The River/Copper Birch are coming down.

Dropped 2 yesterday and 1 today. Each one was a triple trunk so felling them posed a bit of a challenge. I was able to drop one double stem but otherwise I took down 1 stem at a time for better control. I hate taking down healthy trees but these were a nuisance where they were. Some of the roots were on top of the ground as well as going under the concrete. I have left 2 of them as they aren't posing the same root issues. Still have one more on the side of the house that will need to come down.

 

I’ve been thinking about planting a couple of them in my yard this year.

 

Too bad they had to come down. I scored some last Summer and was amazed at how fast it turned to punk. Process ASAP. Cover well and maybe burn first next year.

 

Birch needs to be opened up. Before bucking, I use the chainsaw to zip a shallow cut the length of the wood. Just deep enough to get through the bark. This will help allow moisture to leave the wood. As Brad mentions, birch will turn punky in short order.

 

Whipping that new place into shape.

 

This stuff was record breaking. It was felled in May of last year. I grabbed the rounds in August and some already had punky centers! Never seen anything like that.

On the flip side the black birch i just cut in January had been on the ground since September 2020 and was still good.

 

Zip it, Brad!

 

Already been CSS. Ive been using the river birch for a month now.

 

Decided to split a few of the bigger pieces the other day. All of it had been bucked to length stacked off the ground. Still solid, but I was surprised how stringy it is.

 

I could barely half three month old round last Summer with the isocore.