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Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 15 Location: Chena Hot Springs, AK
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:50 am Post subject:
I made a little log cabin/shack of mostly peeled birch ~12*14 o.d. ~8*9i.d.. I'll see how long it'll last. I know unpeeled birch rots quickly but was hoping peeled wood be as good as spruce.
Joined: 28 Mar 2008 Posts: 9 Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:52 pm Post subject:
Birch will not hold up long at all. It will get very "doughy", "doughty" what ever you want to call it. At least it does here. If it is in the fire wood pile, it has to be cut up and used before two years.
Joined: 28 Mar 2008 Posts: 9 Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:10 am Post subject:
Opps read it backwards...sorry about that.....I have seen birch with the bark off last along time laying outside. Will turn really hard, or seems to. Harder to split and to cut. Be interesting to see how long it does last when it is peeled.
Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 242 Location: Interior Alaska
Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:33 pm Post subject:
the biggest problem I;m seeing with both birch and aspen is that most trees big enough to make lumber from are already suffering from heart rot so not good for building anything
most wood (but not all) will last longer if you peel it since water doesn't get trapped inside the bark... birch bark makes excellent shingles, but bark + wood always seems to rot
I wouldn't expose aspen, peeled or not, to the weather very long if you can help it
White spruce is a little sappier than black spruce, so is supposedly a little more durable *shrug*
I'd reserve the hardwoods (birch and aspen) for the interior where the finer grain and pale coloring would be attractive and it would be protected from the weather.
_________________ It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not -- Andre Gide
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