River birch

[TomFromStLouis]

We sawed up a few river birch logs that had a moderate amount of spalting. We generally retail to woodworkers and I am interested in whatever facts I can find about its working properties. The Forest Service site mentions my  Betula nigra but most of the sites' stats on hardness and movement are on Betula alleghaniensis.

Some other birches are mentioned and the commonalities (fine grain etc.) are useful, but hardness for example varies from 1470 (B. lenta) to 760 (B. populifolia).

Can anyone point me to any factual data on the working characteristics of river birch? Or is it safe to say that if the US Forest SErvice website is blank or NA on a species then it probably has not been measured? I am simply trying to be able to describe uses to a buyer. For example, is it hard enough for a woodworkers workbench?

[beenthere]

I think you are right, if the USFS doesn't have the data, no one does.

But the hardness info wouldn't be very accurate for spalted wood, as that is probably one property that drops when decay sets in. Compare the specific gravities of the different species and probably can draw some hardness conclusions from them, again, for non-spalted wood.

[SwampDonkey]

The textbook of dendrology states that the wood generally has a high degree of undesireable tension wood. Used primarily for pulp.

The textbook of wood technology states that black birch (not river birch) and yellow birch are harder, heavier and stronger than other native birches. From this I would assume they both have very similar properties, probably why they don't make a distinction at the USFS. Both species are used in anything immaginable.

[populus]

River birch reaches good size along rivers in Kentucky and as far as I know it has never been considered a commercial species. River birch logs are pulped together with other river bottom species, but I know of no other uses.  The wood is extremely soft (compared with other birches)  and full of tension, so I doubt that you can do much useful with it.  SwampDonkey is right - if it isn't in Harlow or the Wood Handbook, it's probably because it is not useful.

[TomFromStLouis]

Thanks everyone for the info. The stuff we sawed looks great and last I looked is drying flat, so I guess i'll just price it right and hope someone wants to make something out of it.

Heck, once dry maybe I'll try it. I am on a mission to prove there is no bad wood species and it sounds like this one needs proving.

[jrdwyer]

The larger river birch I see in the bottoms around here are often heavy leaners, so that jibes with the tension wood statement. I do ocasionally find sound, straight tree up to 18" DBH in the woods. Past that and they are generally near the end of their lifespan and develope quite a bit of rot in the base of the tree. Of course, this is partially due to growing in seasonally flooded conditions and partially due to wood that is not resistant. The local mills cut it for pallet cants or pallet lumber. I assume that the tree would reach larger sizes in parks or yards and on better sites.

It is good to see someone trying to make better use of this easily forgotten bottomland tree. How about some new uses for sweetgum, sycamore,  hackberry, and cottonwood. There sure is a lot of it out there but current prices on the stump don't promote much forest management.

[SwampDonkey]

jrdwyer

Sounds similar to our grey birch up here that grows on wetlands, fens, lowlands and wastelands. I've seen them about 10 inches at 4.5 feet before calving.

[TomFromStLouis]

It is good to see someone trying to make better use of this easily forgotten bottomland tree. How about some new uses for sweetgum, sycamore,  hackberry, and cottonwood. There sure is a lot of it out there but current prices on the stump don't promote much forest management.

I am trying to get people to try these woods too. QS sycamore sells pretty well, but we only saw the fattest ones. A local grade mill does buy our other grade sycamore logs. They buy cottonwood too, but I do not know what end user buys the lumber. My local sweetgum does not get large enough for the half-heart/half-sap to make two boards of any width. Hackberry makes decent lumber and the spalted stuff is admired by turners, but these are low volume markets. I think they all make useful and pretty lumber - it is just a matter of getting people to try them for appropriate uses. Selling cheaply helps.

[rebocardo]

I heard the river and water birches were used for toothpicks.

[SwampDonkey]

I'de think they might be used as spool wood as other birches are. I know other birches are used as toothpicks and popsicle sticks.

[smwwoody]

This is what I found in the Virginia Dep. of forestry hand book of common forest trees of Virginia.

"the wood is strong and fairly close grained it is used in the manufacture of wooden- ware and in turnery"

[jrdwyer]

I had my first experience using river birch wood last weekend splitting some firewood when we had the last bit of the cool weather. I did not see this yard tree before it was cut into sections (freebe from neighbor), but the wood was somewhat difficult to split by axe due to twisting grain patterns in many of the sections.  It was not nearly as hard to split as sweetgum, but definitely more difficult than the straight grained red maple and oak I also chopped up. The color was nice with off-white outer sapwood turning to a light beige heartwood to a medium brown, small inner heart. One section had a very dark brown and large heartwood area (wetwood?) but that was the exception rather than the norm.

Looking on the FPL's "American Hardwoods" pdf site, it show river birch with a SG of .49 green, which is very close to paper birch at .48, so the hardness of the two should also be close. Surprisingly, river birch has a low 4.7%radial radial shrinkage from green to O% MC, which is better than all the other birches.

You can definitely learn a few things cutting down, milling, or splitting different trees.

[SwampDonkey]

White birch is a pleasure to split though and we have some old ones close to 40 inches at dbh, but back in 1937-47 ??? I think was a massive die-off of alot of large white birch. It wasn't safe to be in the woods because of the 'widow makers'.  Paper birch , to some of you folks.

(source for white birch die-back: Hoyt, H.H. 1947. Forests and forestry in New Brunswick. Special report to the British Empire Forestry Conference, London, England. Fredericton, N.B.)

[oldschoolmiller]

I would say saw it, dry it, and experiment with it. Write a letter to the dendrology magazines with your findings, I bet they would be interested in first hand knowledge, maybe in the next edition they would update it, might even put your name in big bold letters  :D

[Hbarker]

I have some river bottom birch we call it,, i have a few prety good size logs of it.
interesting post. ;D