# seasoning cherry wood



## rb_in_va (Jan 23, 2007)

How long does it take to seaon cherry? I got a line on some free cherry that has been piled up for 2 years. It has not been split so I don't know if that would keep it from seasoning. Some of the rounds are 24".


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## wdchuck (Jan 23, 2007)

Had some 30"+ cherry not long ago, 20" long rounds sat for a year before splitting in march/april, stack was in the shade 80% of the time but by november it was stacked in the basement and was fine for december burning. I do split my stuff thicker , 6x6 to 9x9, the load door opening is 11x11 on the wood furnace.


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## Woodsrover (Jan 23, 2007)

I'm burning a lot of black cherry this year. Doesn't seem to take any less or more time than my oak or maple. Blocked and stacked under the edge of the barn for 6 months or so then split and stacked under the barn for another 6 months. I would think those blocks sitting for two years would be good to go.

jim


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## rb_in_va (Jan 23, 2007)

Thanks for the info guys! The guy that has the wood said it splits nice and burns clean with very little ash.


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## Mkarlson (Jan 23, 2007)

I've cut and split alot of cherry in the summer, junish to august and it would burn nicely in late october and november. Cherry left in rounds for over a year and ends are showing the drying cracks will split so easy...I do all the straight pieces with a axe cause its faster then using the splitter. Maybe its not faster dont know I havent ever timed it, but makes me feel more like a man especially when there are people around to impress. :biggrinbounce2:


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## rb_in_va (Jan 23, 2007)

Mkarlson said:


> I've cut and split alot of cherry in the summer, junish to august and it would burn nicely in late october and november. Cherry left in rounds for over a year and ends are showing the drying cracks will split so easy...I do all the straight pieces with a axe cause its faster then using the splitter. Maybe its not faster dont know I havent ever timed it, but makes me feel more like a man especially when there are people around to impress. :biggrinbounce2:



Well I don't have a maul or a splitter so I guess I'll just be impressing everyone.:hmm3grin2orange:


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## WoodBurner44 (Jan 23, 2007)

Cherry, Birch and other tight-barked woods tend to decay under the bark if not split. Cutting when the sap is down (ie. in winter) helps to minimize this problem. I have cut and stacked some wild cherry in summer and the un-split limb wood decays before it dries enough to burn.


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## PA. Woodsman (Jan 23, 2007)

I had posted a similiar thread about this on August 20th. Locate it and you may have some more answers to your question.


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## firebuckeye (Jan 23, 2007)

I am currently splitting what I was told was black cherry. However it is a pain in the but to split. Its kind of stringy and will not split straight. An ideas why that would be. I also split some 24" walnut and now that was a piece of cake compared to this cherry. Can you give me some insight please on what I need to do.


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## Woodsrover (Jan 23, 2007)

Cherry can be a little twisty but it's not that stringy...Not the stuff I've been splitting anyway. You don't have a picture, do you?

jim


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## firebuckeye (Jan 23, 2007)

Never posted a picture before.... I will try. Maybe not twisty but wont split straight and its a bit ch
View attachment 44191


View attachment 44192


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## rb_in_va (Jan 23, 2007)

PA. Woodsman said:


> I had posted a similiar thread about this on August 20th. Locate it and you may have some more answers to your question.



Got it.

http://arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=35929

My real question is if cherry will season in 2 years before it is split.


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## Woodsrover (Jan 23, 2007)

Yup, looks like cherry to me. Knotty stuff though! Not fun. I pitch stuff like that over the bank.

Rob, I would think it seasoned in two years blocked but not split. It starts checking pretty quick if you keep it out of the rain.

Jim


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## PA. Woodsman (Jan 23, 2007)

My real question is if cherry will season in 2 years before it is split.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure that it's very dry, but like some of the others stated it could rot out on you lying around in unsplit rounds. You'll know as soon as you handle it and try to burn it. Good luck with it!


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## rb_in_va (Jan 23, 2007)

Just got the wood home, and split a few chunks. Some pieces are a little punky on the outside, but I just spit it till I get to good stuff. I was under the impression that wood was stacked and dry, but it was just chucked out of the way and some pieces were on the ground. Nice smelling wood! Does it smell that good when it burns?


