confuse aspen and yellow birch?

[CowboyAndy]

anyone think its possible to co fuse aspen and yellow birch? i cut some that i thought wass yellow birch but think may be popspen. but the stuff i know is aspple had a yellowish color too the wood itself and smelled sweet where the stuff i thout was yellow birch was really white and had no odor.

 

[JustWood]

Have you been hangin' out with Pook ???? :cheese:

 

[LLigetfa]

I think he might have tried his hand at making Birch beer but got into some hallucinogenic substance.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Most folks do get confused after too many drinks.

 

[fyrwoodguy]

i would say it's hard to confuse the two,and i'm confused easily ;-)

 

[LLigetfa]

Meh, I'm confused too. Anyone know what the options are in the poll? Are they like the Emporer's new clothes? Looks like option #1 got the most votes so far.

 

[DaveBP]

Next time you're in a check-out line look for breathmints called "wintergreen" flavor. Buy some and keep them in your pocket when you're cutting firewood. When you cut into a tree that smell spicy sweet, take out the breathmints and give them a comparison sniff. If it smells like wintergreen it's yellow or black birch. Yellow birch is about the same density as hard maple. Great firewood. Not very familiar with black birch, only found it a few times here in S. Maine.

Oh, and put me down as a very firm #2 on the poll.

 

[Der Fuirmeister]

Andy,

Don't inhale too much when your that close to burning Yellow Birch.

Yellow Birch is wonderful wood to heat with. Easy to split.

As for "popspen" it's light weight stuff. Btu's and by the split.

For me, the bark of the two is the easiest way to tell the two apart. The smell and look of the wood is next. The leaves are similar to white birch and iron wood.

 

[Der Fuirmeister]

I think he might have tried his hand at making Birch beer but got into some hallucinogenic substance.

Mushrooms grow on trees. Maybe he was down wind of the fire???

 

[CowboyAndy]

okay im not sure about the poll i poster from my phone... ayways the reason i ask is good because i cut some that had a yellowish bark and is pretty heavy but the wood had no odor then i cut some tbat the bark had the same texture but more of a blueish color and had that wintergreen smell.

 

[CowboyAndy]

okay im not sure about the poll i poster from my phone... ayways the reason i ask is good because i cut some that had a yellowish bark and is pretty heavy but the wood had no odor then i cut some tbat the bark had the same texture but more of a blueish color and had that wintergreen smell.

 

[DaveBP]

more of a blueish color and had that wintergreen smell.

That could be black birch. The way yellow birch grows up here it should be called golden birch. The few small black birch I've personally messed with here were more of a purplish color than black. Black birch was the most common source of real birch beer, before synthetic flavorings became the norm.

 

[Der Fuirmeister]

Dunno....

Can you take two pictures and post?

 

[CowboyAndy]

Dunno....

Can you take two pictures and post?

Sure, should I show you the picture of the ash bucket, or a picture of the warm house?

just kidding.

the one that I am pretty sure is aspen is already gone... and its the only tree that ive cut like it. If I come across anymore i'll snap some pics.


And reading back, must have seemed like I was pretty drunk when I opened this topic... but I swear I wasnt

 

[CowboyAndy]

Okay so Ive been looking around the net in the last few days and need some help. The pictures I have found of yellow birch looks alot like white birch. the pics of aspen looks like what i have, with one exception. the bark is more yellow with what i have, where as the aspen seems to be more blue/greenish.

 

[LLigetfa]

Diseased Aspen will take on a yellow/orange hue.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Yellow birch has a golden look about it- with a slight shine. White birch is WHITE.

Then there's gray birch, black birch...