"TonyM" tonym.le"at"comcast.net wrote in message
. ..
White and yellow birch are fast growing trees with wide growth
rings and tend to deteriorate quickly.

No, not really. Yellow birch is a shade-tolerant tree which contributes a
good portion of our local climax forest. White birch, as in Betula
papyfera, is a shade-intolerant tree capable of good growth in
burned/cutover areas. It will even grow on poor quality soil, though much
slower.

On the other hand, black and river birch are slow growing trees with very
tight growth rings. These are excellent to turn and will store
indefinitely if kept in a dry place.

Black (Betula lenta) is also called sweet birch, river birch, or cherry
birch, and has a wonderful pink color which reminds of cherry, as well as
bark which is broken into lenticels rather than paper layers. Smells
strongly of wintergreen when it's fresh, which makes it a fragrant joy to
turn.

All the birches I know have waterproof bark, an attribute taken advantage of
by the aboriginals, which means that it spalts fast in its "container."
Best to take it to clean wood quickly to avoid the spalt. Waterproof bark
is also the reason why you don't want to try and use a birch log fallen
across a stream for a bridge. Odds on it's a shell full of trash, and will
pitch you into the water.