Birch
Birch is a pale, fine-grained diffuse-porous hardwood designated BETU in EN 13556, available as kiln-dried, air-dried, green, thermally modified and BB-grade plywood stock at 0.65 g/cm³.
Reference datasheet — Birch is not in the instant-quote catalog. Upload your part and an engineer will quote it in this grade or suggest the closest stocked equivalent.
Birch tempers and conditions
Birch is supplied in 3 conditions, soft to hard.
Compare all 3 conditionsHide
| Condition · open for datasheet | Best for | Yield MPa | Tensile MPa | Elong. % | Hardness | Conductivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baltic/Russian birch plywood, all-birch cross-banded veneers | Void-free 1.4 mm all-birch veneer panel for CNC jigs, laser cutting, cabinets and model work — near-isotropic in-plane, but glue lines dull tools. | 50 | 0.15 W/m·K | |||
Green / unseasoned | Freshly sawn wet stock for green turning, steam bending or veneer peeling — roughly half the dry strength and will shrink on drying. | 75 | 2 | 0.28 W/m·K | ||
Thermally modified | Heat-treated birch for cladding, saunas and damp interiors — much better dimensional stability and decay resistance, at the cost of brittleness. | 0.9 | 0.12 W/m·K |
Supply forms, finishes and certifications
Ways Birch is supplied — form, process route, surface or paperwork — without a datasheet of their own. The property values above apply.
| Option | What it is | Type |
|---|---|---|
AD | Air-dried, 15–18 % moisture content | Surface finish |
KD12Default | Kiln-dried, 12 % moisture content | Surface finish |
What is Birch?
Birch is a pale, fine-grained diffuse-porous hardwood designated BETU in EN 13556, available as kiln-dried, air-dried, green, thermally modified and BB-grade plywood stock at 0.65 g/cm³. It is used where toughness, stability and glue-line quality matter, giving about 115 MPa tensile strength, 13.9 GPa elastic modulus and 1.5 % elongation in solid stock, turned parts and rotary-peeled veneer. Its low decay resistance (score 30) rules out untreated exterior or damp service, and the maximum service temperature is 95 °C. Maple is the nearest alternative when higher surface hardness is required. Birch has a density of 0.65 g/cm³ (0.0235 lb/in³), lighter than 56% of natural material grades. Birch has a tensile strength of 115 MPa (16.7 ksi), stronger than 100% of natural material grades. Elongation at break is 1.5% and the elastic modulus is 13.9 GPa (2.02 Msi).
What is Birch used for?
- Furniture
- Turned parts
- Interior joinery
- Toys
- Veneer core
Advantages
- Stiff — 13.9 GPa (2.02 Msi), better than 77% of natural material grades
Limitations
- Needs corrosion protection — 30/100, worse than 77% of natural material grades
Birch properties
Typical room-temperature values; bars are the position among natural material grades.
Physical2
Birch has a density of 0.65 g/cm³ (0.0235 lb/in³), lighter than 56% of natural material grades.
Mechanical9
Birch has a tensile strength of 115 MPa (16.7 ksi), stronger than 100% of natural material grades. Elongation at break is 1.5% and the elastic modulus is 13.9 GPa (2.02 Msi).
Thermal5
Birch is rated for continuous service to 95°C (203 °F). It conducts heat at 0.15 W/m·K (0.0867 BTU/hr·ft·°F), better than 52% of natural material grades. Thermal expansion is 4 µm/m·K (2.22 µin/in·°F).
Electrical2
Birch is an electrical insulator with a dielectric strength of 2 kV/mm (50.8 V/mil) and a resistivity of 1×10⁹ Ω·m.
Chemical & Environmental1
Corrosion resistance is poor (30/100), worse than 77% of natural material grades.
Sustainability4
Producing a kilogram of Birch takes about 11 MJ of energy and emits 0.45 kg of CO₂ — more than 56% of natural material grades. Typical recycled content is 5%.
Manufacturability2
Birch's machinability is very good (75/100, worse than 60% of natural material grades).
Common Calculations4
Values are nominal handbook figures for design screening. Certified mill or lot data ships with every FabDigit order on request.
Working with Birch
Is Birch easy to machine?
