Cherry cut this week

[John_M]

On Monday, a friend felled a very old and large, partially dead cherry down in my lowlands. He even hauled the 3 large logs up to the house for me. The uneven and splintered ends of the logs needed trimming so I used this as an excuse to break-in my new MS362. As expected, the saw cut extremely well. Also, as expected, some of the wood was very wet with sap?. Also had to cut two of the rounds (about 21" dia.) in half so I could lift them into the back of my gator.

Split the rounds and again noticed how wet they were. Stored these splits on my covered drying racks behind the house. The racks are located under a deck which is located under a 10' roof overhang. The racks have terrific exposure to wind and sun (southern exposure).

Did a quick search here for "seasoning cherry" and couldn't get quite the specificity I wanted. So, here is my question: Assuming I will have all this wood cut, split, and on the racks within the month, should it be ready to burn next season? John_M

 

[smokinj]

Cherry yes it will be ready...

 

[joshlaugh]

The cherry that I have cut and split, seasoned pretty fast. I burned it within 9 months without any problems. You should be fine

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, it should be ready.

The partially dead part is the problem. How much moisture has it soaked up (probably a bit punky in areas). So when you stack, make sure the wettest and those starting to turn to punk are stacked where they get the most wind and sun.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Cherry will easily be ready. As Dennis said the punky stuff holds water, so that needs covered or let it dry inside for a week or two before you burn it.

 

[John_M]

Thanks for the help, guys.

Dennis and others, I have cut 2 end pieces off each of the three logs and the wood shows no sign of punkiness. There are still two large branches about 8" x 15' long which I will drag up to the house when the wind and cold let up a little. There may be some punkiness in this wood. If so, I'll split it first and put in the seasoning racks right away. We have a constant wind chill of about 10 °F and that is is just too cold for me to work safely. It was almost as cold a couple of days ago when, after an hour or so I was thinking about how cold I was and not thinking about my sawing. That is when I stopped. John_M

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Good thinking John. It is the same way if you feel yourself getting a bit tired. That is the time to STOP....NOW. Tired bodies get injured much faster and easier then fresh ones. The same goes for getting cold. If you catch yourself thinking more about the cold or weather, then stop. There will be another day.

 

[John_M]

Dennis, for the last year or so I have been lurking around hearth.com trying to learn as much as possible after a five year layoff from burning wood. Now that I have become much more involved physically, emotionally and financially into cutting, splitting, and the general processing of wood I have a still steeper and longer learning curve to maneuver. At my age, slow and steady is the best and safest rule.

Thanks to you, the moderators, and many other talented and helpful participants (many of whom are right here in upstate, NY), I have had an outstanding re-introduction the pleasure of working with, and burning wood. The knowledge and experiences unselfishly offered to me and others has been, like the Master Card advertisement, Priceless.

Had lunch with my younger and stronger buddy and his mother today and he suggested we get together in the next week or so and spend a day bucking the 5 or 6 trees he has felled. He thinks in one day we can clean and buck the logs and organize the rounds so the splitting will be easier for me later on. Ya' gotta' love all this. John

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thanks John. I'm sure you already know that there are many good people here on hearth.com. Our job is to try to make yours easier! We just love heating with wood and the work involved with it. As for me, I have always felt right at home in the woods and hope it will always be that way.

It sounds like you have a busy weekend planned now.