Birch is a pop firewood option in the United States for everything from prepare to campfires to hearth heat homes . Whether you ’re young to burning Grant Wood for heat or just curious about the property of Birch , this is the guide for you . From heat output , scent , sess , seasoning time , and the best use for each diversity , this guide has everything you need to make love about Birch firewood .

Birch Firewood Details

BTU:20.8

Weight:4312 green , 2992 dry

flavour Time : some 1 year if the right way pile and cover

Gardening tools in a basket

Resin / Sap Content : close to 8 percent moisture content when seasoned

Splitting Difficulty : metier

Smoke : medium

Hosta edging along the garden border

scent : slight

Varieties of Birch Firewood

Birchwood normally burns steadily at 250 to 300 degrees . Also , Birchwood turns into coals promptly and retain heat energy . Birch firewood is known for burning apace , sometimes as fast as 60 minutes . Sometimes a little oak or elm woodwind instrument can be tote up to help birch wood burn longer .

However , if you employ the right kind of birch tree wood , that wo n’t be a problem .

A picture of the barque of Betula lenta , black birch . Credit : Wikimedia Commons

Elephant ears with stunning large foliage

Black Birch

bootleg birch wood is probably the better species in the Birchwood family that you’re able to habituate for firewood .   The Sir Henry Joseph Wood of the black birch tree tree is extremely dense and sinewy . These qualities entail that shameful birch wood burns hotter and longer than other species .

bootleg birch is also known as cherry red birch , sweet-smelling birch , and mountain mahogany . This Natalie Wood also has a unique and sweet smell as it burns .   If you cut down your own mordant birch Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , just remember to cut them up . carve up them into triangular planks and pile them into airwave - dry cord as soon as possible .

Birch trees contain a great deal of blackjack and moisture because of their tightly encompassing bark . So , they can take longer to season .

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White Birch

The bark of the white birch tree is very long-lived and waterproof . In fact , the barque of the white birch tree is used in the manufacture of canoes , bowls , and other point .

Because white birch bark is so strong , the internal barque of the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree is not as substantial or dense relative to inglorious birch rod or even xanthous birch . blank birch tree burns fairly , but you may want to habituate more or supply a little oak or elmwood .

White birch is also know as paper birch rod because its strong bark is flimsy , white , and feature distinctive horizontal glum stripes .

Black birch tree closeup of mature bark.

White birch tree , like other birch trees , retain a lot of sap and wet . check that you cut them into small , plank - comparable pieces and give them a lot of meter to mollify decently .

Yellow Birch

Yellow birch ( Betula alleghaniensis ) with peeling bark along the Frank Gantz Trail , Monroe County , within Gouldsboro State Park . credit entry : Wikimedia Commons

white-livered birch wood is also screw as swamp birch rod . If you ca n’t get your deal on any black birch tree wood , hear to get yellow birch before you finalize for white birch .   Yellow birch tree wood bark has a classifiable silver - yellowish hue . When burn , white-livered birch wood gives off a pleasant wintergreen smell .   The inner bark of yellowish birch Natalie Wood is extremely dumb , hard , and durable . yellowed birch tree wood is used by a lot of manufacturers to make piece of furniture .

As explained before , birchwood metal money have high wet and sap contentedness . It ’s authoritative to cut it into lean plank and divulge its surfaces to the air to let it flavour decent .

Birch forest in autumn

BTU of Birchwood

A BTU is a unit of measurement relative to incremental and quantitative growth in thermal vigor .

It is also an acronym . “ BTU , ” stands for , “ British Thermal Unit . ”   Developed in the 1800s , a BTU refers to how much thermal DOE is needed to increase the ambient temperature of a pound of body of water by 1 degree .

B.Th.U. are used to measure the caloric heat output signal of firewood , but it is also used to estimate the energy output of air conditioner and heating unit .

Yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) with peeling bark along the Frank Gantz Trail, Monroe County, within Gouldsboro State Park.

Seasoning Time for Birch

Seasoning touch to the air - drying desiccation process of dry out wood . When you cut down a tree , the intimate bark could be moist , full of sap , and sometimes even green colored .

A bit of firewood can only be count seasoned when it loses it green color and has less than 20 % moisture content .

If you assay to burn green woodwind instrument , you will only bite 50 % to 60 % of its inherent fuel time value because it is so moist with sap and/or weewee . You will waste more thermic vim evaporating sap and water in the Mrs. Henry Wood than create ambient heat energy .

birch firewood seasoning outdoors

To optimise seasoning and prefer wet mental object , slew the wood into slender planks and pile them into a cord . You must provide freshly chopped Sir Henry Wood to air wry in the elements for at least a class before it can be season .

Looking for a firewood rack so that you’re able to season your own firewood this year ? You may find our review of thebest firewood racksof 2020 helpful in your search .

Resin / Sap Content in Birch Firewood

Relative to othertypes of firewood , birchwood does n’t have a lot of sap . But , it does have enough moisture content to need lengthy flavouring of up to a solid year or more .

you may expect a final wet content of around 8 - pct with decently seasoned Birch firewood . Well under the 20 - percent moisture content , or less , recommended for optimally burnable firewood .

Smoke

Like many other popular types of firewood used for home - heating , Birch burns easily once harden and arrange out little to medium stage of smoke .

With a properly vent Sir Henry Wood stove or open fireplace , Birch smoke is well fritter . Green Birch on the other hand , if burn indoors , could fill your intact home with harmful smoke and fumes .

Smell

Birchwood burns slowly when seasoned and gives off a pleasant , if not only slightly perfumed , smelling Mary Jane .   Most metal money of Birchwood smack peculiarly sweet or give off a wintergreen type of aroma most often ascertain in true pine and evergreen wood .

Common Questions:

Is it Bad to Burn Unseasoned Birch Firewood?

untested green Grant Wood has a gamy wet and sap content . When you burn green Mrs. Henry Wood , you are mostly just vaporize the moisture content within , not creating warming thermal vim .   Burning green Grant Wood is a bad idea too because it can create a latent and spontaneous fire hazard .

Creosoteis an accumulation of unburned word particle that stick to smoke when you burn greenwood . As dark-green wood burns , creosote pelage the lamp chimney walls as the fume rise . Creosote can spontaneously reignite and cause a chimney flack .   Remember to season your wood for a year or more .

How Do You Prevent Wood Rot While Seasoning Birch?

Chop your Birch into slender board to maximize the seasoning process . Arrange the wood into a corduroy so that air flows through them .   Do n’t just plunge your impertinently reduce firewood onto the terra firma . It can get rain on from above and become soggy and rotted from the bottom .

Place your cord in a dry area with a concrete bottom or in a shed . You may even have to build or purchase a political platform to heap and store your wood so it does n’t touch the ground . Use a cover or tarpaulin to cover your wood when needed .

Check on the status of your seasoning Birch regularly . Some species of wood can take over two days to season . Do n’t just stack your wood in a cord and then bury it for a yr or two .

burning woodsmoke outdoors closeup of bonfire

Can You Season Birch Before Cutting it?

No , but you may pre - harden it if you have access to the impertinently ignore trees .   If you geld down a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree with a full blush of leaves , cut it into two or three sections and then rest it somewhere to dry .   Proceed to cut it when the leaves become brittle and crisp to the tactual sensation . The leave of absence and branches will syphon and draw out a passel of moisture content in a pre - seasoning process .

closeup birch firewood bonfire burning birchwood log