Does it smell like wintergreen? That's a giveaway for yellow birch. River birch will not have the smell.
Wood ID(Should be easy)
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woodbooga
cords of mystic memory
That's black birch. I just cut up 2 of these. Slower rot rate than white/paper birch. They can look a lot like pin cherry or even smaller honey locust.
This is yellow birch
This is yellow birch
blacklocst
ArboristSite Guru
Black Birch bark when young has gray smooth bark that scales up and gets darker as it gets bigger. The OPs wood is peeling and looks just like Woodbooga's pic above.
I ain't positive what it is... but I'm pretty positive what it ain't...
I ain't never seen a Paper Birch that didn't have white bark... as white as typing paper.
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I ain't never seen a Paper Birch that didn't have white bark... as white as typing paper.
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1project2many
ArboristSite Guru
Yellow Birch. Definitely. Usually has reddish heartwood. Dense wood, similar heat to Red Oak without extended drying time. Good to have in the woodshed.
Black Birch has a very noticeable odor when cut, lighter colored heartwood, and the more mature trees have "plates" with "cracks" in the bark vs. paper curls found on Yellow, Gray, and Paper Birch.
Here's a photo of mature Black Birch bark:
http://donwiss.com/pictures/F-2011-07-17/0049.jpg
The Birch family is a bit large and there are plenty of local variations for tree names. Here's a nice page that shows Birch trees (and cousins) found in the northeast. You're likely to find plenty of species from that page down in MA. My 5 acre plot of land has Paper, Gray, Yellow, and Black Birch as well as Hop Hornbeam, American Hornbeam (planted), Grey Alder, and Hazlenut.
I'll get photos this weekend to show otherwise. The type of dirt they grow in, the amount of sun, and certain fungus/algae/other stuff can darken up the bark significantly.
Knobby57
Peeing outdoors
I'm positive that's firewood!!!!
But if you have to name it my vote is yellow birch. And +1 paper birch is as white as paper
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But if you have to name it my vote is yellow birch. And +1 paper birch is as white as paper
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I'm no forester but the birches around me can sometimes be black/brown/yellow/grey for the first several feet from the ground then convert to the classical paper birch look.
Never realized but according to chimneysweep, yellow birch has same BTU rating as red oak....
Never realized but according to chimneysweep, yellow birch has same BTU rating as red oak....
I'll flip flop and go with yellow on this one after seeing the leaf.
blacklocst
ArboristSite Guru
cus_deluxe
Commie Satan turd
black/grey birch bark doesnt peel the way other birch bark does. dead giveaway
Woodpulp
ArboristSite Lurker
Changing my opinion to Yellow Birch from Paper. Have some of that same wood here and was just stacking it along with some red oak and the dry/cured weights were indistinguishable. Have a lot of Black Birch here which is more common than other birches and I can tell you that black birch bark dosen't peel like that pic, but cracks and opens along vertical lines and is generally smoother. Either way, most birch is good, high BTU wood. I'll take all I can get.
Since the original poster now has a few twigs from the tree, does any of it smell like wintergreen? Both Yellow and Black birch will have that odor, with Black Birch being stronger than Yellow. Other birches will not have that smell...
Looks like Yellow Birch. But I have never cut one.
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/betula/alleghaniensis .htm
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/betula/alleghaniensis .htm
1project2many
ArboristSite Guru
That's what I said!
After going through this you're likely to know more about Birch than you ever wanted to.
Hoboy. Black Birch and Gray Birch are different trees. Black Birch is gray and Gray Birch is White.
Coldfront
Addicted to ArboristSite
Yellow Birch, I have 6 logger cords of it. Was fresh cut green last February into 100" logs. I just cut and split some of it last night it was at 20% on my MM.
mldrenen
ArboristSite Lurker
not to beat a dead horse, but 100% positive it's yellow birch. i harvest it green all the time for carving spoons.
cus_deluxe
Commie Satan turd
right, i guess i shouldve said black AND gray birch bark doesnt peel the way other birch bark doesThat's what I said!
After going through this you're likely to know more about Birch than you ever wanted to.
Hoboy. Black Birch and Gray Birch are different trees. Black Birch is gray and Gray Birch is White.
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