Normally you hear this and think of a punky stalk covered in mushrooms that you can knock over with a push. This tree was in the back woods at my friends where i store wood. Spotted it back in the Spring. Bark falling off and fungi on the trunk. Top had been snapped off in a storm in recent years and the tree finally died. Cut it down recently. Bucked the rest and split most of it yesterday. Loose bark, but most of the meat was good. Stacked it in his wood shed. (front row) Few rounds left to retrieve.
You got that one just in time. They definitely don’t have a long shelf life once dead and/or down. The first description you gave is what’s in the woods next door to me. Only good for wildlife habitat and the bugs for composting.
High BTU and dries fast. The only thing I don’t like about it is that in my experience, it leaves quite a few charred chunks behind the next day. Not an issue if you’re mixing in other species along with it though.
I’m kind of surprised that such a high BTU hardwood decays so fast. I’ve never seen anything like that.
It’s definitely not your typical common white birch. Black birch is very dense and heavy (yellow is similar) With the bark on it can rot fast. I guess in that way it’s similar to the birch you’re used to seeing. The waterproof bark keeps the internal moisture from escaping, speeding up decay.
That's some top-notch firewood in my experience. Burns hot. Smells great when processing, too! Good catch!
Speaking of dead trees, the pasture I'm helping to clear, had this very dead white oak. It was reserved for a friend to cut down and take, but he wanted to wait till Fall. The more I cut around it, the more of a risk it became. Many branches had fallen off, and the old farmer and his excavator would now be running right below it. They taked to the friend and he was ok with me dropping it. So, with a small handful of angels on standby, I took it down, landing it precisely where I wanted it (probably the angels doing) with no issues. When that thing hit, the top more/less exploded on impact. So, here's a cold glass of water to Brad, and safe felling of dead trees.
Those birch logs in my yard are in better condition than both of us would have guessed. Not great, a little spalting even, but not all that bad. I’ve seen white birch that died standing up. Only thing holding them up is the bark. Insides turned to mush.
Great firewood. Black is the best of the birches as far as i know. Better than oak and dries in a year. Goes to punk rather quickly if exposed to elements.
Nice job Dave. I tell everyone youre a great feller! Cold glass of H2O to you as well. This one was easy as there was no top, one limb and a good lean in the way i wanted it to go.
I love black birch. Glad to have it around. I have some 2+year old black birch that I’ll be burning this coming winter. I’ll be using that as my cold weather wood. It’s a great hardwood. I found that hickory of the same size gave me more/hotter coals in the morning, bu the black birch wasn’t too far behind.
