Not sure what to say on that one! I've had cherry and re split it after two years to do a moisture check and was still at 18+%. Now, it may also be the way I burn because I let the stove get down to about 300º pipe temp before bed, pack Grandma full of heavies and bring the draft knobs to a 1/4 turn for a slow burn all night. Two years ago I had 80% cherry in my wood stacks from the hurricane and it was the worst cresoting I had in a while. After three years I had finally got down to 12% moisture. Now, I know you know me and my close "proximity to people", I do not want smoke if I can avoid it. during the day you will barely see any more than a slight vapor from my stove because she's running at 450º So, the only thing I can reason with is high humidity levels here? Not sure, and no kind of breeze what so ever, just hot and 85% humidity right now...
He's a great fellow, always helping others, helped me a few times with plumbing. He is one tough fellow, he was hit 4 times with machine gun, left leg has shrapnel from mortar round, battled liver and prostate cancer. And he still bow hunts to help feed a needy family.
I've never had any luck getting cherry sufficiently seasoned in 12 months either. Could be the way the cherry grows, the awful weather here or both. It's decent firewood though.
Around here, Cherry CSS & stacked once the leaves have turned will usually well the next winter. The "old boys" always said to cut it in the early to mid Fall because the Cherry's turn early & the sap goes to the roots early. Decent good smelling firewood imo.
I burned a couple cords of cherry last year. It was 5-6 years old. It burned great and I got plenty of heat with it. But, I got more ash from it than any other wood I have burned! At least 3 times the ash I get from oak. It's certainly not a deal breaker though. I'd get all the hickory and oak first then the easy-to-get cherry.
Have you ever used it for smoking? From the smells fresh split, I'd think it would do very very well.
I've had trouble with smoky cherry too. Back in the stacks it went! Now I have a cherry-only stack, which I'm not touching for 2 more years.
I'll never forget the time we had some cherry that had been in the stack 7 years. Someone was going to split a small split so as to measure the moisture in it. That was perhaps the toughest piece he ever tried to split! As for moisture, it was checked with 3 mm and the consensus was around 9%. Like most cherry, it burned like a charm.
I do too! I just can't burn it early. If it's below 12% I'm good! It just seems to take forever to season here...
