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Anyone sawing Birch

Started by ozarkgem, September 18, 2014, 07:33:04 PM

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ozarkgem

I know Birch is different depending on location. I have not seen local Birch logs at a mill around here. Wondering if anyone has sawn the type we have here. I have some pretty nice trees. The pics show what grows on my place. Maybe some one knows the actual type of Birch I have and if it is any good for lumber.

  

  

 
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

POSTON WIDEHEAD

I don't know but it looks like what we call Paper Birch.
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

ozarkgem

I don't think this is what they make Birch plywood out of. As a first grader I used this as paper and a charcoal stick for a pencil. Course that is after walking 27 miles to school in the snow. :)
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: ozarkgem on September 18, 2014, 07:38:20 PM
Course that is after walking 27 miles to school in the snow. :)

Uphill both ways!  :D :D :D
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

FarmingSawyer

Looks like yellow birch...really gnarly stuff to try and split for firewood....even with a hydraulic splitter. BUT>>>>>> milled up it has some really pruty colors and character inside. On my old farm I has a whole bunch of veneer grade yellow birches I dropped one winter to sell for extra cash. The woods iced up and I couldn't get my team in there to haul them out and they sat there until spring when they couldn't be sold. SO....I milled them up and made some dang nice table tops, shelves and drawer faces for a bakery I built.

Paper birches, are white and the bark peels in large sheets, but never to the cambium like that....when I redid some parts of my old 1840's house, the windows were flashed with 20" wide pieces of birch bark....
Thomas 8020, Stihl 039, Stihl 036, Homelite Super EZ, Case 385, Team of Drafts

beenthere

south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

ozarkgem

Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

WDH

@Dodgy Loner has sawn some.  They grow best on stream banks, and many times lean out over the water, so there can be a lot of tension stress in the wood.  Otherwise, similar to other birch lumber. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Dave Shepard

I've sawn black birch and white. River is planted as an ornamental tree in clumps up here. Eventually a winter storm bends them over and they snap, and you get to clean it up and plant another clump. :D
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

kelLOGg

River birch saws easily and is easy to work. Here is a wall cabinet for music under construction I made out spalted birch.


 
Cook's MP-32, 20HP, 20' (modified w/ power feed, up/down, loader/turner)
DH kiln, CatClaw setter and sharpener, tandem trailer, log arch, tractor, thumb tacks

POSTON WIDEHEAD

The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

BCsaw

I just sawed a couple of trees a week or two ago. I like the way it saws. I needed wood to make a timber framing tool box. It is stickered and drying as we speak.

Makes some nice flooring or cabinets.

I also cut some for pegs for some small timber frame projects. Not as strong as oak or ash, but it is adequate and what I had available.
Inspiration is the ability to "feel" what thousands of others can't!
Homebuilt Band Sawmill, Kioti 2510 Loader Backhoe

Jemclimber

Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on September 18, 2014, 08:04:09 PM
Quote from: ozarkgem on September 18, 2014, 07:38:20 PM
Course that is after walking 27 miles to school in the snow. :)

Uphill both ways!  :D :D :D

With only a hot potato to keep your hands warm and all you had to eat for lunch after that long walk! :D :D
lt15

woodyone.john

Course that is after walking 27 miles to school in the snow. :)
So you think you had it hard,let me tell you I had to get up 1/2 an hour before I went to bed to get to school in the snow,walking 27 miles across country in bare feet waking up cows along the way to warm my feet.
Any one here heard of Spike Milligan and or the goons. good stuff from the BBC
Nice looking tree/s btw.
cheers john
Saw millers are just carpenters with bigger bits of wood

ozarkgem

Quote from: FarmingSawyer on September 18, 2014, 08:17:25 PM
Looks like yellow birch...really gnarly stuff to try and split for firewood....even with a hydraulic splitter. BUT>>>>>> milled up it has some really pruty colors and character inside. On my old farm I has a whole bunch of veneer grade yellow birches I dropped one winter to sell for extra cash. The woods iced up and I couldn't get my team in there to haul them out and they sat there until spring when they couldn't be sold. SO....I milled them up and made some dang nice table tops, shelves and drawer faces for a bakery I built.
pretty cool flashing. any pics by chance?


Paper birches, are white and the bark peels in large sheets, but never to the cambium like that....when I redid some parts of my old 1840's house, the windows were flashed with 20" wide pieces of birch bark....
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

FarmingSawyer

Sorry, ozarkgem.....I don't live at the farm any more--there are some examples exposed in the attic-- and the few photos of it I took died with a harddrive....
Thomas 8020, Stihl 039, Stihl 036, Homelite Super EZ, Case 385, Team of Drafts

red

Search Quebecnewf Birch . .he has many posts
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

Dodgy Loner

Quote from: WDH on September 18, 2014, 08:42:01 PM
@Dodgy Loner has sawn some.  They grow best on stream banks, and many times lean out over the water, so there can be a lot of tension stress in the wood.  Otherwise, similar to other birch lumber.

The birch I sawed was a large tree growing in the middle of a river bottom forest. It was tall and straight, and the wood was the most stable of any I have ever sawed. I have stacks of 16" wide boards that are perfectly straight - not a mite of bow or cup or twist. And the heartwood is beautifully colored to boot! I don't think the wood from a leaning tree (as you often find river birch) would be nearly as stable.

Here is an end table that I made from it. The top is a solid piece, and the drawer fronts are curly maple.

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." -John Ruskin

Any idiot can write a woodworking blog. Here's mine.

taylorsmissbeehaven

I cut some river birch crotches this past winter. They were headed to the firewood pile when I spotted them and got them to the mill. They had spalted and turned out beautiful 3"  thick slabs. All but one sold on craigs list in less than a week. The best one ended up as a bedside table for the wifes birthday. All in all great wood to work with IMHO. Brian 
Opportunity is missed by most because it shows up wearing bib overalls and looks like work.

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Can't put a price on this one Dodge.......over the top.  smiley_thumbsup
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Delawhere Jack


Quebecnewf

 

Here is a pic of large birch we cut last winter. We have a solar kiln full drying as we speak. Should be ready by the last of Oct. Check out my gallery there are lots of pics there showing birch logs . Our only hardwood
Quebecnewf


ozarkgem

that looks cold!  No trees in the background. Where did you find the Birch?
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

rooster 58

    Oh Man does that ever look cold :o

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