Cuts, turns and routs cleanly with sharp carbide tooling; feed steadily and avoid dwell — the pale surface burns easily, and end grain benefits from a light climb-cut or scoring pass.
Can Birch be welded?
Not weldable; joined by PVA/urea-formaldehyde/epoxy adhesives or mechanical fasteners — birch glues exceptionally well, which is why it dominates plywood production.
Can Birch be formed, bent or molded?
Steam bends well when green or at high MC (typical bend radius ~6–10× thickness); veneer peels smoothly at 1.4 mm and cold-presses into curved laminations.
Birch chemical composition (wt %)
Limits by weight percent from the governing specification, written the way the spec states them — a single maximum for impurities, a range for alloying elements, and the base element as balance. Nominal is the typical mid-range value.
| Element | Spec limit (wt %) | Nominal |
|---|---|---|
| celluloseoven-dry basis | 40 – 45 | 42 |
| hemicellulose (mainly glucuronoxylan)high xylan content typical of birch | 28 – 35 | 32 |
| ligninsyringyl-rich hardwood lignin | 18 – 22 | 20 |
| extractivesbetulin in bark, low in wood | 1.5 – 4 | 2.5 |
| ash | 0.2 – 0.6 | 0.35 |
What surface finishes work on Birch?
Sands to a fine surface but blotches with penetrating stains — use a washcoat/conditioner or spray tone; takes clear lacquer, waterborne PU and paint very well. No natural decay resistance: seal or preservative-treat for any damp service.
How much does Birch cost?
Birch is a budget-cost natural material ($), cheaper than about 90% of the materials FabDigit quotes. Part price depends far more on geometry, tolerance and quantity than on the raw stock — upload a CAD file for a live quote.
Birch — frequently asked
What is Birch used for?
Birch is typically used for furniture, turned parts, interior joinery, toys and veneer core. In short: best-gluing plywood veneer; tough, low-cost pale hardwood; stable interior joinery stock.
What is the tensile strength of Birch?
Birch has a typical tensile strength of 115 MPa (16.7 ksi) — stronger than 100% of natural material grades. Strength varies by condition: see the 3 listed tempers.
Is Birch easy to machine?
Yes — machinability is rated very good (75/100, worse than 60% of natural material grades). Cuts, turns and routs cleanly with sharp carbide tooling; feed steadily and avoid dwell — the pale surface burns easily, and end grain benefits from a light climb-cut or scoring pass.
Can Birch be welded?
Not weldable; joined by PVA/urea-formaldehyde/epoxy adhesives or mechanical fasteners — birch glues exceptionally well, which is why it dominates plywood production.
What surface finishes work on Birch?
Sands to a fine surface but blotches with penetrating stains — use a washcoat/conditioner or spray tone; takes clear lacquer, waterborne PU and paint very well. No natural decay resistance: seal or preservative-treat for any damp service.
Can Birch be formed, bent or molded?
Steam bends well when green or at high MC (typical bend radius ~6–10× thickness); veneer peels smoothly at 1.4 mm and cold-presses into curved laminations.
What is the maximum service temperature of Birch?
Birch is rated for continuous use to about 95°C (203 °F). Strength falls off well before that limit — check the elevated-temperature data for load-bearing parts.
How much does Birch cost?
Birch is a budget-cost natural material ($), cheaper than about 90% of the materials FabDigit quotes. Part price depends far more on geometry, tolerance and quantity than on the raw stock — upload a CAD file for a live quote.
Sources
- Wood Handbook — Wood as an Engineering Material, FPL-GTR-190 — USDA Forest Products Laboratory (2021)
- EN 13556 — Round and sawn timber: nomenclature of timbers used in Europe (code BETU) — CEN (2003)
- EN 350 — Durability of wood and wood-based products — CEN (2016)
- CES EduPack / ICE v3 embodied energy and carbon data for sawn hardwood — Granta / University of Bath (2019)
Property data is compiled from published supplier and standards handbooks and normalised for comparison; hardness values on non-Brinell scales are converted approximately for charting only. Manufacturability limits are FabDigit quote-engine defaults and may be relaxed by engineering review. Nothing on this page is a certification — request mill certs, CoC or material test reports with your order.