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My neighbor just cut down a 10 year old river birch tree. The larger pieces are about 10" in diameter. Is this wood good for anything woodworking-wise? Turning maybe?

A few people seem to think so

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/tag/river+birch
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/tag/spalted+river+birch/by/comments

I'm not familiar specifically with river birch but my old neighbor had to cut down one of the many birch trees (of unknown species) that he had planted year before and I saved the root wad with about 3' of the trunk…it ranges from about 10-14" in diameter and I set it in the shade behind my shop about 16 months ago, with plans to turn some bowls for him out of it when I have the time…presumably it's dry by now - I was surprised that there has been virtually no checking on the cut end as it dried. Anyway, no idea what it will be like when I do get it turned but that's 1/2 the fun.

I like the cutting board. I think I'll see if my neighbor will let me have a few pieces of the tree.

I'd be curious on some feedback from folks on how they would work with fresh, green wood in such a situation. I realize for turning some folks work with the wood green, but if one was interested in milling such logs into usable lumber for something like a cutting board, how would you go about it? Dry the logs over time as is? Mill it green and then dry (and how would you control checking and warpage), or some combination of the above?

Good question. I was planning on letting it dry as a whole log first but maybe there's a better/faster way.

Process the rough cut lumber. It will dry faster.

As a general rule 1 yr per inch thickness for air drying.

Get the pith out first halve the log on one side of the pith (that side can now be milled into boards.

Cut the pith off the other side and it is ready for milling.

Sticker stack the wood so air can get around it and allow it to dry out. Put a weight on top of the stack to keep the wood flat.

mountainbreeze wrote:Good question. I was planning on letting it dry as a whole log first but maybe there's a better/faster way.

You'd be better off milling it into the blanks ya want. Sealing the ends and then let it dry.

beeg wrote:You'd be better off milling it into the blanks ya want. Sealing the ends and then let it dry.

What's the consensus on the best product for sealing the ends?

dgale wrote:What's the consensus on the best product for sealing the ends?

I've found that AnchorSeal does a great job of preventing checks on the ends of logs, both large and small.