poor secondaries with cherry?

[iron]

i've been burning mostly cedar and doug fir this year, with only a sprinkling of cherry as the temps dropped into the 20s.

i've loosely been paying attention to things as i'm at work all day, but have noticed a lot more ash accumulation once we started burning cherry.

this morning, i started the fire with a full load of cherry. shut down the air around 15-20 minutes in and had good flames for a bit. then, put our baby to sleep for her morning nap and came out to find just a pile of ashes (still in split shape), but no secondaries. this was after about 2 hours of burning. i decided to open the air full bore and am now getting some lazy flames.

i'm a little confused by this. not being in an area with hardwoods, i thought cherry would be better. in comparison, when i burn full loads of cedar, i get good secondaries for another hour at least. heat output seems the same. only difference i see is that the cherry splits are smaller than the cedar. even still, i assumed cedar was one of the poorer woods (besides kindling) to burn.

 

[Woody Stover]

The Black Cherry that we have here is what I would rate "medium output" wood, and doesn't burn real long compared to Red Oak or White Ash, but it's not bad. I see it rated about 20 MBTU/cord, a little better than soft Maple. I'd think that would be close to Cedar. One thing I've noticed is that Cherry seems to absorb moisture readily, if any rain can get to it. A couple days inside near the stove gets it dried out. But if you were burning small splits, the load probably gassed off quicker than it would if you had larger splits. It may also burn a bit differently than Cedar, so you may need to give it more or less air. It does seem to leave a fair amount of ashes.

 

[4fire]

I've never burned cherry, but some wood types need the air open a touch more than others to maintain a good fire.

 

[bcrtops]

Bitter Cherry is a native tree in the greater NW coastal region & is a great burning hardwood -- it is harder, than the typical maples & alders, and is, I believe harder than the native ash. Both Ash & Cherry that grow here requires more time to dry than the typical cedar, fir - mixes that we frequently burn.

Attempts are often made to burn it too wet. If dry, it is a great over-night burning wood. Loggers that heat by wood, cherish the Cherry for its long burn times. It does not grow in groves, & one seldom can get a full load of it. On the other hand, there is no local market for it, so it can be found cast aside as residue from logging operations. Due to the wrap-around bark (like duct tape), it is rather hard to split.

 

[DBoon]

I burn a lot of cherry in the shoulder seasons. It dries pretty fast and heats moderately well. It tends to off-gas early, and I'll put a piece in with three pieces of hickory (hickory off-gasses later) to balance the burn out. I'd say that 2+ hours into the burn and still expecting secondaries from cherry is probably asking too much. But I would guess that you would get reasonable for secondaries for an hour or so with good, dry cherry. You might want to shut it down a bit earlier so it doesn't offgas too much during the startup.

 

[Smock2015]

2 hours on 1 small piece of wood doesn't seem so bad

 

[Smock2015]

Miss read my bad

 

[weatherguy]

I hate both local cherry species, pin cherry is just a poor btu wood and black cherry leaves too much ash. I remember loading up my princess for an overnight burn and woke up to a lukewarm stove and a pile of ash.

 

[Slacker]

I've had some strange encounters with cherry this season. I scored a standing dead that was mostly barkless back in the summer. I didn' t check it with a meter but you could tell it was well seasoned. I purchased 7 truck loads of cherry this fall that were css in the dry. The standing dead burns ok but the other burns great with excellent secondaries.

 

[OhioBurner©]

i'm a little confused by this. not being in an area with hardwoods, i thought cherry would be better. in comparison, when i burn full loads of cedar, i get good secondaries for another hour at least. heat output seems the same. only difference i see is that the cherry splits are smaller than the cedar. even still, i assumed cedar was one of the poorer woods (besides kindling) to burn.

What is the species? Most on here talking about cherry are going to be talking about wild black cherry native to the eastern U.S. Prunus serotina

<<< I don't think you have this there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_serotina

I would pretty much say the same as Woody Stover... it's about in the middle of the chart here. Medium output, better than all the softwoods I think but towards the bottom of the hardwoods. Could go overnight in my tube stove just fine, and produced good secondaries. I didn't notice it to be more ashy than most of the other stuff I burn. Smells a little nicer to burn too. I enjoyed splitting and burning cherry.

 

[bcrtops]

It is Bitter Cherry -- a different species by far. Cherry is like Maple -- several species in the US
Prunus emarginata
http://oregonstate.edu/trees/broadleaf_genera/species/cherry_plum_spp.htm#bitter_cherry
Not sure how you'd find it's hardness/density rating in comparison, but it is one of the best burning woods in the Coast Range

Edit: There is another variety in the Puget Sound area, that is non-native, being a cross of domestic cherry & the Bitter Cherry. The OP possibly has some of this species.

 

[iron]

i will post a pic in the morning if i remember...

 

[iron]

 

[bcrtops]

That's Cherry! Almost looks like it has been seasoned or, at least, cut for awhile. I always leave it in large splits, or logs as I like it for the over-night burns. Cherry, like Alder, can get "punky" (start to rot) really quick. If that piece is rather light weight, that may be the case. It will still burn, but not as good as a sound & solid piece.