How long can I wait to mill cherry logs

[scot wolf]

I bucked up some cherry this weekend. I cut it to 9 1/2'  lengths and painted the ends with a couple thick coats of paint and put it on treated 4x4's.  How long before I should get to milling?

[Herb Brooks]

Is it still light out where you are? If not wait till morning.   I don't really know but thought that was funny.

[scot wolf]

Is it still light out where you are? If not wait till morning.   I don't really know but thought that was funny.

Bout worn out after cutting this weekend. Besides that, I was telling my uncle about getting it up from the timber and he said he had a cherry down out in one of his fields.   Got down to take a look at it and besides that one found another that was about 20" that was uprooted and laying in another tree.  Then fella down the road called and said he had a walnut next to a field to take out. I think I need to buy a mill.

[Herb Brooks]

Pardon the wise crack.  I guess you really want to know how long it can rest in its current state with out too much degrade.  Still dont know but someone does. I imagine most are still working, Im getting ready to go home now but always try to see whats going on before I get on the road.

[Dave Shepard]

Cherry will last a long time, but there will be some degrade. You will loose the sapwood eventually, and it will get some checking in the ends. I've sawn cherry logs that have been sitting on the ground for years. It does saw a lot harder if it has been around for a long time.

[kevin19343]

I had logs that were in my pile for 2 years without any noticeable degradation. I think the biggest reason is that they were kept out of the sun

[Magicman]

Always the sooner the better, and you have done a good job with your logs.


 
This one fell in 2010. 


 
I found it and finally bucked and skidded it out in 2011.  It lay fully exposed to the ground for 3 years.


 
Dodgy Loner and I finally sawed it up in January of this year.  All of the sapwood had rotted off, but the heart was still solid.

I do not recommend waiting that long.   ;D

[hackberry jake]

A lot depends on the location. Direct sunlight is bad. Anchorseal works better than paint, but if paint is all you have it helps a little. Where are you located Scot?

[scot wolf]

Central Illinois. I did park them on the north side of my machine shed. I was hoping they might do ok till late summer/early fall.I hauled up 4- 9 1/2' logs. there are another 5-6 that long I need to get yet. And sounds like I need to drop a walnut as well. 

[thecfarm]

No one mention peeling the bark off? I have no idea if it would matter or not.

[mesquite buckeye]

Cherry isn't all that rot resistant. The sooner the better.

[Dave Shepard]

Actually, it's listed as very resistant to decay.

[drobertson]

 I think you did it right, ground contact is the killer for most all logs, coating the ends the first response to end checks,  I have no time limit to give you, but as mentioned, get it done,  if you wait, you are likely to loose a little outside boards, and don't be fooled, the corners will bite you, meaning a little more loss. 

[YellowHammer]

I have seen more cherry logs lost to ends cracks than anything else, mainly because cherry pith cracks very badly, and the nasty secondary splits seem to propagate from there. When it cracks, it cracks long and deep and before you know it, you are trying to saw a crack free board out of a log that is split so many times it looks like a pizza.  Anchorseal will save the day, much better than paint.  I have also had sap stain issues where the cherry log contacted the ground, so I just rotate the logs occasionally.  With yours off the ground you should be OK.  Cherry saws like butter wet or dry, so just keep eyeballing it for end cracks, they will tell you when to put it on the mill. 
YH

[Magicman]

Cherry will almost always have a pith check.  Be careful and open the faces properly or every board will split.

[mesquite buckeye]

Actually, it's listed as very resistant to decay.

Down cherry goes poof in my woods. Faster than red oak.

Just sayin'

[Jemclimber]

Actually, it's listed as very resistant to decay.

Down cherry goes poof in my woods. Faster than red oak.

Just sayin'

Is it fruit cherry or wild cherry, Prunus serotina? Fruit cherry, sour cherry with the smooth bark, rots quickly often with the bark still intact like a shell. Black cherry heart wood lasts a long time.

[scot wolf]

Cherry will almost always have a pith check.  Be careful and open the faces properly or every board will split.

Could you explain. I assume my sawer knows, but I don't.

[scot wolf]

Actually, it's listed as very resistant to decay.

Down cherry goes poof in my woods. Faster than red oak.

Just sayin'

Is it fruit cherry or wild cherry, Prunus serotina? Fruit cherry, sour cherry with the smooth bark, rots quickly often with the bark still intact like a shell. Black cherry heart wood lasts a long time.

Black cherry

[Magicman]

Cherry will almost always have a pith check.  Be careful and open the faces properly or every board will split. 

Could you explain. I assume my sawer knows, but I don't.

  Here is an older thread that shows sawing Cherry:  LINK

[mesquite buckeye]

Actually, it's listed as very resistant to decay.

Down cherry goes poof in my woods. Faster than red oak.

Just sayin'

Is it fruit cherry or wild cherry, Prunus serotina? Fruit cherry, sour cherry with the smooth bark, rots quickly often with the bark still intact like a shell. Black cherry heart wood lasts a long time.

We only have black cherry. Maybe we have a different bunch of fungi in MO where it is a lot warmer. Ours go away pretty fast. Most of the time if I don't get them in a year or two after they start to die, they become a waste of time to cut. I also read in the forestry books that oak leaves rot very slowly. Mine are pretty much gone in one or two years.