How long does it take cherry & locust to dry when it is cut green this time of year? It will be cut to 20" lengths and split within a week or two.
This time of year they're going to be REALLY "green". How long to air-dry down to (unspecified) MC? Wouldn't want to guess.
Eventual MC and time taken to get there will depend on:
orientation of stacks, and accessibility to wind (summer south-westerlies,
stacks being off the ground,
top-cover applied during rain.
All this being done optimally, likely would be done to my taste (15% MC) by Oct. Check w/MM.
I finished splitting the cherry today and yes it is very wet. It will be stacked under a high metal roof and open on all 4 sides. I don't normally cut any green wood this time of year but a few blew down in the pasture and I need to move them. I have some partially seasoned wood stacked along a fence row that was going to be moved into the shed but since I need to move this green/wet wood anyway it is easyest to put the cherry straight into the woodshed.
I had a big red oak that I cut into about 18" lengths and stood on end where the sun could hit it and the wind could blow through it - it lost more than half it's moisture in less than 2 weeks even being rained on a couple times. That was only one log though...
I have been told by several people in my area that if you split and stack it then cover it with black plastic it will be dry in a month. You have to do this where the sun will hit it, so in the middle of a field or yard would be best.
Mike
I can not speek about locust but, I have found that cherry dries quickly. I am putting some cherry in the shed now and I know it will be seasoned by the First of October when my heating season starts.
I believe that the locust, if it is black locust, will dry much more slowly than the cherry because of the structure of the wood (tyloses in pores impede drying like in white oak).
I have cut/split/seasoned/burned a fair amount of black locust over the last few years. It starts with a relatively low water content compared to oak, but does not dry particularly quickly. I wish I had taken measurments on the locust I put up last fall. I will test some this week and post an answer. I have a black locust I am goinbg to take down in the next month, so I can get a good reading on the water content of green black locust.
My bet is that, since you are starting at a lower water content than most high quality firewood, it may be ready for this year's heating season. Other factors that have been mentioned like airflow and density of the stacking can influence the amount of drying that occurs in a given amount of time. The amount you need to dry it also depends upon how you are burning it\: fireplace vs. woodstove vs. OWB vs. gassifier OWB.
Live black locust taken down today. Split a 14" log in half and measured the H2O content. 38%!
Who says locust has a low water content! Meter may not be accurate with this high a reading. Took readings in several locations. Got down to 27% near the outer rings.
I am not sure what kind of meter that you have, but most moisture meters that woodworkers use cannot accurately measure moisture content above the fiber saturation point (the point where all the free water in the cells have evaporated and the only water left is in the cell walls). The FSP varies by species, but it occurs somewhere above 25% moisture.
Beenthere had made some insightful comments about fiber saturation in some of his past posts.