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## PA. Woodsman (Jan 23, 2007)

rb_in_va said:


> Just got the wood home, and split a few chunks. Some pieces are a little punky on the outside, but I just spit it till I get to good stuff. I was under the impression that wood was stacked and dry, but it was just chucked out of the way and some pieces were on the ground. Nice smelling wood! Does it smell that good when it burns?



Yes, it's very aromatic when it burns. Since you can still smell an aroma, that tells me that there is still some moisture in it. But my experience with Cherry is that it isn't loaded with moisture; it's a "medium" wood as far as wetness/dryness goes, so it should dry out fairly fast for you. Good luck!


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## Mkarlson (Jan 23, 2007)

it does have a nice aroma while it burns main reason I love using it for campfires. Also not bad for smoking flavor.


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## rb_in_va (Jan 24, 2007)

Mkarlson said:


> Also not bad for smoking flavor.



I stopped smoking years ago.


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## SmokinDodge (Jan 24, 2007)

I don't know if it was just the one tree I got a hold of but I removed a Wild Cherry tree for a friend from town that had been standing dead two/three years. There is no way a man could split that stuff by hand unless you had all day to split half a cord. I even tried the splitter but it was so knotty I ended up with very odd ball porcupine pieces. The grain would twist about 120 degrees in one 20" stick of wood, that also made for very interesting splitting. The 041 Super got a work out on the rest of it ripping fries until it was all "split"  

I've been curious to try to smoke some meat with it, is it worth while?


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## rb_in_va (Jan 25, 2007)

SmokinDodge said:


> I don't know if it was just the one tree I got a hold of but I removed a Wild Cherry tree for a friend from town that had been standing dead two/three years. There is no way a man could split that stuff by hand unless you had all day to split half a cord. I even tried the splitter but it was so knotty I ended up with very odd ball porcupine pieces. The grain would twist about 120 degrees in one 20" stick of wood, that also made for very interesting splitting. The 041 Super got a work out on the rest of it ripping fries until it was all "split"
> 
> I've been curious to try to smoke some meat with it, is it worth while?



I just split some more of it last night. The stuff that didn't have knots split very nicely with an axe. It is very twisty though.


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## rb_in_va (Jan 25, 2007)

When I split this stuff I noticed it was still somewhat wet in the middle. I was wondering it would better to leave it outside to continue drying, or store it in my unheated garage. Keep in mind that in the next 10 days I will be having many above 50F.


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## wdchuck (Jan 25, 2007)

If you can stand to leave it outside for a couple few weeks before putting it in the garage, that would be good, but I have known guys who've split and then stacked in a closed building with out issue too. Are you looking to burn it this winter yet? It'll be great for next winter.


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## rb_in_va (Jan 26, 2007)

wdchuck said:


> If you can stand to leave it outside for a couple few weeks before putting it in the garage, that would be good, but I have known guys who've split and then stacked in a closed building with out issue too. Are you looking to burn it this winter yet? It'll be great for next winter.



Well, the wood has been sitting cut but not split for 2 years. I would like to burn some of it soon. I might try a few pieces tonight. Supposed to be the coldest day of the year so far today, like 33F! Then tomorrow is supposed to be 56F.


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## wdchuck (Jan 26, 2007)

ONe way to hasten drying is to stand the pieces up as near to the stove as possible while you are around and let it dried that way, two days lead time and you should be good to go. Just keep air space around each piece, not in a pile. 

There's a 4' space between the back of my wood furnace and the basement wall, I lean the wood against the wall, two days later it is noticeably lighter, plenty of checking, and ready to go. Be sure to keep it at a reasonable distance though, and the house will smell purty while its drying too.


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## rb_in_va (Jan 26, 2007)

wdchuck said:


> ONe way to hasten drying is to stand the pieces up as near to the stove as possible while you are around and let it dried that way, two days lead time and you should be good to go. Just keep air space around each piece, not in a pile.
> 
> There's a 4' space between the back of my wood furnace and the basement wall, I lean the wood against the wall, two days later it is noticeably lighter, plenty of checking, and ready to go. Be sure to keep it at a reasonable distance though, and the house will smell purty while its drying too.



That's a good idea, but I have a fireplace not a woodstove. Plus there are some bugs in some of the pieces (mainly near the bark). I'm leary of even storing too much in the garage. I will probably burn some tonight, and I can put some pieces around the inside of the fireplace after I get a good fire going. I've done that before.


