# White Birch vs. Cherry



## richg (Feb 18, 2011)

Greetings and salutations fellow gangsta rappas:

As the end of this heating season comes into view, my thoughts obviously turn to the future. I burned a lot of cherry this year because I was a bit late on getting a firewood supply and cherry seasons quickly. the question relates to white birch vs. cherry; I found cherry to be "ok" wood, good, not great. It does light easily but in terms of heat output, it couldn't hold a candle to oak and sugar maple. What are your experiences with white birch? I have a huge stand of it on my property that I'd like to clear out. The firewood BTU charts rate it exactly even with cherry, but if it burns like garbabe, well, I'll just skip the project and find something else to do  :red: . Any advice would be apprecaited, thanks.


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## mayhem (Feb 18, 2011)

White birch is decent wood to burn, get it cut and split right away if you want it to dry out though, the bark is waterproof and if you don't expose the heartwood to the air it'll rot before it dries.  

I'd rather have a cord of cherry than birch any day, but I've wouldn't hesitate to cut and split a white birch if I had equal access to both species.

If nothing else, the birch bark makes great fire starters.


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## FireAnt (Feb 18, 2011)

Love Birch! Always want to have a cord on hand. Heated my house fine this winter. Grab it!


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## richg (Feb 18, 2011)

Guys, thanks for the replies. There is one big tree that is leaning perfectly towards a nice flat chunk of property. It's just sitting there like a Staples Easy button, saying, "Cut me!"


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## Wood Duck (Feb 18, 2011)

White Birch is a good, middle-of-the-pack hardwood. So is cherry. Maybe the cherry wasn't fully seasoned. I get good burns with cherry. I agree with you, it isn't oak or sugar maple, but still pretty good.


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## peakbagger (Feb 18, 2011)

One thing with white birches is that they tend to die off first and fall down later so if its a mature stand be careful when cutting as dead branches and tops can come raining down. Even when there is still a bit of foliage, the tree can be mostly rotten. If you do cut healthy birches, one trick that helps delay the onset of rot is to run the saw blade the length of the tree through the outer and inner bark, twice if can get access to both sides of the log. If you are lucky, the bark will peel away from the cut and then the wood will last a lot longer prior to splitting. Usually after the wood is split and dry, the bark will then peel off by hand and it makes great fire starter.


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## dannynelson77 (Feb 18, 2011)

No experience with White Birch, but the SEASONED Cherry I burned this year was fantastic I thought!  I thought it put out great heat.  yea the stove didnt get as hot as it does with Red Oak or White Ash, but it sure wasnt far behind.


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## PA. Woodsman (Feb 18, 2011)

Wood Duck said:
			
		

> White Birch is a good, middle-of-the-pack hardwood. So is cherry. Maybe the cherry wasn't fully seasoned. I get good burns with cherry. I agree with you, it isn't oak or sugar maple, but still pretty good.



What he said...


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## Cudos (Feb 18, 2011)

That's all I burn is white birch in my PE super27, I can load at 10:30 pm and still have coals at 7:00 am, decent heat output and clean burning. Go for it!


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## Backwoods Savage (Feb 18, 2011)

richg said:
			
		

> Greetings and salutations fellow gangsta rappas:
> 
> As the end of this heating season comes into view, my thoughts obviously turn to the future. I burned a lot of cherry this year because I was a bit late on getting a firewood supply and cherry seasons quickly. the question relates to white birch vs. cherry; I found cherry to be "ok" wood, good, not great. It does light easily but in terms of heat output, it couldn't hold a candle to oak and sugar maple. What are your experiences with white birch? I have a huge stand of it on my property that I'd like to clear out. The firewood BTU charts rate it exactly even with cherry, but if it burns like garbabe, well, I'll just skip the project and find something else to do  :red: . Any advice would be apprecaited, thanks.



Rich, although cherry or birch can't compare with oak or hard maple, it is still good wood. I would prefer the cherry over the birch but both make decent burning wood. One thing you might consider would be to save the oak and maple for mid winter. Burn the cherry and birch during spring and fall or during the daytime even in the winter. 

We have lots of birch on our place and some cherry. I'll cut a cherry every now and then but rarely cut the birch. Some day I may be very thankful to have all that birch. At one time you could get a premium price for good birch as it makes perhaps one of the best woods for burning in a fireplace. It gives a pretty flame, easy to light and doesn't leave a lot of ashes. That makes it a winner for some of the higher class folks who don't mind paying a premium price for good wood. 

I recall about 40 year ago a fellow who made a living cutting birch. He'd split it and then haul it all into Chicago.....from Upper Michigan. He did have a semi so could haul large loads. Some I do know he would bundle and sell to the convenience stores so those for sure he got higher prices but most went to home owners who wanted it for their fireplaces and just to "show."


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## mainstation (Feb 18, 2011)

I burn both, and personally prefer the Cherry.  White birch is a good hardwood if that's all you have, like some areas North of me where guys go in after a timber company has logged the area out and clean up by cutting the White Birch for firewood.  It does require splitting to fully season and I would caution care when felling because White birch bark makes it hard to see any weaknesses in the tree.  White Birch is notorious for being a Widow maker tree in the North because of this.


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## thewoodlands (Feb 18, 2011)

richg said:
			
		

> Greetings and salutations fellow gangsta rappas:
> 
> As the end of this heating season comes into view, my thoughts obviously turn to the future. I burned a lot of cherry this year because I was a bit late on getting a firewood supply and cherry seasons quickly. the question relates to white birch vs. cherry; I found cherry to be "ok" wood, good, not great. It does light easily but in terms of heat output, it couldn't hold a candle to oak and sugar maple. What are your experiences with white birch? I have a huge stand of it on my property that I'd like to clear out. The firewood BTU charts rate it exactly even with cherry, but if it burns like garbabe, well, I'll just skip the project and find something else to do  :red: . Any advice would be apprecaited, thanks.




We have been heating our house with Cherry for two years then during the colder nights we will use Sugar Maple for our overnight burns. We will always have room for Cherry when it comes to heating with wood.



Zap


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## firefighterjake (Feb 22, 2011)

I like both cherry and white birch . . . and find them to be about equal in terms of burning . . . maybe the cherry is just a dite better. Truth be told, I don't tend to burn a lot of the primo wood -- occasionally I'll get some apple, beech or sugar maple, but most of my wood is the mid-grade stuff -- ash, red maple, yellow birch, elm, white birch, gray birch, etc.

Love processing the cherry . . . smells wicked good.

My wife loves white birch . . . she likes being able to throw a split on to the hot coals and having it instantly ignite . . . in fact when I know she is going to be home and tending the fire I'll try to make sure she has a few white birch splits since she likes using them so much.


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