Is Silver Birch any good for turning?

[Bucks]

Job done!

 

[Bucks]

I've just got to figure out where I can store this lot for a year or few! Plus all the other timber I manage to acquire for turning!!!

 

[Bucks]

My wife Jackie still can't be a proper turner yet! As she still sees it as firewood lol

 

[Neil Lawton]

Pen in Spalted Silver Birch.

 

[Bucks]

Looks a lot more interesting than plain Birch

 

[Bucks]

Silver birch spalts very easily - but if you seal it in bags in the loft or anywhere else it wont happen. It needs to be piled up in the garden, so that at least some of the logs are in contact with the ground. Chuck some leaf mould over it to keep them moist, and to help introduce some "rot" to the party, a bit like a mulch, and forget it for a year. THEN seal it in bags. It gains the fungus that will start the spalting process by being in contact with rotting organics. They don't ALL need to be touching the ground, but as long as some are, and the other are piled on top, the fungus will transfer through the pile.

Would I still seal the ends with endseal or similar? or would that inhibit fungus/spalting growth?

 

[Penpal]

Mine just spalted over time and both ends were sealed.

Peter.

 

[Dalboy]

If you rub mushrooms onto wood it helps spalting so I have heard. Birch is best spalted but you need to keep an eye on it as when spalting occurs and very quickly after can rot. So once spalted get it dry quickly.

 

[Winemaker]

May be if you turn it leaving the bark on it may look good, worth a try