# Black Cherry



## Sturla Snorrison (Jun 5, 2015)

I have quite a few black cherry trees that I am going to clear out. How do folks feel about black cherry as stove wood? I have never burned it. How clean does it burn?

Thanks


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## bholler (Jun 5, 2015)

It burns as clean as any other wood if it is dry.  It is far from the highest btu wood around but it is not bad i burn allot of it last year.


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## Longstreet (Jun 5, 2015)

Have any friends who are woodworkers?  If the trees are straight, they might be worth something to them beyond firewood.  Otherwise it's middle of the pack in terms of btus but does season pretty quick.


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## TreePointer (Jun 5, 2015)

Quite a few black cherries = call a timber harvest company and get paid (that is, if they are not yard trees or very young).  They'll leave the treetops for you to process into firewood.


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## DougA (Jun 5, 2015)

They smell great when burning.


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## Woody Stover (Jun 5, 2015)

I like having a good stash of Cherry around. Like bholler said, it isn't the longest-burning but it splits easy, dries fast, coals well and smells good in the 'hood.


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## Applesister (Jun 5, 2015)

It dries within a year. Burns very clean and is recommended for cooking over.
Like Apple and Hickory. Its clean in the stove and easy to process. 
It is not for deep winter but there have been years where Ive gotten by on it.


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## Nelson (Jun 5, 2015)

I have quite a bit of black cherry up here. I like it. As others have mentioned, it doesn't top the list in BTUs but it seasons pretty quickly and it puts off enough heat for me.


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## Sturla Snorrison (Jun 6, 2015)

Well thanks for the advice everyone, guess I'll buck those into rounds and stack them up.


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## Stinkpickle (Jun 6, 2015)

Middle of the road for firewood, but top notch in a smoker.    yummy  yummy on ribs.


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## mass_burner (Jun 6, 2015)

On the few rounds of BC I've burned, I noticed higher than usual ash.


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## kennyp2339 (Jun 7, 2015)

Good stove wood as long as its dry, my only real complaint is that the bark gets pretty flaky and it makes a mess when loading the stove, other than that I like it


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## weatherguy (Jun 7, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> On the few rounds of BC I've burned, I noticed higher than usual ash.


That's the reason I never burn a load of all BC, I've come down in the morning to 1/3 of a load left but so much ash on top it smothered the fire.


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## DougA (Jun 7, 2015)

weatherguy said:


> I've come down in the morning to 1/3 of a load left but so much ash on top it smothered the fire.


I burn a lot of Black Cherry and I have never had that.  I suspect you are turning the air too far down.


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## kennyp2339 (Jun 7, 2015)

Never had that problem


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## firefighterjake (Jun 7, 2015)

Decent middle of the road wood . . . only negative is it smells so good when you split it so I always end up having to stop and sniff it several times . . . and once my wife caught me sniffing the wood.


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## kennyp2339 (Jun 7, 2015)

Lol


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## weatherguy (Jun 8, 2015)

DougA said:


> I burn a lot of Black Cherry and I have never had that.  I suspect you are turning the air too far down.


That was the idea with the BK pincess I had, low long burn overnight, I haven't burned any in my new stove but I will be this year.


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## DougA (Jun 8, 2015)

I kinda thought so.  I'm just not into long slow & low burns. I'm much more of a full heat, short bursts kind of guy. 

I think the problem some people are having with too much charcoal and too many ashes is that some stoves are designed for the long and slow.  Just my opinion, but as stoves get more advanced and people opt for longer burn times, choice of wood & wood quality becomes more critical.  I much prefer burning hot for a few hours and getting the same heat over a shorter time in the shoulder seasons.


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## Hardwood Hunter (Jun 9, 2015)

It's middle of the road firewood but as others have mentioned it smells great and is highly sought after for cooking/smoking.  It's not like splitting elm but can be a pain sometimes.  I've had to noodle a few that just won't bust apart.  Seems standing dead are worse to split.


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## mass_burner (Jun 10, 2015)

Hardwood Hunter said:


> It's middle of the road firewood but as others have mentioned it smells great and is highly sought after for cooking/smoking.  It's not like splitting elm but can be a pain sometimes.  I've had to noodle a few that just won't bust apart.  Seems standing dead are worse to split.


Pretty good for cooking, sweet, smoky flavor with beef.


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## Ram 1500 with an axe... (Jun 11, 2015)

I save mine for cooking too, also because I don't have a ton of it....


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## mass_burner (Jun 12, 2015)

Ram 1500 with an axe... said:


> I save mine for cooking too, also because I don't have a ton of it....


Me too, I keep small bins of chunks, cherry, cedar, oak. I am waiting for my apple, peach to dry.


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## Hardwood Hunter (Jun 24, 2015)

I have one smaller BC tree in the firewood stack that I had cut standing dead this spring.  Father's day evening I used up 5 pieces in the firepit when the kids and I were out there.  Smelled so good!


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## Iatrapper (Jun 24, 2015)

Love the smell from cherry


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## JA600L (Jun 26, 2015)

It is an excellent firewood when mixed with something else like oak or locust.  I find that a whole box full of cherry will leave a lot of ash.


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## TX-L (Jul 2, 2015)

DougA said:


> I kinda thought so.  I'm just not into long slow & low burns. I'm much more of a full heat, short bursts kind of guy.


 
Are we still talking about firewood?...

I have a lot of black cherry on my property -- I only cut ones that are dead or wind damaged.  I usually keep it for the cabin, or sometimes sell a couple of cords.  I have no issue burning it, and as others have said, it isn't the highest BTU or longest lasting hardwood.  A majority of my harvested wood is oak, sugar maple, and beech, but the black cherry dries fast and looks pretty good to me when it's free!


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