milling wood to make guitars.  Start with shavings, add some chips, get going, work in some sawdust, get it going, smother with more sawdust, lasts for hours.
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Offline Keskin

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Re: Favorite smoker fuel
« Reply #99 on: June 01, 2012, 11:30:55 am »
My best is decayed willow branchs and barks, dried thyme and orange peel mixture.
Thyme and orange peel smell good and willow burning about four hours.

Cow and horse... I could not use for bees but I am using donkey pies as a mosquito repeller. It works great...
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