black walnut vs cherry

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cwill

Member
Oct 13, 2010
182
W. MI
tossed in some black walnut a bit ago, first time burning this and is seems to be better than the cherry i have been burning. Is there a major BTU difference between the two? I got a inferno going on like i haven't seen before. BTW both woods are at about 18% moisture.
 
Black Walnut wins by a nose, 20 vs 19.5 MBTU's per cord, some charts may vary but not much of a difference.
 
Density is close,Cherry averages 36 lbs/cubic foot,Walnut 38. Though I've seen some of both that was reversed.
 
Cherry dries much faster. The bark on BW can also be a pain. I love the smell of BW, but it gets slimy if not perfect drying conditions. I would take cherry over BW any day.
 
I haven't been impressed with black walnut at all, it heats just fine but I find it to leave a lot of ash behind. Maybe it's just me??
 
See I love walnut, its typically splits easy, smells wonderful spitting and burns good. I haven't noticed any extra ash from it, maybe due to growth rate? But the cherry, that I've gotten so far has burned good, but split in equal proportion (probably due to size of the tree). Both burn good though, its all down to personal preference.
 
The Heat output from the walnut was about the same. The secondaries lasted longer than the cherry. Did notice the extra ash, but not a big deal. I like it, good thing too I got a nearly unlimited supply.
 
cwill, if you got it its all good, any saw logs you can sell? I agree on the drying time, cherry wins that race but once your ahead on the supply it makes no diff.
 
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