A study was carried out into the effects of heavy thinning on stem quality and timber properties of silver birch (Betula pendula Roth). Comparisons were made with lightly thinned and unthinned birch stands. Birch stands from the UK were also compared with similarly managed stands from Germany and Denmark. In general, trees from lightly thinned and unthinned stands had similar characteristics. Heavy thinning enhanced diameter increment through greater ring width in comparison with the other treatments. The timber properties of basic density, grain angle and shrinkage coefficients in the radial, tangential and longitudinal directions, however, were largely unaffected. More and bigger branches and greater stem taper were found on trees from heavily thinned stands, but these stems still met the current Finnish veneer birch quality and dimension standards. Comparisons between birch stands, managed by heavy and light thinning, from the UK and Germany and Denmark revealed no meaningful differences in timber properties. The results suggest that veneer dimension and quality logs could be produced in the UK in rotations as short as 40 years on good sites if heavy thinning is adopted.