Birch Time

[Cutterman]

Just scored a full cord of black birch rounds. What are typical seasoning times once split ?

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Black Birch is GREAT fuelwood, great score! Very heavy wood, smells great with that Wintergreen aroma, throws great heat. Split it now and you probably would be good for next Winter, I know I would be here in my area.

 

[Little Digger]

Do like I do, a 3 year minimum turn around (3 years drying) and that way it's for sure seasoned enough. I do it with all my firewood, not just certain ones. Poplar, cucumber, white pine, all get treated the same as black locust, black birch, red maple, shagbark hickory, chestnut oak, white oak, walnut, elm, ash, sassafras and so on. (all in my wood piles)

If you have the space, save it for 3 seasons down the road. You'll be glad you did!

 

[Richie]

Yeah, next to BL, black birch is a serious firewood. Some say a year for seasoning and I disagree. Burned a couple loads of one year BB and it burned but not like it should of. I say a minimum of 2 years for all the dense hardwoods like BB and oak 3 years.

 

[Poindexter]

-jealous- I treat black birch like all the other birches, but when I am out felling I will do some olympics to put black birch in my truck.

I don't have enough real estate for a multi-year rotation. All the rounds I have access to at this time of year will be split by early March - I split all winter a little bit at a time - and those same splits need to be stove ready by late August, in this case Oct 2015 rounds need to be burnable in August 2016.

i split down to pieces about the same cross sectional area as a 2x4. If the grain is real straight and the split pretty thin I am ok with 2x6 size, but there really needs to be a 2" edge on the split for me to have it ready in time. I season on pallets in direct sun with good wind. Cinder blocks under the pallets and frequent weed wacking over the summer to maintain good air flow under the seasoning racks. Covered on top.

Bigger pieces or less air flow, probably not ready in one summer.

 

[Cutterman]

Thanks for the responses. Long weekend but I have it all split and stacked now. I had to fight the bees for it in the process. As the rounds bled sap it drew several bees (yellow jackets). They love the black birch sap. Luckily I did not get stung while I was taking rounds from the pile to be split....

 

[BlackGreyhounds]

Thanks for the responses. Long weekend but I have it all split and stacked now. I had to fight the bees for it in the process. As the rounds bled sap it drew several bees (yellow jackets). They love the black birch sap. Luckily I did not get stung while I was taking rounds from the pile to be split....

Great score. But, please don't refer to yellow jackets as bees. They are wasps. I hate them suckers. They are super aggressive and just nasty in my book. In contrast, I raise honey bees. These are quite docile, happy workers that are kind enough to share their honey with me. Nothing personal, just a pet peeve of mine. It gives my darling bees a bad rap.

 

[barmstrong2]

Does anyone have a pic of black birch? I'm not sure if I have ever seen it or if it is even native to this area. I recall cutting a tree at my other house that oozed sap out of the trunk. Yellow jackets were all over it and that was the reason I cut it in the first place. It dropped that sticky sap on my cars and attracted yellow jackets. I didn't burn wood at that house but processed all my parents firewood, at that time.

I agree completely about honey bees, or even those fuzzy black and yellow bees. They're content to just go about their own business.

 

[Applesister]

The bark on Black birch doesnt look like any other Birch. Its non peeling and very hard, almost like Hickory bark. And it is a very distinctive gun metal gray color. With the horizontal lenticels that look very much like Pin cherry or domestic cherry. You cant scratch it with a fingernail. The very strong wintergreen oil scent is in the cambium, and inner bark and twigs.
The spring sap flow is after Sugar maple in the spring. Can be tapped for sap like maple. The wintergreen is not carried in the sap. Disappointingly.
The trees are usually crocked or grow at an angle, on steep creek banks in shady areas. But they can be in the open. The leaves look like Yellow birch/Beech/Ironwood/Elm and turn pale yellow in fall.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

Does anyone have a pic of black birch? I'm not sure if I have ever seen it or if it is even native to this area. I recall cutting a tree at my other house that oozed sap out of the trunk. Yellow jackets were all over it and that was the reason I cut it in the first place. It dropped that sticky sap on my cars and attracted yellow jackets. I didn't burn wood at that house but processed all my parents firewood, at that time.

I agree completely about honey bees, or even those fuzzy black and yellow bees. They're content to just go about their own business.

There's definitely black birch throughout most of Maine. The description below is spot on and I'd also add - fairly knarly with lots of twists and branches.

 

[Jeffm1]

Do like I do, a 3 year minimum turn around (3 years drying) and that way it's for sure seasoned enough. I do it with all my firewood, not just certain ones. Poplar, cucumber, white pine, all get treated the same as black locust, black birch, red maple, shagbark hickory, chestnut oak, white oak, walnut, elm, ash, sassafras and so on. (all in my wood piles)

If you have the space, save it for 3 seasons down the road. You'll be glad you did!

...cucumber?

 

[Little Digger]

...cucumber?

Yes, a Cucumber Tree, also known as the Cucumber Magnolia. It's very light weight once seasoned and ranks with the various Poplars for burning. It's relatively common in the southeast.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Yeah, next to BL, black birch is a serious firewood. Some say a year for seasoning and I disagree. Burned a couple loads of one year BB and it burned but not like it should of. I say a minimum of 2 years for all the dense hardwoods like BB and oak 3 years.

I used to think a year was good enough for oak, and wondered what was wrong with those who said it needed two years minimum.

Then I burned some two year oak, and found out why they said that. It was a night and day difference.

I think those who say a year is good just haven't experienced really dry wood, and don't know what they are missing.


Three years is pretty hard to do around here. Oak turns into a mushroom farm by then in these parts.

 

[Paulywalnut]

I've had good luck seasoning it like beech. Although we don't have a lot of black birch around. Nice aroma.

 

[Rebelduckman]

I used to think a year was good enough for oak, and wondered what was wrong with those who said it needed two years minimum.

Then I burned some two year oak, and found out why they said that. It was a night and day difference.

I think those who say a year is good just haven't experienced really dry wood, and don't know what they are missing.


Three years is pretty hard to do around here. Oak turns into a mushroom farm by then in these parts.

Second on the mushrooms! I'm in the south and can get oak dry in a year and a half no problem. I cut some cherry 4 months ago that is already less than 20%. Hasn't rained here in 2 months