What is this white Powder that has suddenly appeared on logs delivered a week ago?

[Stubby]

Top grade cocaine by the looks ?

[gary112]

16 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Top grade cocaine by the looks ?

Yeahhhh maaaaan??

[Rich05uk]

2 hours ago, neiln said:

That is an impressive amount of powder isn't it!  I'm no expert but would also think fungus, which will stop as the wood dries, and won't affect the burn, but I wouldn't leave logs in the house for long and would try not to sprinkle that mess about.

 

Is it on many of the logs?

I know, it took me by surprise too as they were totally clean on delivery and this happened in less than 2 weeks.  I'd say its impacted to some degree about 30% - 40% of the logs.  As I say, they got soaked the day they were delivered as it was raining hard, from being loose tipped I stacked them as fast as I could be it still took me a couple of hours to get them all in my wood store.

 

I've been buying logs for over 10 years now and I've never seen this before, even if they have become wet.  Very strange.

 

I would normally buy my logs 12 - 18 months before using them and always normally have them delivered in the spring or summer months but last winter I used twice as many logs as I normally would so it cleaned me out, then due to COVID-19 my supplier was unable to deliver until now.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Rich05uk
Correcting spelling

[David Lawrence 88]

Looks like they are birch

if so 

they are prone to mould quickly

 

[Vedhoggar]

Looks like it might be Elder Whitewash (Hyphodontia sambuci) or some similar pathogen (mainly found on dead elder but also other hardwood). You say the logs burn alight so that's not a problem if to be burnt on a stove and not stored in the house however anyone with asthma or allergic to mould ought to keep away from them. The mould will be just on the surface of the log so could be split away with an axe and the mould on the end of log brushed off with a wire brush (outdoors). Separate the contaminated wood if you can to minimise spread onto logs without mould. Moisture is the main issue so need to keep moisture to a minimum both before going into the wood store in future as well as within the store itself.