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Thread: What happened to birch?

  1. #1
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    What happened to birch?

    When I first got interested in wood -- in New England in the sixties -- the go-to light-colored wood was birch. Maple was available, but not common. Today, in California, the situation is reversed. Birch is rare, and maple is common. My hardwood dealer doesn't stock natural birch at all, and has just a little 4/4 red birch. The only birch plywood they stock is Baltic Birch. So what happened? Is it just changing tastes, or has has something happened to the North American birch forests?

  2. #2
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    I don't know the answer to your question, but if you're looking for birch I bought some nice clear light birch from Mac Beath in Berkeley a few years ago. -Howard

  3. #3
    Yellow or white? I can get yellow birch in eastern Canada for a reasonable price, but IIRC, it grows mostly in eastern North America.

  4. #4
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    Maybe they stock local woods?

  5. #5
    I dont think it has anything to do with tastes I think it has to do with what is available in the stand. There was a recent article that I cant find but would likely turn up in a google search that Maple is taking over large commercial stands of timber in the US. I know here in WV 20 years ago a lot of maple was left to stand because it wasnt the desirable wood of the time and now the stands have changed with regards to the predominant species. I own a large piece of property that was timbered bout that time ago and at that time Hickory was less desirable so my place is drowning in Hickory right now (about as miserable to work with as Hard Maple).

    I think the current climate at least in the U.S. is not really what the consumer wants. Its what the corporations feel then need to profit from. If they have a glut of Maple and Maple isnt selling, they will make it sell through marketing and pricing. I find it interesting that nearly ALL of the import cabinet ply I have available to me (we dont buy it) is Birch. This may speak to why you cant find Birch. Its likely all be cut and shipped to china to be turned into $35 a sheet pre-finished carcass material for cabs to then be shipped back to us.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    This may speak to why you cant find Birch. Its likely all be cut and shipped to china to be turned into $35 a sheet pre-finished carcass material for cabs to then be shipped back to us.
    That is exactly what I was thinking as I read the OP.

    One of my neighbors owns flooring stores and we often marvel at the fact wood can be cut in the US, shipped to China, milled and finished, packaged and shipped back to the US and sold for less than US manufactured flooring. We understand the reasons but it still is a mind bender to me.
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  7. #7
    Birch for a long time was a back bencher to maple and used for stuff like motel furniture. I guess that when ever painted stuff is in its price goes up.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Van Huskey View Post
    That is exactly what I was thinking as I read the OP.

    One of my neighbors owns flooring stores and we often marvel at the fact wood can be cut in the US, shipped to China, milled and finished, packaged and shipped back to the US and sold for less than US manufactured flooring. We understand the reasons but it still is a mind bender to me.
    I have had that same conversation with others as well as within my own head for years. Its mind blowing. My hardwood comes from a yard that saws and dries millions of board feet a year and literally single digits of that hardwood is sold in the US. Its all sold overseas and shipped to factories that are stacked to the ceilings with pallets of corrugated boxes labeled broyhill, lazyboy, thomasville, and so on.

    I use to search for it a bit but havent in a long time and this may be complete hearsay but I read an article a long long time ago and have heard the same story from commercial vendors and salesmen several times.. When we were in the home building world most all of the 6 panel pine door slabs we got were all from Chile. The story was that the doors never got farther than international waters from the U.S.. A floating factory would float in to the west coast, load up pine veneer, and core stock, float out to international waters, and build doors. All the scraps, sawdust, and so on,... overboard, they would be loaded into containers and floated back in, dropped, reloaded with more materials, wash rinse repeat.

    I to find it astounding how we can ship material back and forth profitably but I honestly just find it astounding sometimes how an item can even be made for what its sold for. Of course it all makes sense when it falls apart in a couple weeks or months.

  9. #9
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    I also think that large yellow birch trees don't exist. There used to be lots of yellow birch trees in PA, but now it is very rare. Maple on the other hand grows fairly quickly and is common.
    Lee Schierer
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Howard Pollack View Post
    I don't know the answer to your question, but if you're looking for birch I bought some nice clear light birch from Mac Beath in Berkeley a few years ago. -Howard
    Yeah, I've bought birch from MacBeath in years past, but it was a recent trip to MacBeath SF which made me realize how little birch there is left there. In lumber, their best offer was alder, which they have in good supply. Alder is in the birch family, and does look a bit like birch. However, it is softer -- more like poplar.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    I also think that large yellow birch trees don't exist. There used to be lots of yellow birch trees in PA, but now it is very rare. Maple on the other hand grows fairly quickly and is common.
    And the question is why...

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    And the question is why...
    They were cut and turned into plywood and 60's blond furniture.....
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  13. #13
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    Both birch and maple are readily available in my area, Lawrence KS.

    Personally I prefer working soft maple to birch.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    Birch for a long time was a back bencher to maple and used for stuff like motel furniture. I guess that when ever painted stuff is in its price goes up.
    Which is a shame, because you can get some gorgeous curly figure in yellow birch.

  15. #15
    Simply the woods and trees of value have been constantly changing. Maples come up like weeds everywhere around here. Easily self propagating. Thing is, saw mills do not want maple here. Poplar, oak, cherry and walnut are the big demand items. The big stands of poplar that have been here for decades are quickly disappearing for residential trim and shipping pallets. Same for oak. I just signed a contract with a saw mill. I was amazed at some of the trees they wanted. when the property was logged 30 years ago, the mill did not want the poplar. And there were some huge poplar. 36 to 48 inches in diameter and lowest branches some 40 feet up. and they did not want them back then. Now the mill wants the poplar down to 20 inches in diameter

    My father had some property logged 20 years ago, and they took all the big oaks, a few ash and left the poplars and maples. He had a fair amount of birch and they only took a few of the largest.

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