(Betula alleghaniensis)

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.

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.

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 color, i.e., 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.