What about Hickory...?

[Ziffy]

My brother had a big Hickory fall in the woods next to his house. He cut it up and right now there are about 20 - 25 16" to 20" log wheels, about 20 - 30 inches in diamter. The tree was on a hillside, so the pith is off-center. The wood is green, big & beautiful and so darn hard and heavy!

How is hickory to turn? I grabbed a few small pieces that I could manage, but don't know how much work I want to put into saving and preparing a large quantity of blanks only to get back marginal results. I know it is murder on chainsaws!

Also, does anyone know if Hickory is prone to split not from pith to outer edge, but around the growth rings, almost in layers?

If anyone is interested in some (Central Connecticut, just east of Hartford) let me know...

Brian

 

[Frank Kobilsek]

Turn it

Brian
I got a slab cut of the flair of a hickory stump last winter from a freind with a saw mill. It was about 4" thick and maybe 25" X 36" long and had laid in his scrap pile outdoors buried in sawdust and other waste since the spring before. It had several splits but some splat and color. I cut several 6" to 8" bowl blanks and some spindle blanks from it. Pieces turned out very nice. Take advantage of your opportunity. Don't fill your garage with it but be sure to try a few logs. I attached a picture of one of a hollow form.
Frank

 

[dkulze]

Hey Brian,

Like alot of nutwoods, hickory turns nice when green but hardens up hugely when dry. It can range from bland to lovely. It also burns really good so you can have barbeques with any screwups.

The splitting along the rings is called ring shake. It can be caused by a number of factors including fungal infection. I'm pretty sure you can get it from distressing the wood sufficient to break it also, but I don't think hickory is real prone to it. (please correct me if I'm wrong, folks).

Dietrich

 

[Mark Mandell]

Hickory Ring Shake

Hey Brian,

Like alot of nutwoods, hickory turns nice when green but hardens up hugely when dry. It can range from bland to lovely. It also burns really good so you can have barbeques with any screwups.

The splitting along the rings is called ring shake. It can be caused by a number of factors including fungal infection. I'm pretty sure you can get it from distressing the wood sufficient to break it also, but I don't think hickory is real prone to it. (please correct me if I'm wrong, folks).

Dietrich

Have been told by wood cutter in my area that ring shake in Hickory is almost caused by hard felling. Gent said if he plans anything but firewood for a hickory, he soft lands it with a bucket truck. Wind shake was also mentioned, but not a big factor. Never asked about a biological cause.

M

 

[Brian Hahn]

I encountered a bad ring shake in one hickory (shagbark). It was only a short section of the trunk and probably was caused by the wind. Fortunately I spotted it while I was preparing the blank with the chain saw.

I like it for tool handles. It is hard, dense and extremely shock resistant. But it is challenging to split into billets with a wedge and sledge -- it keeps spitting the wedge back out. 😱

Caution: the sap wood seems to have significant longitudinal shrinkage - square blanks with both sapwood and heart wood always bow towards the sapwood side for me. 🙁