Finished a job today that was a mixture of red oak, soft maple and yellow birch. I have not sawn yellow birch before and was amazed at how easy it was to saw. The logs that were frozen sawed somewhat hard but with no waves even when I bogged the engine and no residue on the band. The logs that were not frozen in the center sawed so well it was hard to believe :) I got 1000 bd. ft. from the one band it it was still cutting well at the end.
Anyone else have much experience with yellow birch? I would like to know if this is typical or did I just have some extra nice logs to saw? If it's typical than I'm going to go looking for more yellow birch :D
Bill
Jackpine, I can't answer your question because I have never sawn any either. But I just got 3 decent sized logs in this week. They are kind of gnarly so I'm hoping for some nice figured wood. ;)
How 'bout this one jackpine? Yellow birch is nice stuff, similar to hard maple actually. ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_yellowbirch-wlt-022.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_yellowbirch-wlt-021.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_yellowbirch-wlt-014.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11009/SD_yellowbirch-wlt-023.jpg)
Yup it's an old brute, the bark has gone all platy. Talk about a way to cornfuse a guy. Then to really cornfuse ya, it may have the pink hue like cherry. ;D
SD, there were some 16" dia. small end logs in the pile that were all "platey" too. Did not really like those as the plates tended to flake off and clog in the sawdust chute very similar to red pine >:(
One thing i did notice was that some logs had a lot of heartwood with a beautifull light brown figure and others had almost no heartwood. Is this normal?
Thanks, Bill
That one looks like a good candidate for red heart, makes for some purrty boards.
jackpine, the heartwood of yellow birch is not a defect as it is in hard maple. Find the right markets for that red heart and it will bring above average prices. Assuming it's not rotten. ;) I see all kinds of veneer/plywood with red heart, I have some in my night stand I built and some in my bathroom cupboard doors. Sometimes you get a piece of veneer that is in transition from red to light and we call that flaming birch. And yes that is normal about the heart and very common.
I sawed one yellow birch log a few years ago with the same ease you describe. The tree I cut the logs from was dieing and had a bit of spalting in it. I at the time figured the spalting was why it cut so well. The wood seemed to air dry nicely also.
I have a nice little stash of it in the barn, but mines mostly sapwood (white). The neighbor's lot up the road has a nice little grove of yellow birch. It's off the end of the field and it's hard to tell the grove is there, except it actually is easy if you know that the tops are orange-brown. It has a few softwood buried in it. Once you realize that, you recognize a sea of yellow birch. The ground sinks in there and drains off to the NW. I walked in there last winter and there wasn't many log sized. Should actually be thinned out. But, it was a nice little grove, probably 15 acres or so. I tried for pictures in there but it just doesn't look like it does in real life. I'de like to have a woodlot full of them. Years ago, maybe 15 or so, they would have been just firewood and pulp. And since pulp isn't a big price it would have been clearcut. ::) This woodlot owner however, never cuts hardly a stick. He's got a couple sons on the farm, but I don't think they are too ambitious about much of anything.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on January 28, 2007, 09:08:49 PM
jackpine, the heartwood of yellow birch is not a defect as it is in hard maple. Find the right markets for that red heart and it will bring above average prices. Assuming it's not rotten. ;) I see all kinds of veneer/plywood with red heart, I have some in my night stand I built and some in my bathroom cupboard doors. Sometimes you get a piece of veneer that is in transition from red to light and we call that flaming birch. And yes that is normal about the heart and very common.
Are pictures of that in the nightstand thread you wrote? I'm curious about the redheart...haven't seen that before.
Yup, a couple panels in the doors and the inside bottom are red heart. For comparison, the corner pieces are white sap yellow birch. ;D
Around here it's sometimes called Cherry Birch. Price is in da Cherry category. ;)
Chet, up here cherry birch is what you guys call black birch below the snow line ;)
I bought some red oak cabinets from a company in Quebec and the carcasses were made of "red birch" plywood. It sounds like it is really yellow birch with red heartwood. The stuff has very striking color contrast and is beautiful. . I wish the entire cabinets were made of the same wood.