Most of the birch around here never gets much bigger than 3 or 4 inches before it gets destroyed by ice and snow. This one was around 14 inches but the top had been off of it for 3 or 4 years. I figured it was going to be just rot held together by the bark. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to still be solid. Ended up with 1/3 of a cord and found a dead standing oak in a hemlock grove.
Birch is a favorite of mine to work with and sells very well at a premium in these parts (city folk). The smaller poles are generally straighter grain. Once they get bigger there gets to be some twist. Not a big deal less you after "pretty" firewood. Nice score!
Rare for me as well. If I find any it's either kindling size or rotted by the time it's found. This will be my first birch birc of any significance...
Not much twist to this. It actually split into some pretty uniform blocks to aid in cribbing the ends.
Birch seems to be a bit of a pioneer species here and as other species grow a little faster and start towering over them they wither and die. Bent over from snow load here is common. They do alright when they don't have to compete. The little I've had has been 50/50 seasoning. Half of those split rot, half are OK. Same with rounds. Yellow birch I have a little better luck with than white/grey. Not like there is a real lot of it here.
I've gotten a lot of white birch at the dump, all sizes. Since it breaks so easily, it shows up pretty often. Most of it splits easily but yes, the big rounds can be tough. It burns bright, and smells nice. If you have the patience, the twigs make great firestarters.
