Im yet to see any oak either. I will miss it greatly.......... milleo, if its safe to do so, and your in the area, can you strap 2 splits to your bike?
Lol...Bogieb photo shopped a pic of a giant log on the back of my bike but I lost the pic when my puter crashed...It was wicked funny...
Its interesting reading about peoples lowly opinions about birch... Around here you can pay up to $300 for a cord of paper birch. Its the highest btu wood available to us at 20 mbtus and is considered gold. I tend to prefer larch (19.5 mbtus) a bit better since it doesnt rot like birch and for some reason it seems to burn longer although I might be imagining it. The opinions here on birch are obviously because many of you have higher btu wood to choose from. One advantage to having lower btu wood is you dont have to dry it for three years.
Actually it was me who did that with the picture. Not the greatest, but then I don't do that type of thing often. (I'm always amazed at how often others are given credit for what I do, even when it isn't the greatest)
Well there ya go milleo! Star Gazer is the artist! I think you'll have too lean left to offset that weight......
so what is processing "right away"? Months? a year? I know we had a large birch (river birch?) blow over about 2 years ago now. Deep enough that I haven't had a chance to bring it out. It's suspended by the root ball on one end and the canopy on the other so the good part has been off the ground. It has that papery, flaky looking bark so I assume it's like a river birch. I'll tear into it this year if I do it at all, I have a pile of oak, hickery and cedar to cut and split after we had an area cleared for a barn this year, but I hate to see good wood go to waste. Plus, I've never touched birch before (if that's what it is)
If it's indeed Birch, it may rot even being off the ground from what some are saying. I think running the saw down the length of the tree carefully is a great idea if one cannot get to it right away.
If its birch and its been down for two years even suspended then its likely done, but curiosity would get the better of me as well.
I don't have any Oak here as well and I have several hundred acres. Like everything that grows, it prefers certain soils and it just is not here.
if the bark is in tact birch will rot from the inside out, laying on ground or not. the bark is essentially waterproof and not enough moisture can get through the end grain before it starts getting soft. two years dead is definitely pushing it. if the bark starts getting any fungus on the outside then its game over. i prefer black birch over oak. its harder to split but takes half the time to season for the same BTUs. even the bark is high BTUs. make sure you have a root beer ready for when you are done splitting!
I will go after this one soon. We'll see if there is rot. If not, there's a decent amount of wood in this large birch.
I have access to as much white birch and black birch as I can cut. On my property and nearby, yellow birch is rare, but I can go ten miles away and be up to my ears in yellow birch. Black birch (24.2 MBTU/cord) is my favorite, it has that awesome wintergreen smell, splits nicely and throws a pile of heat. Yellow (22.1 MBTU/cord) is almost as good and has the same general properties. Both of these, in my experience, can't be left in rounds more than a few months or they get punky quickly and then they're worthless. I find them easy to split and process, even by hand. White birch has a lower BTU rating (20.0 MBTU/cord) but it's better than cherry, same as red maple and black walnut, and close to ash in heat value. It also has a tendency to rot on the stump, so that by the time it hits the ground, it's worthless. After a few months on the ground, it's usually a pile of rotten sawdust in a pretty white wrapper. However, if I can get to a white birch within the same season that it dies, I can get good firewood out of the whole thing. It's easy to handle, easy to split, can almost be lit without kindling (and the bark will ignite when wet!) and will last quite a while in the stacks as long as it is split. I try to split white birch right down to about 3" diameter and smaller pieces have to be kept bone dry (i.e. in the woodshed). I would not be sad if my entire wood supply was white birch. Actually, as long as I have a wood shed full of dry splits, I don't care what species it is, I'm happy. Birch is nice though.
Unfortunately that one looks like its not going to be worth your time. Birch on the ground doesn't have a chance to be salvaged for firewood.
Your probably right, but I'll put the saw through it just to see. Mostly birch and pine around these parts......
My "right away" is within a week after the tree has been felled, limbed, and bucked. Most times even less. I know some folk like to wait months, even a year or more leaving wood in the round. But honestly, you could probably get away with leaving it in the round for a couple of months.
That one sure doesn't look too promising! But it should make for good fill. Like Paul bunion said, bring a hoe along.
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