Wood ID

[Dmitry]

Ever source dropped it. What is it ?

 

[Lakeside]

Yellow Birch, never used it for firewood yet. Get it split and stacked ASAP.

 

[Dmitry]

Is it good to burn? Can’t find BTU info ?

 

[MongoMongoson]

Yellow birch is quite good. Much better than white birch.

 

[MongoMongoson]

For reference, here is a pretty comprehensive list of BTUs/cord and it includes yellow birch, right below red oak.

Sweep's Library - Firewood Heat Value Comparison Charts

Firewood heat value chart

hearth.com

 

[Dmitry]

Hm , like red oak , doesn’t feel that hard when cutting . Doing it now

 

[Dmitry]

Can it be something else ? Cutting is way too easy . Or may be I finally learn how to sharpen the chain

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Those are good photos. So I have a kind of clear opinion -- yellow birch.

I love yellow birch, as did the beavers who lived near my cabin the UP, when I did some work for the University of Michigan.

I would not expect it to feel real tough to cut. On the other hand, my intuition is it'd make pretty good firewood.

 

[peakbagger]

Yellow Birch can sometimes smell like peppermint when green and being cut. Great wood.

 

[CincyBurner]

+1 for yellow birch. Bark and bruised twigs of both black birch and yellow birch will give off smell of wintergreen (methyl salicylate)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_salicylate
Birch twigs used as tooth brush in a pinch.

 

[TreePointer]

Have you tried to split it by hand? Yellow birch is about the toughest wood I've ever split.

 

[Dmitry]

Not yet. I have kinetic super split. Should be ok with storage wood

 

[MongoMongoson]

I was hiking last weekend in the UP, looking at some monster yellow birches in the Sylvania Wilderness.

I have observed, at least with my saw, that some of the best wood which is really hard and dense can be easier to cut than softer wood so you can't use the relative ease of cutting to judge the wood's potential as firewood.

I can whip through a 20" green hickory but if I cut some stringy old dry (but solid) ash, it takes a lot more effort.
Cutting anything green is generally easier.

 

[hawkeye4771]

Yellow Birch is a real good firewood plus it smells soooooo goooood as it's burning! Quite often in the winter I'll make a cup of hot chocolate or hot cider and go sit on the patio bundled up just to smell that Yellow birch burning and I sip my hot drink. About the time I'm done with my drink the cold will be setting in and it'll be time to go back inside but for that 20-30 minutes it's one of lifes little pleasures. Cold damp dreary days is when the smoke will drift back down to the ground so that's when it's best to smell whatever wood you have burning inside.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Many years ago we were on vacation in Vermont and behind a motel they had cut up a Yellow Birch into rounds. I have never seen it here in PA. so I asked the motel manager if it would be possible to take a round home so I could experience what it was like, and they said "yes, okay". That burned really well, nice wood and I hardly ever see it yet here in PA.

I had the wife's Rav 4 and put the round in the back, and we could hear it rolling around and she said "if that breaks any of the gifts that I bought I'll pound you!" but I got lucky it didn't do any harm lol

 

[bunfoolio]

Can it be something else ? Cutting is way too easy . Or may be I finally learn how to sharpen the chain

Its yellow birch and it does cut easier then red oak. Good stuff enjoy burning it