American yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis)
Other names: none
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Distribution
Eastern USA, principally Northern and Lake States.
General description
Yellow birch has a white sapwood and light reddish brown heartwood.
The wood is generally straight grained with a fine uniform texture.
Working properties
The wood works fairly easily, glues well with care, takes stain
and polish extremely well, and nails and screws satisfactorily where
pre-boring is advised. It dries rather slowly with little degrade,
but it has moderately high shrinkage, so is susceptible to movement
in performance.
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Machining |
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Nailing |
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Screwing |
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Gluing |
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Finishing |
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Physical properties
The wood of yellow birch is heavy, hard and strong. It has very
good wood bending properties, with good crushing strength and shock
resistance.
Specific Gravity: 0.62 (12% M.C.)
Average Weight: 689 kg/m3 (12% M.C.)
Average Volumetric Shrinkage: 13.4% (Green to 6% M.C.)
Modulus of Elasticity: 13,859 MPa
Hardness: 5604 N
Durability
Non-resistant to heartwood decay. Liable to attack by common furniture
beetle. Moderately resistant to preservative treatment but sapwood
is permeable.
Availability
USA: Reasonable availability, but more limited if selected for
colour, ie red birch (heartwood) or white birch (sapwood).
Export: Limited due to low demand, but increasing.
Main uses
Furniture, internal joinery and panelling, doors, flooring, kitchen
cabinets, turning and toys.
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