Wife planted a birch tree with white bark, it died so i cut it up, some of the wood was not worth splitting and was worried about it rotting. The 4 or 5 inch rounds did not rot and the wood burnt great. Only time i ever burnt birch but wish i could get more. No doubt you've had way more experience with birch than i.
My comment was based on some claiming no wood would dry in rounds, every wood type i have available will dry in rounds, the more dense types obviously take longer.
Too bad you dont have more there. Most birch is great firewood. Ill trade you a PU full of black birch for a PU full of osage or mulberry?
Lots of different experiences here. My moisture meter definitely is off when its cold out and I wont trust it. Anyone relying on a moisture meter to give them reliable readings in the cold should ascertain if theres has wood temperature compensations built it. Nothing replaces good old fashioned split and dried wood. Its really just an aid or a curiosity if I have a piece that feels heavier than it should. I don't burn oak, almost all the wood I burn is softwood in the 17-19 mbtus categories so my experiences will be different than the hardwood crowd. It would be interesting to see how long it would take for an oak round to dry in the round. Anyone have experience with that? Silly question I know but if it takes 3 years to dry oak below 20% c,s,s, would it take 6 years if left in a round? 10? or would it rot before it got the chance to dry out?
White Birch can be the strangest trees. I live on a road named for them. There’s a clump on my property that have died, like they normally do. The biggest we’re about 8” diameter. Nice straight trees. First noticed them dead around 10 years ago. The ones that fell have the inside wood turned to dust. The only thing holding them up is the bark. Still a few to go. Let’s just say I do t go tapping on them LOL Two years ago I was boondocking through the state forest. Stumbled onto a large WB that had fallen over many years ago. 16” trunk running horizontal just off the ground for 16’ or so then swooping up to the sky. It had just recently died as the top was falling apart like an ash tree. The trunk was solid as hell tho. One of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. Just finding a large WB in that forest is strange. Horizontal but living for decades is like winning the lottery. I’ve seen trees grow horizontal but not a WB like that.
I have white birch at 24” DBH but yellows are huge Behind Bota Daughter sitting on round rotting center out
