Brought home a load Black Birch

[Razo]

I scored some black birch yesterday evening from my friend's land. Came across a downed tree and two that were leaning very badly that I was given permission to fell. I left the smallest one behind because I ran out of daylight I'll be going back.

More pics to come.

 

[Richie]

That is the best faarwood around. Burns a little quick but is truly the hottest wood I have ever burned. A 50/50 locust black birch mix is my absolute favorite in the dead of winter.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Yes great stuff, great smell to it, heavy mofo when green though, lots of weight but worth it!

 

[paul bunion]

Looks like you go to it before it started to get punky. Excellent.

 

[Razo]

Thanks guys, yea I'm really excited to get it split and stacked. And you you're right, you can beat the smell, its a tie between this and sassafras for me.

 

[BEConklin]

dat's the shiznit right there - I love that stuff.

 

[nrford]

Being from Mi. where Black Birch is nearly non-existent, and the angle of photo........it looks like Beech to me. Since I see your in PA and it appears you are the epicenter for the natural occurrence of Black Birch it must be that. Some additional photos of this wood would be much appreciated.

 

[BEConklin]

Being from Mi. where Black Birch is nearly non-existent, and the angle of photo........it looks like Beech to me. Since I see your in PA and it appears you are the epicenter for the natural occurrence of Black Birch it must be that. Some additional photos of this wood would be much appreciated.

Too bad there's no "smellavison" ....black birch smells wonderful when fresh cut. Strong aroma of wintergreen.....we used to chew the twigs when I was a kid...tastes great!

 

[Applesister]

Its like burning hickory with a kick ass smell. Black Birch has an interesting history too.
Only sad part about this tree is when you tap the trees for sap you dont get the wintergreen flavor.

 

[Applesister]

However, if you have a dog that likes fetching sticks it will have minty fresh breath with black birch twigs.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Being from Mi. where Black Birch is nearly non-existent, and the angle of photo........it looks like Beech to me. Since I see your in PA and it appears you are the epicenter for the natural occurrence of Black Birch it must be that. Some additional photos of this wood would be much appreciated.

What gives it away that it is Black Birch is the reddish cutsides; I magnified the pictures for a better look and it has that charecteristic look of BB. I can almost smell it through the screen

We in my area also sometimes refer to it as "Cherry-Birch", saying a Cherry tree and a Birch tree once had sex and this is what they got lol.....

 

[BEConklin]

What gives it away that it is Black Birch is the reddish cutsides; I magnified the pictures for a better look and it has that charecteristic look of BB. I can almost smell it through the screen

We in my area also sometimes refer to it as "Cherry-Birch", saying a Cherry tree and a Birch tree once had sex and this is what they got lol.....

Yeah - on some BBs, the bark breaks into scales and looks a lot like cherry. This happens on older trees especially.

 

[BEConklin]

The cut stumps really bleed out this time of year especially. After a few weeks there can be a real mess of multicolored snot around the stump. I guess molds and bacteria get to it and it develops weird colors. Also the wounds from pruned larger branches ...the whole side of the tree gets covered...looks like someone dumped a 5 gallon bucket of orange paint on the wound. The sap will still ooze out of stumps months after the tree is felled.

 

[paul bunion]

Yeah - on some BBs, the bark breaks into scales and looks a lot like cherry. This happens on older trees especially.

Yep, a little bigger and they look like this.

 

[Chicken Farmer]

Did anybody else see the very cool old Ford in that 1st pic?

 

[Woody Stover]

That is the best faarwood around.

Great stuff, sure, but some might take exception to that claim. Just sayin'. Never burned any myself, however....

 

[Paulywalnut]

Did anybody else see the very cool old Ford in that 1st pic?

Depends how old you are. That's a nice one but I think old as '55 and lower.

 

[Richie]

Great stuff, sure, but some might take exception to that claim. Just sayin'. Never burned any myself, however....

When I put my hand in front of my insert blower I had to instantly pull my hand back with bb. With any other wood I could go about 2 seconds before pulling my hand back. The other great thing about BB is the coaling properties or better stated lack there of. Below 20 degrees the massive coal beds of locust, oak, hickory etc. was not enough to heat my house. I hate shoveling hot coals out of my stove. BB worked extremely well in the real cold stuff as it did not form huge coal beds. Certainly coals but not like oak locust etc.

 

[D8Chumley]

Did anybody else see the very cool old Ford in that 1st pic?

I was admiring that as well. My 2nd truck I had in HS was a 78 F150 Custom, I'd like to have it now

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Like nrford, I immediately saw beech. I've never even seen a black birch. Lots of white and yellow but no black.

 

[Applesister]

Bentula lenta L.
common names: Mahogany birch, Sweet birch, Cherry birch. Mountain mahogany.
The tree is almost as prolific as sugar maple for sap production and is tapped after maple season.
Birch beer?
Great stuff.
It oxidizes to the same dark red as Black cherry, for which it can be passed off as. It has a beautiful fine grain. Heartwood dark red and sapwood much paler. On exposure to air sapwood darkens and heartwood lightens to a very even pale red.

 

[stejus]

Black Birch is the my favorite. My supply guy delivers mostly Red, White Oak and Black Birch. That BB gives OAK a run for its money. BB burns as hot, seasons quicker and less mess!

 

[Razo]

Thanks for all the responses guys, I'll admit, looking at the small pic, it almost does look like beech. I finally got this unloaded but didn't get around to any pics yet so I apologize. I had to take a few cracks at some to see how it would split. A straight piece splits super easy, but any pieces that had a large branch coming out of it, whoa! I get the wedge in so far and then it just springs up and pops back out of the round. It would actually be comical if it wasn't so frustrating.

I'm going back up tonight to get the smaller tree I had to leave behind. Then I have to work on those pics.

Also, the '78 is my Dad's. I have a '91 F-350 that I usually get wood in but he wanted to come along last time and give his F250 a workout.

 

[Razo]

Someone requested a few more pictures of this wood so here it goes:

Here is a close up of the bark:



a shot of the intense orange end grain




more end grain




and some bark and endgrain



Had to throw in a shameless pic of the '78 as well

 

[nrford]

Thanks, that is for sure Birch!