Hey, I thought Cherry was supposed to dry fast??

[Woody Stover]

This has been split (small) and stacked for two summers, and has been top-covered for many months. The ends of the splits might have got a little water on them four or five days ago. The moisture is along the edges of the splits. After about ten or fifteen minutes of burning, the moisture is pretty much gone. All I can think is that rain water soaks in. Cherry must be more of a sponge than other woods...

 

[pen]

I've always had cherry and ash dry quicker than hard maple beech.

But, every now and again things will surprise ya.

pen

 

[Woody Stover]

every now and again things will surprise ya.

The majority of these small Cherry splits are hissers, if not bubblers. This was stacked single-row for the first summer, and this past summer another row was stacked in front of it (to the prevailing SW summer wind.) There's at least a couple of feet between the stacks. If the wood was truly unseasoned, the moisture would be coming out of the middle of the split-end. I think the stuff is just a sponge; Never seen this with Ash, Maple, Oak, BL etc. "A few days of sun and wind dries the surface moisture" doesn't seem to hold true with the Cherry.

 

[swagler85]

I have one cherry I cut and stacked fall 2011 that hisses when I burn it. It was dead and on the ground when I cut it so I figured that's why it did t season well.

 

[Woody Stover]

I have one cherry I cut and stacked fall 2011 that hisses when I burn it. It was dead and on the ground when I cut it so I figured that's why it did t season well.

This wood was down as well, but as you can see from the pics, it's in good shape ; Sapwood wasn't punked. And that moisture is coming out of the heartwood side of the split...

 

[mecreature]

I get the same thing with cherry. I just have to fire it up at the start.
the cherry I am burning now has about a year on it.
At the start of this season the cherry I was burning had 2 years on it.
it was better

 

[PapaDave]

I've seen that with oak that's over 2 years c/s/s on occasion that's not recently gotten wet.
Not very often and it surprises me every time.
Dennis will scold me that it's oak and needs 3 years...when he gets back.

 

[mellow]

Interesting, especially with it being split small, I usually have no issues burning cherry the next year after it is cut and split.

 

[HatCityIAFF]

yes my cherry is doing that as well. It was stacked with ash 4 rows, that was c/s/s feb of '12. Ash isn't bubbling, cherry is.

 

[Insomnivore]

I burn lots of cherry harvested from my lot. It seasons quickly here in the Northeast (CSS in spring, burn in Dec.) but I always keep it covered. If you're not so good at listening to two pieces knocked together, the best bet for cherry is to see how well the bark falls off. If it comes off with little coaxing and in one piece then you're good to go. Seems to season at about the same rate as ash for me here.

 

[Applesister]

Im having an opposite experience. I usually burn poplar, gray birch and black cherry. These are my three main staples. I give all this wood one year and never have problems. I also burn apple, pear, plum...etc and these woods are a PITA(3+years) Ive never had cherry give me unusual problems. In fact I am running out of wood and tapped into a load of cherry that is designated for next years burn. This cherry tree came down in Hurricane Irene. It was uprooted and got hung up. It was cut in August during a very dry spell and was split and stacked like 2 days later. That was 5 months ago. This wood is burning extremely hot and clean. In fact its cleaning my glass on the stove if it follows less dry wood. (dead standing elm) Its kinda acting like locust. Frankly every time I put a piece in the stove and the temp cranks up to 700. Im shocked.