What to do with Cherry?

[oppermancjo]

Yesterday I finally got some time to get in the woods! Seems like that's been my plan every weekend for the past month but something else has come up to get in my way...

My buddy came over and we kicked some butt! Fisnished splitting a pile that's been bucked up since last spring and decided we wanted to go see what last week's wind brought down. We started by taking care of a nice little Black Cherry that I knew had been down for a while. I didn't measure it but off hand I would say it was about 14" DBH. We finished that up and as we were loading the truck, Tom looks over and there is another, much more mature Cherry just on the other side of the trail that looks as if it is starting to rot from the bottom up. Upon further inspection, it looks as if the carpenter ants are after it. I would wager that 75% of the trees that I work on have those ants in them. Not sure if they are the cause of death or if they move in because the tree is dying. At any rate I'm guessing this tree is about 30" DBH but the trunk is only that thick/straight to about 15' and then it splits into two large beams maybe 16" in diameter. I won't know until the tree comes down but I am thinking the bottom few feet are rotted out.

So here's the real question. What should I do with all of this wood? I've burned Cherry before and it's ok but not my favorite. I have plenty of "better" wood on hand. I smoke my own jerky and sausage so I know it has value for smoking but this is far more than enough for me. Would I do better finding some local BBQ places to see if they would have interest? The small tree yielded about 1/2 a cord and is already split and stacked. I also know Cherry has value for veneer. Would it be worth seeing if anyone would have interest in the larger tree? Would they even make the trip for just one tree? I also know people turn bowls out of them. Maybe cut them into blanks for turning bowls?

It's ok if you just tell me to split it and burn it. Just thought I would see if anyone had some thoughts on how I could put some extra cash in my pocket.

 

[CWME]

If it is full of ants I doubt it has much value other than firewood. Not too sure I would want to smoke meat with wood that is full of ants. Not sure what that flavor would be like but I don't imagine it is nice.

 

[Somesawguy]

mmmm... ant flavor. :msp_biggrin:

I'd just cut up what was good and put it on the pile. There was a Cherry tree that came down last fall, and the guy gave me most of it. It was decent wood, but even the hydraulic splitter had trouble with it. Splitting it by hand would have been pretty difficult.

 

[Encore]

love burning cherry. leaves great coals and seasons fairly quickly compared to oak. although I like oak a lot too lol.

usually my opinion is any hardwood is excellent.

 

[Mac88]

I'd burn it. I don't think there's enough there to make it worthwhile to mill, especially if it's got rot or ants in it.

 

[smokee]

Pop it. :msp_biggrin:

I had a bunch of cherry tress recently cut behind my house and asked to keep all of it. Got at least 4-5 cords worth but it's green and will need to dry out well. I cut a smaller one down in March and have been burning it in the pit and it burns well. I've been going back and forth with red oak each time I throw some on and find it burns pretty similar. Smells a hell of a lot better though.

 

[zogger]

It's still standing so that bottom trunk part must still have some meat to it. Most likely worth taking, just watch felling semi rotten wood is all.

I have found the ants will move out once it is cut up into blocks. Just stack them up there after it is cut and come back the next weekend, they should be mostly gone and you can score it then.