I have sanded and worked with well over 100 SKS stocks refinishing them in different colors and finishes. I am no fine cabinet maker but have my own process for removing cosmoline out of the wood so it will take finish. The Russian birch stocks are somewhat harder than the Chinese. The included pictures show a refinished Russian laminate and the varied grain. The black striations are not sanding marks but actual dark fibers running through the grain in the wood. Drove me nuts at first thinking they were sanding marks but you cannot get rid of them. They are in the grain and are highlighted when the finish is applied. I have never seen them in any other wood I have worked with. I can tell you for sure the Russian birch is a more fibrous wood and more resistant to marking and sanding than the Chinese wood which comparatively is butter soft. The side grain on the birch stocks is definitely less porous than catalpa and doesn't take stain as readily as the Catalpa will. All sanding was done by hand no power sanding. I have worked with birch stocks on other firearm models like the Cooey's here in Canada and the like and the wood is quite dense and is very difficult to get it to take finish or take finish evenly. That is why most manufacturers that use birch stocks use a covering finish rather than a stain that penetrates and shows the grain. Mind you those have had no cosmo and have seasoned for 50 or so years.
I will admit to he fact that these have been marinating in Cosmoline for decades, the Chinese for less time than the Russian, thus softening it, but the Chinese wood is in my opinion more porous and sucks in more cosmoline than the birch wood does. Yes the Catalpa may be more rot resistant it doesn't make it as hard as the birch. Western Red Cedar is a very rot resistant wood here on the West Coast where I live and is probably one of the softest woods out there. Besides being soaked in cosmo any wood is rot resistant. While the wood is softer on both with the cosmoline in it and even those that are just sweated by the average shooter to remove enough to comfortably handle them, I can tell you that when you go to the process of stripping the finish and doing a deeper de cosmoline the surface is definitely more resistant to dents and marks on the Russian ones. Is it iron wood? Not by a long shot but it definitely tougher and harder than the Catalpa or Chu wood which dents if you look at it wrong. Here are some close ups of the Russian laminate stock that was refinished. You can see grain structure you won't see if the finish on an SKS is never removed. Refinished the laminate SKS Russian stocks are beautiful. Holographic effect like as you move them in the light, the finish changing as you move it around, and looks like you can look a mile deep into the grain. The pictures don't do it justice.
That said I have owned many and my most accurate was a Chinese, pinned barrel, stamped trigger group, Mil Spec Model 56 Factory 336 with deep bluing and excellent metalwork. It was dripping in cosmoline, never issued. I refinished the stock, put a Magwedge rail on it and a compact 3-9X32 scope, did some trigger work and consistently shot 1.25-1.5" 100yd groups with Sellier and Bellot Soft Point ammo. Haven't been able to do that with a Russian one yet. So have no prejudice against the Chinese Mil Spec rifles. They were by and large well made and function well and reliably. The commercial bubba'd milspec that were sent to fill consumer interest here in the West not as much. But even those have ones that are better made than others, and most will suffice plinking at the range.
Perhaps looking at the photos and using your experience you can narrow down the type of birch or if you have seen birch grain comparable to it before.
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