Cutting Down a White Birch Tree

The hunt for wood is on. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I plan on purchasing a wood burning stove next year. I found two good Englander models in Home Depot that I like at very reasonable prices. But in order to be ready to burn come November, I need wood now. I’ve got to get it, cut it, split it and season it.

Before we arrived here, we had no idea what the back four acres of this property held. We now know. While I love nothing more than a good pine forest, my idea of harvesting the first few years of firewood fell to pieces after I discovered that we had virtually no hardwood worth taking down. This means that I’ve got to scavenge what I can find around here and then start making friends. Lots of them. People around here have been in this area for ages and I’m fairly certain that if I can become friendly with a few of them, we can work together to get some decent firewood. Also, I believe Maine gives permits to cut trees on state land. I read up on this a while ago, so I’m going to look into that. It’s like $20 for a permit or something like that. If I could get into that sort of situation, it would be sweet.

Have you ever seen a White Birch tree half bent over? It’s the sort of thing that happens after a wet, sticky snowfall or an ice storm. In general, once the tree bends, it never returns to its original state, unless you somehow rope it back to where it should be. We’ve got two of these trees. One I cut down already and the other is still standing, waiting to hear the song of my saw.

The one I already took down was about twice the size of this one leaning over the pond.

These types of trees really are annoying to look at. Before we made the purchase up here, the realtor took a few pictures. In one of them, I noticed the big White Birch that was leaning into the yard. I knew that tree would be one of the first things I tackled. Not only for aesthetics, but for the wood content as well.

Honestly, I thought I’d get more out of it. This small pile will only give us a few nights of warmth. I have been pulling some better lengths of hardwood out of the pines in the back, so I think I’ll have what I need when it comes time. We’ll see.