What Is Rotary Natural Birch?

Birch

• Birch trees have the botanical genus named Betula. Numerous individual species of birch exist, such as silver birch, yellow birch, black birch and American white birch, also called paper birch. A type of hardwood, this fine-grained wood is suitable for flooring, doors, paneling, wall cabinets and furniture. It is hard and strong with a high shock-resistance and has a beautiful natural finish, according to the Utah State University Cooperative Extension.

Rotary Cut

• The way that wood suppliers cut wood gives it a certain patterned look. To make a rotary cut, the woodcutter centers the log on a lathe, where the log turns against a wide knife set at a slight angle. This creates a bold and random pattern, explains Marshfield DoorSystems. Several other types of wood cuts produce different patterns. Quarter-slicing of a log, for instance, produces a straight grain pattern, while lengthwise slicing of a flat sawed board produces a variegated appearance.

Natural Finish

• Birch wood in a natural finish contains unlimited amounts of sapwood, the lighter-colored wood of the tree closer to the bark, and heartwood, the interior and redder wood of the tree. A floor made of natural finish birch, for instance, will contain a variation in color that could range from mostly white to mostly dark or somewhere in between. If you prefer a more consistent look, ask for a finish of all sapwood or all heartwood.

Additional Specifications

• The rotary natural birch specification does leave out some important considerations. Different species of birch are different colors, and there also are natural color variations among trees within their species. While a natural finish contains both light and dark parts of the wood, choosing birch in a wheat color makes an enormous difference compared to choosing an auburn color, for instance. Rotary natural birch also is available in grade A and grade B. Grade A has a higher-quality appearance with a minimum of knots and other flaws.