I have access to some River Birch. Is it any good for turning?
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Is River Birch good for turning?
- Thread starter Tom Lewis
- Start date
Steve Worcester
Admin Emeritus
All wood is good for turning. But since we don't have birch around here, I can't speak to the scale of it's functionality 
Richard Baker
RIP
Tom,
Bound to be good. Have seen posts of some way beautiful spalted birch, but don't know if it was "river". I had the trunk of a small RB a few years ago, but don't even know where it is now since we moved. Probably out there in the pile. Sorry, no help, but give it a try. Bet others will follow here with some birch pictures.
Bound to be good. Have seen posts of some way beautiful spalted birch, but don't know if it was "river". I had the trunk of a small RB a few years ago, but don't even know where it is now since we moved. Probably out there in the pile. Sorry, no help, but give it a try. Bet others will follow here with some birch pictures.
DMcIvor
AAW Staff
"river birch" probably refers to more than one species. But our river birch here in the great NW is good to turn. Interesting variety of colors, a little on the soft side, but not bad and pretty forgiving. Have at it!
River birch
I received some river birch 2 years ago from Mich St university, taken down from around the athletic building. In fact the landscape architect that ordered it's demise (diseased) was at my open house 2 days ago and purchased a piece from it. The birch that grows alot (paper or white birch) spalts nicely and then a day later is rotten. Really touchy. The river birch was solid,unspalted except for worm holes. I set a couple of pieces on end to spalt them and a year later, not much spalting at all and no degrade, and then another 6 months spalted nicely and still with out the pithy degrade I have seen with the other more common birch. So it seems to be heartier. I made 2 10 inch bowls and a couple of smaller ones, and they turned nicely. Plain birch is well, just plain so I like the spalting.
I have 2 river birch that have been growing in my back yard that we planted 12-13 years ago and are growing nicely. Their pink bark is distinctive and I don't see many naturally, so don't know how common they are in Michigan (have not done my homework). Don't like to see any of my trees die, but in this case..........I can always do something with them afterward!!! Gretch
I received some river birch 2 years ago from Mich St university, taken down from around the athletic building. In fact the landscape architect that ordered it's demise (diseased) was at my open house 2 days ago and purchased a piece from it. The birch that grows alot (paper or white birch) spalts nicely and then a day later is rotten. Really touchy. The river birch was solid,unspalted except for worm holes. I set a couple of pieces on end to spalt them and a year later, not much spalting at all and no degrade, and then another 6 months spalted nicely and still with out the pithy degrade I have seen with the other more common birch. So it seems to be heartier. I made 2 10 inch bowls and a couple of smaller ones, and they turned nicely. Plain birch is well, just plain so I like the spalting.
I have 2 river birch that have been growing in my back yard that we planted 12-13 years ago and are growing nicely. Their pink bark is distinctive and I don't see many naturally, so don't know how common they are in Michigan (have not done my homework). Don't like to see any of my trees die, but in this case..........I can always do something with them afterward!!! Gretch
Richard Baker
RIP
Don and Tom,
The RB we grew from a sapling had rather distinctive exfoliating bark. Is this a characteristic of the RB you have or have seen?
The RB we grew from a sapling had rather distinctive exfoliating bark. Is this a characteristic of the RB you have or have seen?
The typical river birch I've turned from around here (central Iowa) has been a fairly blah wood - not much figure and very little color. Unless it's spalted, or has mineral stains, expect a fairly monochromatic, pale result. I have given pieces of it away as practice wood, and even though it's often available around here, I much prefer other local species to it. However turning is turning, and one may get some with interesting figure or good coloration. I have learned to never refuse wood unless I've had a look at it first! It does turn nicely, and is not particularly prone to tear-out (as is box elder, for example).
Give it a try, but don't expect too much....
Rob Wallace
Give it a try, but don't expect too much....
Rob Wallace
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I've seen some spectacular pieces turned from River Birch and also some very bland ones. But having said that, it's nice to turn, makes a good base for further enhancing, dries nicely for me and if it's free it's good.
Go for it.
Go for it.
The River Birch I have has bark that peels off like paper. The bark is thin, but I think it could be written on.
Thanks everyone for your comments.
Thanks everyone for your comments.
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This little HF was turned from River Birch cut down in March. I almost let the spalting go too long. The potpourri bowl was turned from the same tree but was only left a month or so before I turned it so it did not have time to really spalt. River Birch seems pretty soft for a hard wood. It is not real dense and seems to dry very quickly. Not as nice turning as a harder wood like Bradford Pear or maple but I would give it a try and see how you like it.
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DMcIvor
AAW Staff
Tom-
I think we're talking about two different species. Our native river birch is Betula occidentalis, which does range into northern New Mexico. Its bark is smooth, resembling black cherry. You probably have B. nigra, which is native to the East but widely planted as an ornamental. It does have that papery, exfoliating bark.
Richard Baker
RIP
Don, Have checked with the Chief and the exfoliating tree we had was indeed B. nigra.
The river birch wood I have came from North Carolina. I have never seen any in New Mexico. Thanks for all the replies. The pictures of turned river birch wood some of you have posted are truely beautiful.
I just turned some river birch felled in early spring in PA. It may have been a cultivar planted as a landscape tree. Because of the time of year, and the fact that these trees grow near streams, copious water was sprayed from the turning blanks (wore my raincoat!). After drying 6" to 12" bowls in paper grocery bags for a year, the amount of splitting was low (maybe 10% of the rough bowls split), but there was quite a bit of mold/fungus on some. Finish turning was a problem, though. There was a lot of loose fiber (like pullout, but soft) that was very difficult to get to the sanding stage on the endgrain. Experienced turners probably have a name for this fluff.* The bowl gouge was newly sharpened on a CBN wheel, and even the finest cuts (which gave nice long curls on the edge grain) didn't give a fine surface on end grain. I threw many of the rough bowls away--just too much hassle.
I think it's hard to generalize about what wood is good for turning. Time of year and weather at harvest, habitat of the tree, the tree's DNA (the loblolly pine has 22 billion base pairs compared to 3 billion in the human genome, so tree genetics is complex), storage of rough bowls (those at the bottom of the pile of paper bagged bowls have much more spalting), etc.
It may be related to stress tension in the wood, because this tree leaned significantly (p. 54, http://www.lignomatusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/DryingLumber.pdf) or bacterial infection.
I think it's hard to generalize about what wood is good for turning. Time of year and weather at harvest, habitat of the tree, the tree's DNA (the loblolly pine has 22 billion base pairs compared to 3 billion in the human genome, so tree genetics is complex), storage of rough bowls (those at the bottom of the pile of paper bagged bowls have much more spalting), etc.
It may be related to stress tension in the wood, because this tree leaned significantly (p. 54, http://www.lignomatusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/DryingLumber.pdf) or bacterial infection.
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What I have turned around here.....round and brown with some worm trails.....not worm holes.....10 " bowl would be large 6 to 7 norm.... Good wood to do some pyro work with opportunity to use worm trails as out of box work.....if I had really large log say 16 to 18" would be good for calabash zia series.....but rather have Bradford pear
I have a "River Birch" tree that has been hit once or twice over the years by lightning and will be taken down this fall or spring.
I will most likely process some of it into bowl blanks and several different sized spindle blanks and a few slabs.
I will most likely process some of it into bowl blanks and several different sized spindle blanks and a few slabs.
It is a little bit of a challenge to get smooth or sand and let it dry how it wants to. Then those wonderful stripes make it worthwill But there is a fine line between spault and rot.