On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 10:11:36 GMT, "Tom Dougall"
wrote:

Another question about suitable wood for turning.

I can get a hold of a quantity of Silver Birch newly cut. I have been told
that it gets softer as it dries and is unsuitable for turning. Any comments
please.

I'm not positive which of them is "silver" birch, but I have turned a
bit of yellow birch, and I think it's great stuff. There's a lot of
nice figure even in the boring parts of the log, with a subtle bluish
tint in a lot of it. It's well worth turning- but keep the logs in a
dry, cool place. If you don't, you're likely to end up with a whole
lot of nothing.

One thing I can warn you about it is that it rots fast. Especially
paper birch (might be the silver birch you're talking about). Maybe
it's drying, and that is what I've seen, but it does turn into mush
fast. But, if you've got sound wood, turn it and get a finish on it,
that has never happened to me.

A lot of times, birch will be standing dead, and rot so thuroughly
that you can knock a large tree over with hand pressure. (and hope
the top doesn't fall on you when it breaks into 3 or 4 big pieces,
DAMHIKT) Obviously, this stuff is no good for anything at that point,
unless you want to strip the bark off and use it for something.