Downed Birch, with a little help

Looks a bit punky.

Yup, split it quick and keep it under cover. as it will soak in water like a sponge. Unless you really need it, its not really worth processing it. Birches rot standing up, by the time the crown looks spotty its usually too late.

The rounds in the pic ( up front) look punky. The rest might be all good.

Great job, 5 feet to the garage......close!!

Adkjake, wind recently donated a white birch to my woodpile too... cant wait to burn it. How do you like your husky 235? I had one for years and it was a real trooper.

Adkjake said:

Wondering why you say not really worth processing? White/Paper Birch is in the middle of the table of BTUs per cord, same value as Cherry. It cuts and splits easily, and yes, you do have to process it and get it under cover sooner rather than later. Except for the top 6 ft or so, the wood is solid.

Click to expand...

You are confused. I burn a lot of white birch and about half my wood is solid white birch. The photos show a distinct stain that usually indicates that the tree was rotting from the inside out. The root ball in the second photo is not healthy and the branches I can see also look dead. The round in the lower right hand corner of the third photo has a definite rot stain. These are all indications that the log has started rotting from the inside out. The distinct reddish center wood is called "redheart" by companies that process birch, usually dowel mills. Most reject logs with a lot of redheart and then cull any boards with it. It can be strong but its usually an indication that its on the edge of rotting.

If the wood is solid throughout a round and its splits with no indication of punky wood and the chips are flying, sure its worth processing and put under cover quickly. Unfortunately I see folks waste their time dealing with punky birch and even if split, it doesn't last long. Even if the wood looks solid the log is inoculated with rot fungi. Fungi can be stopped if the wood is well split and kept dry and under cover but I have found that even with what looks like solid white birch splits from a log with some punk in the center of piles or in uncovered stacks will sometimes rot quickly. I personally pick healthy white birches with no major evidence of rot for firewood and on occasion will leave marginal stuff in the woods. If its healthy and splits quickly it lasts just as long as the maple which is the other wood I burn.

I'd split, stack & burn it.

It's right there in the yard close to the house so you have to do something with it - so might as well get some BTUs from it.

If it was back in the woods somewhere where it could just stay & rot away and you had to put some work into getting it out to the house - that would be a different story.