Birch Attack!

Somebody once told me that trees are best stored standing up. It's a philosophy that I aspire to and it suits me as I like trees and I like to work with the wood, so I try to only take as much as I need.

I've had my eye on a birch tree right behind my wood stack for a couple of years. It's the one in the centre of the photo. It's straight which will be good for turning, but it's days are numbered as it shows signs of being aggressively attacked by a range of fungi. This might be a bonus if the rot has spread inside the wood leaving interesting colours and textures. So I've left it standing until I need it and for the rot to spread, until its not safe to leave it standing any longer.





Last week I decided the rot had spread too far and as it would not see out another season I felled it. Attacked by fungi and now by the chainsaw the tree swiftly succumbed. At firts sight it looks as if the fungi have infected the whole tree and I stand a chance of getting some interesting wood from it. I will post on the wood when I use it in the next few weeks.

You can see from the stump and the butt that the rot has spread to about 80% of the wood at the base of the tree. With no branches at the top its windage was reduced but with so little sound wood it could have fallen at any time in a strong wind.


The rectangular area of torn fibres on the stump is called a hinge. It's used in felling trees to accurately control the direction the tree is felled, which can only fall in the line of least resistance, or at 90 degrees to the long sides of the rectangle. This is a good example - which is just as well as I am teaching it at the moment!