Black Cherry Firewood

Most people don't even think of wild cherry as firewood. They think of it as that tree with the pretty bark in their yard. But I've burned a LOT of black cherry over the years, and honestly, it punches above its weight for a mid-range hardwood. The fragrance alone makes it worth keeping around. You load up the stove and the whole room smells like you're smoking ribs.

At 19.5 million BTU per cord, black cherry isn't going to compete with oak or hickory for raw heat output. It's more in the "solid supporting player" category. That said, 19.5M BTU is nothing to sneeze at, that's plenty of heat for shoulder season burns in the fall and spring, or for mixing in with denser hardwoods to keep the fire lively. It weighs 3,145 lbs per cord dry, so it's manageable to haul and stack without killing your back.

Here's where cherry really shines though, splitting and handling. It's one of the easiest species I've ever split. Green cherry practically falls apart on the maul. Even big rounds, 16-18 inches across, usually pop on the first hit. Low smoke, very few sparks, and the coals are excellent. I've loaded cherry into the stove at 10pm and still had a solid coal bed at 6am. For a wood that's this easy to process, that kind of coal quality is a real bonus. Use our cord calculator to figure out exactly how much volume you're working with if someone offers you a truckload.

Seasoning is fast too, 6 to 12 months and you're good to go. I've burned cherry that was split in March and ready by October of the same year. Just get it off the ground, stack it bark-side up, and let the air do the work. Compare that to something like oak that needs a year minimum and cherry starts looking real attractive for people who don't plan a year ahead.

Bottom line, black cherry is a great all-around firewood that's common across the Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast. It's not the hottest wood you'll burn, but the easy splitting, fast seasoning, and incredible fragrance make it a favorite. If you like fruit wood, also check out apple firewood, similar vibes, more heat, but harder to find and slower to season.