Birch worth milling?

[Big J]

I was wondering if any of you had any experience milling Birch? I will be thinning some very mature Birch in the coming weeks (straight, branchless trunks up to about 40ft and roughly 14-16 inches diameter). Reading the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers site, it seems to be fairly highly regarded, but I've never heard it mentioned by any of my furniture making colleagues/friends.

 

Also, will there be issue of sap discolouration due to summer felling? I can hold off on felling them until winter it needs be.

 

Jonathan

[Hairyloon]

Ikea seem to favour it.

[testcricket01]

hi there heres a silver birch we milled you can see the planks we got out of it

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/picture-forum/16941-silver-birch-dismantle-2.html

[Craig Johnson]

a friend of mine has done a book on the types of wood you get from birch, which is realy good so you know what to expect before you cut them down, unfortunatley its all in danish!

[Ian C]

a friend of mine has done a book on the types of wood you get from birch, which is realy good so you know what to expect before you cut them down, unfortunatley its all in danish![/quote]

 

Thats "usefull" then craig can you order me 2

[Big J]

Thanks for the replies chaps!

 

I've never really come across any birch straight or large enough to bother with, and I suppose this is a little on the small side too. They are however wonderfully drawn woodland trees with not so much as twig from the main boule until 40 odd foot. Seems a waste to burn them.

 

I have been asked for it once or twice in the past though - perhaps I'll just take a few of the trees, mill them and stack them to air dry. Good to have them in stock should I ever get asked for it again.

 

Jonathan

[Craig Johnson]

2 ok, i guess that you can look at all the nice pictures of the birch trees

[Rob D]

Always worth knocking out a few planks I reckon.... even if you just go for 3" to do it quicker and cut down on mess.

 

Not sure what birch is used for but I'm sure a trawl of the net would get a few ideas.

[Big J]

Thankfully mess isn't an issue with it being in the middle of woodland. I'll see how sound the trees are once they're down and chat to the forester about taking a couple of the larger ones.

[Treemoose]

Hello big j

 

Revival of an old thread I know! I was wondering how you got on with your birch and if any one made any use of it. I have a fairly large mature birch coming down soon and the butt looks perfect for a little Alaskan milling. But wasn't sure if it was really worth it.

It's got an even clean stem up to about 10ft (branches In the pic are from the tree behind)