Birch Identification
- Thread starter thewoodlands
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PA. Woodsman said:
Smells like peppermint or wintergreen. I'm not sure what it smells like when you burn it but boy it smells great after you split it.
http://www.keep-it-simple-firewood.com/birch-firewood.html
zap
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Hard to tell . . . was there a flash used?
Right now I'm leaning towards gray . . . possibly yellow.
Right now I'm leaning towards gray . . . possibly yellow.
firefighterjake said:
Last four pictures the flash was use, heavy wintergreen or peppermint smell so after doing some reading I'll agree with P.A., yellow.
zap
zapny said:
That smell is indicative of Black (Sweet) Birch, but the bark doesn't match that except for the third picture which is smooth-grey. The last picture looks like Yellow to me-are these from the same tree?. Now you've got me thinking??
NH_Wood
Minister of Fire
Yellow birch - 100%. Wintergreen smell is true for both black and yellow birch. Great firewood! Cheers!
nrford
Minister of Fire
PA. Woodsman said:zapny said:
That smell is indicative of Black (Sweet) Birch, but the bark doesn't match that except for the third picture which is smooth-grey. The last picture looks like Yellow to me-are these from the same tree?. Now you've got me thinking??
All split from the same round tonight, it came from this tree on Saturday.
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albertj03
Minister of Fire
Yellow Birch for sure - great burning wood! I've got a huge one on my property but I'll only be burning it if mother nature takes it down because it's such a nice tree.
Wood Duck
Minister of Fire
+1 for Yellow Birch. That last split is the one that is really characteristic of Yellow Birch - the one with the small, peely pieces of bark. The other pieces with smooth bark are typical for younger trees, but the smooth bark can make ID a little tricky. The lichens and moss are also typical of Yellow birch, but you can't really rely on that for ID.
stejus
Minister of Fire
Sure is Yellow birch as Black birch looks quite different standing. I know the Black birch is nice and hard as a rock so I would assume the yellow is right there too.
NH_Wood
Minister of Fire
zapny said:
Zap - the smaller dbh, golden yellow trees in the center of the pic are yellow birch as well. I have about 1/2 cord of yellow birch that is slated for 2014/2015 - not sure if I can wait that long - I REALLY want to burn some! Very little in my stacks for this year, and none for next year or the year after. Cheers!
NH_Wood said:
NH_Wood, does the yellow birch give off the wintergreen/peppermint smell when burning it?
zap
Yellow birches can get quite large in the north country and quite fuzzy with bark curls. Old time loggers reportedly would haze the new loggers by betting them that they couldnt climb a yellow birch. The new logger would proceed to climb the tree and the old timers would then light a match and fire off the curls which would burn up the tree rapidly. Usually the new logger would have to jump to avoid getting burnt.
Older yellow birch also has the reputation of being hard to split, I know folks who would rather split elm than yellow birch. I personally dont have any issues with smaller ones.
Older yellow birch also has the reputation of being hard to split, I know folks who would rather split elm than yellow birch. I personally dont have any issues with smaller ones.
peakbagger said:
Sav mentioned about lighting the birch bark on fire when he was up but never said why, that OLE DOG! :zip:
Zap
Yellow birch. Dry it good and save it for mid-February next season, it's just below black birch in burn qualities IMO.
The climbing the birch story is in one of Robert Pikes books, Tall trees tough men, worth a read if you want a good history of logging.
bogydave
Minister of Fire
Looks similar to what we have here.
We call it "birch"
good BTU : http://forestry.alaska.gov/pdfs/08BTUFirewoodHandout.pdf
Our best fire wood.
When you go to load it in a hot stove with coals , get it all laying by the stove, load fast. You'll have a hot fire burning in no time.
Pic of the stuff in my wood box:
We call it "birch"
good BTU : http://forestry.alaska.gov/pdfs/08BTUFirewoodHandout.pdf
Our best fire wood.
When you go to load it in a hot stove with coals , get it all laying by the stove, load fast. You'll have a hot fire burning in no time.
Pic of the stuff in my wood box:
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NH_Wood
Minister of Fire
zapny said:
Zap - I don't think you can smell the wintergreen when the wood is burning - and even in the round the smell is much less than a fresh snapped twig. Lots of yellow birch around me, but rarely get any to burn. Cheers!
Betula neoalaskana is the birch we have here.
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/alaskabirch.htm
I didn't know we had Quaking Aspen, I have a bunch of that behind my house. I thought it was just baby cottonwood. Not that Aspen is much better though.
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/alaskabirch.htm
I didn't know we had Quaking Aspen, I have a bunch of that behind my house. I thought it was just baby cottonwood. Not that Aspen is much better though.
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