The Forestry Forum

On January 28 I milled up a small whack of 5/4 cherry (about 700 bf) and stickered it in the upper level of an older run down bank barn that my FIL owns.  This being the first larger stack of lumber that I have milled myself, I was very curious to see how quickly it would dry down.  The roof is good, but the siding is in bad shape, so there is plenty of air circulation in the building, I figured it would be ideal for drying.  Well I checked a few boards on the outside of the stack yesterday and to my pleasant surprise, everything I checked was under 20%, mostly around 12-15%.  I was very happy to see that considering it's been less than four months and mostly winter here in Ohio.  I expected it would take longer.  Just thought I would share.

From my experience, cherry dries like maple - fast and easy.

Quote from: Den Socling on April 07, 2017, 08:12:23 AM
From my experience, cherry dries like maple - fast and easy.

And completely without sticker stain. 

In such a short time period I'll bet MC in the center of the stack and boards is a lot higher.

Cherry air dries fast here, usually within about 90 days. 

Quote from: petefrom bearswamp on April 08, 2017, 07:32:34 AM
In such a short time period I'll bet MC in the center of the stack and boards is a lot higher.

That's what I was wondering about as well - the middle.

I have had very good luck with re-stacking all my stacks, moving the perimeter boards of a stack in, and the interior boards to the outside.  I also flip the stack top for bottom.  This has always resulted in very good quality air dried lumber for me with maple and cherry.  I've been doing it this way for about 17 years with favorable results.

I know it's a lot of extra handling work, but worth it to me for the quality it yields......which is all I really care about.  I've never been afraid of hard work and heavy lifting.  Probably not a practical plan if you're drying 50Mbf of lumber, though.... :)