River Birch

[southpaw]

View attachment 252635

We call these trees river birch, have them about 45 ft tall x 15" at the base .

What I would like to know if called by another name in different parts of the country,are they much good for firewood ?

Have burned a couple a long time ago but don't remember as it would have been mixed in with a lot of other species at that time ............they don't seem to hold up very well if laying on the ground , when cut standing they seems fairly dense.

Was told these are black birch but would like to confirm that information.

 

[iowa]

I guess I really don't know.... Only thing I know is that my keyboard has drool all over it from staring at your avitar picture!!!!










OH>> Birch. Fast growing... Probably soft wood.. mehhh.

 

[southpaw]

View attachment 252639View attachment 252640

Couple of more pics of a larger birch and the canopy.

 

[iowa]

All of your gray, white, and paper bark birch have a btu rating around 20.2 million btus per cord. So mediocre at best for burning..

 

[southpaw]

Thats cool , have lot of these and they will be used for early and late season wood if thats the case.



Thanks

 

[doobie57z]

around here we get alot of yellow birch, which is heavier and denser than paper birch. excellent firewood with two summers of seasoning. I dropped one in the yard I should be working on right now...I'll take some pics

 

[mountainmandan]

I have not tried it before, but my dad has said that black birch used to be a preferred wood for smoking the old style country hams. The kind that are so dry and salty that you usually soak or boil them once and discard the water before the actual cooking. But they are real good when prepared right, and one will set you back 60+ bucks, so people like them.

Never burned any for cooking or heat, so I cannot comment.

Dan

 

[Jim Timber]

Birch is used for plywood, so it's not all that soft but it's softer than hard maple and oak. You're correct in that it's a fast grower, especially on rich wet soils.

I wasn't aware it had a low BTU content, since my experience with it has always been that it makes a hot, but short lived fire. Could just be that the rating takes into account that it burns up quickly?

 

[doobie57z]

heres some yellow birch, i did n't split it yet. Went to the Packer game, got back at 3 amView attachment 252853View attachment 252854View attachment 252855

 

[southpaw]

Thanks for that pic. have not come across that type yet.