Yellow Birch Milling

[Al Weber]

Maybe I have finally figured out how to attach this picture of a yellow birch log I milled last weekend. We had a long winter in NH this year and finally got enough snow melt for me to be able to get to a log pile my logger left as excess firewood. I dug out the RipSaw and milled a short white birch and this 8' length of yellow birch. I have more white birch and some maple to do and then several cherry trees that are in the 14-16" diameter range that need to be felled for milling.

 

[treedog54]

yellow birch

I think yellow birch is PRETTY wood ,especially with a little curl in it .When finished seems to almost glow .What do you plan on doing with it?

 

[Al Weber]

I don't have any specific plans for it at this time. I was looking for some a year ago to use as panels in the doors of a side board I built out of curly maple and I wanted a contrasting wood. Couldn't find any at that time so I used some spalted maple I had cut and milled a couple of years ago. You are right that it is a pretty wood. I've got about 30 board feet from that log which would make a lot of nice jewelry box gifts - maybe I'll think about that approach.

 

[Adkpk]

Go, Al. Yellow birch is one of favorites to mill. I got pics on here somewhere if you want to bother to search.

 

[treedog54]

birdseye maple

do you guys have birdseye maple there ? Thats the big thing here in the UP of Mich .The curly maple and Y. birch is prettier though I think Most of the Eye goes to the Japanese,Italians,and germans.Have seen some beautiful guitars made from that curly.

 

[Al Weber]

We have some bird's eye and curly maple here but it is rare. I've never seen a bird's eye on my property but I did cut a curly soft maple a few years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't milling at the time and it got cut into firewood and as soon as I started to split it, I found the curly grain. It wasn't a big tree but never the less it was a big disappointment to have missed that opportunity. Live and learn. We have a fair amount of cherry but it isn't typically as red as PA cherry. But it is still very pretty stuff. I leave it in the sun and it reddens nicely within a few days.

 

[woodshop]

...We have a fair amount of cherry but it isn't typically as red as PA cherry. But it is still very pretty stuff. I leave it in the sun and it reddens nicely within a few days.

Yup all cherry darkens with age and sunlight. Believe it or not, cherry will even darken a bit even if kept in complete darkness once a surface is exposed to the air. Most people don't know that over 70% of the cherry (prunis serotina) in the WORLD comes from Pennsylvania. To bad that many cherry trees start to rot out in the middle once they get up in the 24 inch range. Not all, but many... so there is a prime time to log the tree while it's in its prime.