"Bill Jones" wrote in message
...

For biscuits, you're going to want to cut them green, because birch,
especially white birch, spalts so easily in the log. The bark is
waterproof, and so will hold the interior above 20% MC - the mold
point -
for a _very_long time. Removing the bark is a guarantee of radial
checks,


I have a lot of birch trees in the woods around my house, and what you
say about the bark holding the moisture in is really true. If a birch
goes down and I leave the logs intact, they will rot very quickly.
Within a year or two, they are not even usable for firewood, and after
several years, the inside completely rots out, and you have an empty
hull of bark. As I heard on a Canadian TV show once, "even the lowly
beaver knows not to cross a stream on a birch log".
SNIP


Yep, waterproof made it ideal for another use - canoes. Has to do with a
bunch of oils in the bark, which is another thing the bark is used for -
starting a fire even when damp.

Difference between green and dry wood is easily ascertained at
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fp.../fplgtr113.htm

Take a peek at Chapter three, where you'll find that yellow birch and red
oak are both about .66 s.g. , and both start at roughly 80% MC. Must be an
illusion on the weight difference.

Oh yes, the boys who bring the logs up from Superior saw and use them as if
they were fresh. Nicer if they're sawn with someone else's teeth, though.