yellow birch moisture content/ seasoning time?

[pybyr]

Tried a search first, but didn't pull anything up.

What is yellow birch like on moisture content when cut, and also how is it at speed of seasoning?

I've burned some before that someone else took down for me, and love how it burns- lots of heat content, and a good bed of coals that seems to lead to particularly good combustion in my gasifier.

Now I have access to more to cut myelf. I have not been able to find any data on % moisture, and don't have any experience yet on whether it's a quick-seasoning wood, or closer to something like the oaks that really seem to need a long time.

I know that the experienced self-cutting folks will all chime in about how I should be several seasons ahead on cutting and stacking wood- I don't disagree, but need to work on getting there, eventually.

Thanks

 

[smokinj]

By yellow do you meen river birch, if so last year I had some and it was season about a year and done quite well. (no m/m)

 

[jpl1nh]

Yellow birch seasons like white and black birch do which means that you really need to split it and stack it for it to season well since the bark really holds the moisture in otherwise. Aside from that, stacked now in loose single rows, in good breeze and sun, you could burn it quite nicely this winter. It is not like oak in needing two years or so to season, but like most wood, I think two years is best if you can. I agree that yellow birch is nice firewood. Very dense and good coals, lots of heat. Plus it's beautiful wood, both as a tree with it's beautiful bark and as flooring and cabinets. In the lumber industry it's often referred to as red birch though there really isn't a tree with that name. But the wood does have nice reddish hues in its grain patterns which I imagine it gets that name from. My in-laws have it for flooring in a seasonal home in Maine and it's one of the prettiest grained wood floors I've seen.

 

[oldspark]

The chart I have says Yellow Birch is 43% green.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

What little we've cut seasoned well in a year.

 

[firefighterjake]

I like yellow birch . . . seems to do a bit better BTU wise than white birch (which I also like by the way), coals up nicely, the bark tends to catch on fire pretty quickly and it seasons within a year . . . no idea on the moisture content.

 

[LLigetfa]

Yellow Birch can be a bit of a bear like Elm to split. Back when I was splitting with an axe, I eyed them up with trepidation. In fact, I bought my 20 ton splitter the year I could not get any of my favorite Ash and had to settle for Birch.