Air drying 150 - 200bf of 5/4 cherry (I think "Black Cherry").
after stickering, is it ok to "fan" dry in my shop?
about how wet will it be when fresh cut?
how long will it take to get down under 20%
If you are not in a hurry I dry mine covered outside and in a yr is under 20, then inside and it gets to about 13.
thanks for the reply.
Is cherry "picky" to dry...misbehave? or relatively easy to dry. Would a Fan hurt it?
You are looking at around 50 gallons of water that has to be evaporated. I do not think I want that much water in my shop air.
A typical air drying time for 4/4 to reach 20% MC in the warmer months using a roof would be 60 to 80 days. It depends on your exact environment.
Curious ... how you plan to go from 20% down to 7% MC.
Cherry is a pretty forgiving wood to dry. I'ver never sticker stained it to any degree and it gives up its moisture easily. The only thing that I have noticed about cherry is that is fairly susceptible to excess wind, which seems to encourage cupping. I can't prove it, but it seems to have such a slight tendency. So, I air dry under cover, and without any fans. Although I have various profiled stickers, I generally stack cherry with standard rectangular stickers. 3/4" high by 1" wide. Depending on how well it was sawn, it can warp and twist to a significant degree. I use heavy weights to prevent grumpy boards from lifting stickers and causing other neighbor boards to be affected.
Thank you all for the reply's.
Dr. Gene, I think I will air-dry in an open shed now.....or I may put a dehumidifier in the shop.
I should have a solar kiln up in a couple of months to finish off the 20 down to 7!
YH, thanks for the advice on NO FANS....and heavy weights.
For causes for cup, check
https://forestandwildlifeecology.triforce.cals.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/111/2017/07/68.pdf