Birch

[Froggy]

Hi, Can anyone tell me if Birch is a nice wood to work with and how does it compare to...say Oak price wise?

Thanks Tim.

 

[Mattty]

Hi, Can anyone tell me if Birch is a nice wood to work with and how does it compare to...say Oak price wise?

Thanks Tim.

It's okay to work, the one time i used it.
Here John Boddys link to the decription-
http://www.john-boddy-timber.ltd.uk/Pic ... rch_d.html

It's a lot cheaper than Oak.

 

[Mikey R]

I think theres birch and theres birch - the different species seem to have very different properties.

I got some American dark birch from Boddys a while ago, while its quite stiff the edges splinter and crumble very easily. Still, it was a good cheap alternative to walnut (at a distance in a dark room). I never did find any information on the specie though.

Anyway, from what Ive heard this is nothing like the lighter birch from Scandinavia.

 

[user 5053]

Birch is a good turning and carving wood and is often used for plywood and lamination work. You don't see much furniture made from solid birch.

 

[Jervisekken]

If you can get some birch, take it!
I live in Norway and birch is very common, and grow straight and tall to timber of very decent sizes. It is by far the most common hard(ish) wood and historically has been used for furniture, interior work and most other things except for construction.
The quality can vary a lot though. I personally find the imported baltic wood quite anonymous. By buying from small sawmills locally we can get wood with interesting figure, even curly, or "flamed" as it's called.
I have recently completed a traditional scandinavian workbench that is somewhere on UKW, and there is also some bedroom furniture here: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/16582.
Usually it is very easy to work, but figured wood easily tears out. However, with a sharp handplane and high angle grind on the blade I have never really had problems. It gives a silky smooth surface straight off the plane, with no need for sanding.
It's OK for turning, but I would prefer a rather figured wood for that. Otherwise it gets quite boring. Spalted birch is an option. Very different from spalted beech or maple, but still quite nice.

Good luck,

 

[OldWood]

One of the characteristics of birch is that it will take stain very well, to the extent that it was regularly used at one time to represent other hardwoods.

Sadly we had to dispose of a very fine dining sideboard from my wife's family made solely of birch by a gt gd father, and it looked as if it was an impressive collection of different hardwoods.

OW

 

[Mikey R]

I have recently completed a traditional scandinavian workbench that is somewhere on UKW

Hi Geir,

I found the bench here:

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... ight=bench

Its very nice indeed!

 

[Froggy]

Thanks for that everyone. The reason I asked is that I bought some soft wood very cheaply from a liquidators that specialises in woodworking stock last year and he now has some Birch for auction. There's almost 2m3 in the formof 3m planks 6" x 1" (160 of them). That's far too much for me alone. So I thought about bidding for it anf if I won sell half, or more, of it on. How much do you think would be a good price per plank to shift it quickly? If I know that it will give me an idea of how much to pay.[/img]

 

[Mattty]

Shifting them quickly- £4-6 per plank dependant on quality and quantity. It isn't a paticularly expensive timber. Post your location as i'm sure a few members will be interested.