©hris Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 A friend has some wide, thick waney edge birch planks. I want to make a kitchen table with a natural edge but was initially wanting to use oak. In Finland oak is realtivly expensive. I've never seen birch used in furniture other than ply or IKEA laminate junk. Has anyone done much with Birch, did they get a nice finish? Is this worth pursuing or should I just save up for oak? Sent from my XT1092 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 Personally I think birch is nicer than oak. The birch I have seen from northern Europe tends to be very light in color and tight grained, similar to maple. American birch tends to be more yellow with darker heart wood streaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 I'm not a big fan of oak either - I don't like the big sweeping cathedrals of flat sawn oak. I like QSWO the best, and i avoid red oak completely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 The birch I am familiar with tends to have very little "interesting" grain pattern or color. I assume that is why I don't see many hobbyists using it, and why Ikea uses it like there is no tomorrow. Look at it as a challenge to create an interesting piece from a relatively bland material. From a structural view, I see no reason to avoid it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 I find oak easy to work with but like the looks of birch better. My wife likes red oak. Im wondering if this table is for your wife Chris? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
©hris Posted February 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 It's for our house. We have agreed that our kitchen (next year's project) will be oak worktops with stained black doors. I have read that birch can be disguised as other woods but wonder if that is really worthwhile. I've not seen the boards yet but it is Finnish grown so will be tight grained, just worried it will be too light Sent from my XT1092 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 I have some Flame Birch on the shelve which I got from Bell Forest Products. It is more dense and much less porous than Oak. As was already said, in the States the sapwood is light like Maple and the heartwood is much darker. It mills well and isn't overly prone to tear out. It finishes well but can be blotchy. Perhaps a conditioner or a shellac base coat would be helpful. I think it would be far superior to Oak in both working qualities and durability, but that's just me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
©hris Posted February 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2017 Well thanks for the insights. I'll play around with some scraps to see what finishes I can get. Then I can have a go at making the table. Will keep you posted when I do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonPacific Posted February 13, 2017 Report Share Posted February 13, 2017 On 2/12/2017 at 7:54 AM, wtnhighlander said: The birch I am familiar with tends to have very little "interesting" grain pattern or color. I assume that is why I don't see many hobbyists using it, and why Ikea uses it like there is no tomorrow. Interesting, the birch I've seen at my local hardwood place (Crosscut in Seattle) has shown a fair amount of figure/interest. On par with normal maple (obviously not matching figured maple), or lightly figured cherry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lofty Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 On 2/13/2017 at 9:31 AM, BonPacific said: Interesting, the birch I've seen at my local hardwood place (Crosscut in Seattle) has shown a fair amount of figure/interest. On par with normal maple (obviously not matching figured maple), or lightly figured cherry. I've seen that same Birch at Crosscut. Surprised how expensive it was. $5 or $6 a bf if I remember correctly. I'm just finishing a shoe bench where the base is made from birch. Rough it looks very plain and consistent but once you mill it you see a lot more grain. Not as much as maple but there is some grain character in it. One problem I ran into with the shoe bench was color matching as some pieces had red/brown tint. Not sure if that's just sad wood or what but rough the color difference didn't stand out. Let me know if you want me to post some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
©hris Posted February 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Always happy to see pictures of others work Lofty, so please share. I need to play around with finishes as I want the birch to be darker than its current shade. Sent from my XT1092 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wood Basher Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 I have just made a small table from Finnish birch which I bought as rough planks. The sawmill sold 2 grades of this birch. The "better" stuff, which I used, had no (or at least few) knots. I got that because I thought it would make the joinery easier, which it probably did, but the result is a bit bland and I think it would have been better to use wood with a few knots. Anyway, the birch was OK to work with, except that the grain seemed to change direction frequently. This made it difficult to plane and tear-out was a problem, for me at least as I don't have a lot of experience. I didn't know oak was commonly available in Finland. Where can you buy it? For my next project I am including some oak reclaimed from a Kvik kitchen worktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
©hris Posted February 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 I didn't know oak was commonly available in Finland. Where can you buy it? I'm not a Finnish native so learning as I go. Oak is not as commonly available here and that seems to be reflected in Finnish design. http://traimport.fi/massiivipuu/ is one supplier based in Lahti. Novowood also based in Lahti have some reasonable prices for MDF oak. I've not had a chance to visit yet to see what the quality is like. I do plan on building oak wardrobe using MDF oak and fast cap edging for a quick an (realitivly cheap) way to increase storage in our new house. Where in Finland are you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wood Basher Posted February 18, 2017 Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 I'm not a native either - I'm a Brit. I live near Mänttä. You? Thanks for the pointers to the wood suppliers. I get to Lahti occasionally so I will check them out some time. My local saw mill is very helpful and cheap but of course they only have native species. It would be nice to have some darker woods to work with rather than endless varieties of pine or birch but as you say that is likely to be considerably more expensive. I haven't tried staining wood to make it look darker. Perhaps that would be worth a trial. I found the birch easier to work with than pine as far as joinery is concerned, but more difficult to get a good final surface. When it planes without tear out it is great but I got enough tear out for extensive use of a scraper and abrasive paper to be essential. Overall I prefer the birch though. I am currently working with oak and it is much harder on my chisels so that I am getting lots of experience at sharpening. Birch is a good middle ground for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
©hris Posted February 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 I live near Orimattila which is half hour south of Lahti. Next time you are going there let me know and we can grab a coffee. Are you using a low angle plane and still getting tear out? I'm going to experiment with staining the birch to get a darker shade, will update when I get round to it. Oak is tough on the tools, we made a bar for a distillery out of the oak from their old washbacks. It was hard as hell. Sent from my XT1092 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wood Basher Posted February 18, 2017 Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 4 minutes ago, ©hris said: Are you using a low angle plane and still getting tear out? No. The only plane I have is a Stanley No 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.