I cut down a cherry tree today and thought I'd use it to cut it into chunks of smokewood. Since I've no experience in that matter: How long does the wood need to dry? Does it have to dry at all?
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Won't take long if you cut it into chunks, that's for sure. How long though, that's the tricky part. "They" say 25% moisture or thereabouts is good for burning. But if you're using chunks and it smokes fine and doesn't bubble and hiss much, then you're good, might even be fine as soon as you cut it, hard to say. If you're using a log burner and using straight logs, then you want to make sure its' in the 25% range or thereabouts for best results and good heat, and a green tree in firewood sized pieces could take 6mo+. -
What type of unit are you using it in? I cut a cherry tree a few years ago and still am using small pieces for my Vision Kamado and have some larger pieces still left. I was using some as soon as I cut the tree down and noticed that without seasoning, it was very strong and left a lot of residue in the Vision grill. I was just excited and didn't want to wait the six warm months it takes to really be ready. If you cut it down because parts or all of the tree was dead, you may not have to season, at all. I have a peach tree in the back yard that has been losing big limbs for a couple of years. I can cut those parts off and use them right away.Comment
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I always try an stick with wood that was cut a year ago, or so...
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You can always use your cooker as a kiln, I do that a lot when I cut down green wood. Just cook your wood chunks at 250F, like they're meat, for 4 hours or so with charcoal.Comment
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Hack the bark off and will dry much quicker. Use the oven in your house also if wifey is not home..Comment
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All good ideas. Cherry will take longer to dry due to the sap content. Make sure you use lots of foil in your oven if you use it as the sap will drip out of it. I hate chopping down cherry trees because you need turpentine to clean up with, the sap gets on everything. The chunks I get measure about 10-15 % moisture.
Good luck.Comment
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From my personal experience with our cherry trees as we had a storm knock down about 6 fully grown trees. Spilt it as soon as possible. Split cherry seems to dry much quicker than other woods we use, but if you leave it in round logs it will take forever. It seemed to me to dry in half the time as oak, but I’m no Arborist and don’t use a moisture meter. Even after 8 months the unspilt logs were still wet when we got around to splitting them, but the already split ones were good for using.
Let it dry first for at least a month before starting to use, but the longer the better of course. We used some before the month was out and they had a different aroma and smoke than those we used just 30 days later. Also, the 250 mentioned above is in Fahrenheit.Comment
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Moisture meters are around $20 or less. That's the best way to tell if it's dry enough.Comment
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