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## firemankris (Jan 26, 2007)

rb_in_va said:


> Well, the wood has been sitting cut but not split for 2 years. I would like to burn some of it soon. I might try a few pieces tonight. Supposed to be the coldest day of the year so far today, like 33F! Then tomorrow is supposed to be 56F.



Oh no 33 degrees. It was -4 when I got up this morning and its 7 right now. But it might warm up to 30 tomorrow. I love new england.


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## rb_in_va (Jan 26, 2007)

firemankris said:


> Oh no 33 degrees. It was -4 when I got up this morning and its 7 right now. But it might warm up to 30 tomorrow. I love new england.



I know, I say that jokingly because I know that there are folks here who run around in a t-shirt when it gets up to 33F! But folks around here act like it's really really cold. I grew up in north Idaho, and I know what cold is.


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## Brushwacker (Jan 26, 2007)

SmokinDodge said:


> I don't know if it was just the one tree I got a hold of but I removed a Wild Cherry tree for a friend from town that had been standing dead two/three years. There is no way a man could split that stuff by hand unless you had all day to split half a cord. I even tried the splitter but it was so knotty I ended up with very odd ball porcupine pieces. The grain would twist about 120 degrees in one 20" stick of wood, that also made for very interesting splitting. The 041 Super got a work out on the rest of it ripping fries until it was all "split"
> 
> I've been curious to try to smoke some meat with it, is it worth while?


 Some trees blow around in the wind sometime through their growing process causing the grain of wood to be twisted up instead of straight, which makes splitting difficult. Dry cherry usually splits harder then green, or just being full of knots could be the problem.


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## musch (Jan 27, 2007)

rb_in_va said:


> I know, I say that jokingly because I know that there are folks here who run around in a t-shirt when it gets up to 33F! But folks around here act like it's really really cold. I grew up in north Idaho, and I know what cold is.



It was like 38 degrees here today, and I was out in a light weight long sleeved shirt, no jacket. 
In the sun, it was actually nice.

Regarding the cherry, if you smoke anything, (meats, etc!!! ) 
Make yourself some chips of that stuff. It is better than apple or hickory IMHO.


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## Mkarlson (Jan 28, 2007)

> Cherry left in rounds for over a year and ends are showing the drying cracks will split so easy...I do all the straight pieces with a axe


What I meant to say I think is the dry straight pieces are easy to split. I have split alot of nice straight cherry, but I have had some seriously twisted pieces also. A few of those bent and twisted pieces have actually slipped out of the splitter and came darn close to the family jewels. I have four children now so I dont worry bout jewel damage much anymore :bang:


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## sawyerDave (Feb 8, 2007)

*What a shame*

:bang:I guess its just me, but I hate burning cherry-I'd rather be making furniture out of it. From your desciption of it, it might be showing a lot of highly figured grain (curly, or quilted, or spiral) this would cause it to be hard to split. The other thing that you have to take int account is how cherry grows-typically at field edges and fencerows, and most grow crooked just trying to get to the light.


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## Woodsrover (Feb 8, 2007)

I love burning cherry. It's probably 75% of what I burn all year. I'm into a couple rows of ash right now and I can't wait to get though it. I'm finding myself splitting this ash further down as it doesn't throw a lot of heat unless there's lots of surface area. Unlike oak, maple and my cherry, it doesn't seem to burn well in large chunks. I"ll take cherry all day long!

jim


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## rb_in_va (Feb 8, 2007)

sawyerDave said:


> :bang:I guess its just me, but I hate burning cherry-I'd rather be making furniture out of it. From your desciption of it, it might be showing a lot of highly figured grain (curly, or quilted, or spiral) this would cause it to be hard to split. The other thing that you have to take int account is how cherry grows-typically at field edges and fencerows, and most grow crooked just trying to get to the light.



Well, this cherry was already cut into firewood lengths. Better to turn into BTUs than for it to end up in the landfill, right?


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## sawyerDave (Feb 9, 2007)

*True enough*

 Better to burn than to throw out. I was just suggesting an alternate use, and explaining why it might be hard to split. For the record I burn any wood which will fit into the stove, and its been so cold lately I just burnt up a pair of old shoes!


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