# wild cherry



## mschoff (Nov 15, 2009)

Hi all. my pal were I hunt told me that I can take down all the wild cherry trees I want and also the walnut trees 75 acres of land. some of these cherry trees are 18 in dia. now when I am out hunting I find myself looking at and counting the trees instead of looking for deer. I am selling some of the wood to buy stuff for food plots a or deer licenses


----------



## Mac B. (Nov 15, 2009)

I cut a wild cherry in February and am burning it in my OWB now. It is not as good as hickory or oak but does pretty good. It smells good burning though.

Mac


----------



## J.W Younger (Nov 15, 2009)

mschoff said:


> Hi all. my pal were I hunt told me that I can take down all the wild cherry trees I want and also the walnut trees 75 acres of land. some of these cherry trees are 18 in dia. now when I am out hunting I find myself looking at and counting the trees instead of looking for deer. I am selling some of the wood to buy stuff for food plots a or deer licenses


I like cherry, its not quite up there with hickory & oak in the btus but has a lot of the same qualites when it comes to coals and it seasons faster.
If you get it stacked and covered it will keep pretty well but it rots fast left on the ground. Keep it separate from your oak and stuff and you can burn it sooner.


----------



## Kong (Nov 15, 2009)

We've burned cherry for quite a few years, though less of it now than in earlier years simply because we've cut just about all we can get a truck to on our place. It burns well but I do have one complaint about it; that would be its more prone to create creosote than many other woods. 

Now this - and I don't give it so much as a suggestion as I do something that you just might want to think about. My wife has a regular 'girl's lunch' that she and some friends of her's do the second Tuesday of every month. Its regular as clockwork. So I let her set my clean-out schedule. When she leaves I put on a pair of gloves, head up on the roof, and take 3 minutes to push the chimney brush up and down a couple of times. I then get down and spend another 2 minutes cleaning out the fallen creosote from the clean-out bin. Once a month, every month. Needless to say we never have a problem with creosote buildup so we don't fear chimney fires even on the coldest nights when the fire roars.


----------



## mini14 (Nov 15, 2009)

great wood to burn but a pita to split


----------



## J.W Younger (Nov 15, 2009)

mini14 said:


> great wood to burn but a pita to split



Evidently you never split and Elm or sweet gum. Knot free pin oak or maybe willow is easier to split than cherry but I can't think of any thing else.Someone help me think of some good easy splitting wood here.


----------



## Wood Doctor (Nov 15, 2009)

*Can you sell it?*



mschoff said:


> Hi all. my pal were I hunt told me that I can take down all the wild cherry trees I want and also the walnut trees 75 acres of land. some of these cherry trees are 18 in dia. now when I am out hunting I find myself looking at and counting the trees instead of looking for deer. I am selling some of the wood to buy stuff for food plots a or deer licenses


How about thinning them out and saving the prize larger specimens for resale? Wild cherry runs over $5 a board foot FAS at the saw mill. It's a premium furniture wood that some people give their eye teeth for. A large wild cherry tree could yield nearly 1,000 bd ft FAS.

Worth considering. Why not mine the gold?


----------



## VINIFIREWOOD (Nov 15, 2009)

Wood Doctor said:


> How about thinning them out and saving the prize larger specimens for resale? Wild cherry runs over $5 a board foot FAS at the saw mill. It's a premium furniture wood that some people give their eye teeth for. A large wild cherry tree could yield nearly 1,000 bd ft FAS.
> 
> Worth considering. Why not mine the gold?



sounds like money in the bank to me


----------



## BlueRidgeMark (Nov 15, 2009)

J.W Younger said:


> Evidently you never split and Elm or sweet gum. Knot free pin oak or maybe willow is easier to split than cherry but I can't think of any thing else.*Someone help me think of some good easy splitting wood here.*



Ash.


Gotta agree - cherry is pretty easy stuff.


----------



## super3 (Nov 15, 2009)

mini14 said:


> great wood to burn but a pita to split




JK right?


----------



## trax (Nov 16, 2009)

A pita to split ? Makes a lot of cresote ?? My firewood seems to be at least 50% cherry more years than not. and I don't have any of these problems. Cresote, maybe if your burning it green but cherry burn pretty well green almost as good as ash. Saw the logs and burn the tops


----------



## HOGBEAR (Nov 16, 2009)

We cut quite a bit of cherry off the fence rows at home most of it is under 10 in. at the base. It burns like a dream, we cut it and burn it after about 2 weeks of drying. One thing about it small wild cherry is abundant near my home.


----------



## trouba (Nov 16, 2009)

mschoff said:


> Hi all. my pal were I hunt told me that I can take down all the wild cherry trees I want and also the walnut trees 75 acres of land. some of these cherry trees are 18 in dia. now when I am out hunting I find myself looking at and counting the trees instead of looking for deer. I am selling some of the wood to buy stuff for food plots a or deer licenses



Don't the deer and other animals eat the nuts and berries that fall from them? I know that my Dad just cringes when a live oak goes down because the turkeys and deer are always feeding under them.


----------



## willsaw4beer (Nov 16, 2009)

Cherry is awesome firewood, as good as oak in it's own right. While it can't match the pure btu's of denser woods it seasons much faster, thus if both oak and cherry are cut split and stacked in the spring the cherry will put out as much or more heat if they are both burned that winter.. (Of course if they season for a year or two that obviously will change.)
Cherry is usually very easy to split but the knotted limbs can be pretty nasty. It causing creosote buildup is hogwash.:censored:

On another note, I really need to get a mill set up- at least 5 18"-24 dbh cherrys have uprooted in the last few years in the back woods and have all gone in the stove.


----------



## TreePointer (Nov 17, 2009)

trouba said:


> Don't the deer and other animals eat the nuts and berries that fall from them? I know that my Dad just cringes when a live oak goes down because the turkeys and deer are always feeding under them.



Yep. I've seen deer eat them right off the tree.


----------



## dingeryote (Nov 17, 2009)

Wood Doctor said:


> How about thinning them out and saving the prize larger specimens for resale? Wild cherry runs over $5 a board foot FAS at the saw mill. It's a premium furniture wood that some people give their eye teeth for. A large wild cherry tree could yield nearly 1,000 bd ft FAS.
> 
> Worth considering. Why not mine the gold?



I might be loading up a trailer and heading your way soon.
We still can't get break even prices around here, and it's KILLING me to keep cutting them for BTU's.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


----------



## WetBehindtheEar (Nov 17, 2009)

J.W Younger said:


> Someone help me think of some good easy splitting wood here.



Box Elder, Poplar, Lodgepole Pine, Doug Fir...

 I KNOW... they're not in the same category BTU-wise... but they ARE easy to split!


----------



## Dalmatian90 (Nov 17, 2009)

Your box elder mustn't be my box elder 

That's my least favorite tree on my property for work:heat ratio. Have three marked to come out of the woodlot this winter, and even those I think I'll just girdle and declare them wildlife trees.

The ash I just have to look at sideways and it splits itself. Simply shivers when shown a gleaming, freshly sharpened Fiskars.

I'm working on a red oak that is splitting really nicely for it's size right now. Easier then some slightly smaller red maples I've been dealing with, and the maples aren't a tough wood to split...hope the other big red oak I have down goes as nicely.


----------



## WetBehindtheEar (Nov 17, 2009)

*Box elder*

I got a pile of box elder from a guy who had the power company come through & clear the power lines. Most of it was very straight & seasoned pretty quickly. 

I split by hand and the seasoned rounds just flew apart. 

And I do agree - not too many btu's.. but it gets a small hot fire going quickly for the shoulder seasons. And it was FREE.


----------

