Why is hickory not favored?

[gzecc]

Looking at the on going wood preferance thread I am surprised hickory is not higher on the wish list. I have some for next year and was anticipating great things. Are its characteristics over valued? Is it too rare for most to have experienced?

 

[smokinj]

Looking at the on going wood preferance thread I am surprised hickory is not higher on the wish list. I have some for next year and was anticipating great things. Are its characteristics over valued? Is it too rare for most to have experienced?

hickory great I would put it in the top 3 didnt make the top 2 for me just because it takes 18-24 months to season.

 

[gzecc]

According to my research it (shagbark) should be much easier to season than oak. About 1/2 way between oak and ash to season. Should take one year. No?

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

I'm not prejudiced against it . . . I just have none. Gotta go with what ya got :cheese:

 

[smokinj]

According to my research it (shagbark) should be much easier to season than oak. About 1/2 way between oak and ash to season. Should take one year. No?

I wouldnt put oak in the top 2 either I went with ash and beech the 2 quickest to season. Oak for me would be futher down the line maybe 5th

 

[Wood Duck]

I think it is just because hickory is rare. There are plenty of places where oaks are a major component of the forest, so there are plenty of wood burners who have lots of oak. I have never been anywhere that hickory is the major component of the forest. Sure, throughout the east and midwest there are a few woodlots here and there that are dominated by hickory, so I bet there are some guys here who have all the hickory they could ask for, but that situation isn't common. In general, hickory is much less common than oak. I listed oak as one of my two choices but not hickory because I haven't burned enough hickory to really be familiar with it. Is it better than oak? - I wouldn't know.

 

[TROY COOK]

Hard maple # 1 in my book,Oak dose take along time to season and it dose reabsorb moisture,maple wont do that. hickory makes great flooring or furniture!

 

[ansehnlich1]

hey hey, I threw hickory right in there with my top two

....along with white oak!

Now, I presume our answers are based on what we are familiar with in terms of burning.... I would wager Beech, or some of the other hardwoods that do not grow around my region could easily take the place of what I'd prefer.

I guarantee ya this, a big ole hunk of seasoned hickory will burn a looooooooong time.

It do play havoc on the chain when cutting though, haha!

 

[quads]

I've never seen hickory, that I know of.

We have black oak, white oak, bur oak, choke cherry, a few maples in the swamps mostly (I've burned a total of one maple), a few green ash (I haven't burned one yet, but one is seasoning somewhere in a stack), jackpine, white pine, red pine, red cedar, a few basswood in the creek bottoms, an occasional elm, cottonwood, and boxelder.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Hickory ROCKS! I wish that all of you guys here could experience it. I get some of it from time to time, and when I do I feel like a thief who just stole someone's gold jewelry-it IS that good!

Not that I steal....just using that as a metaphor, so don't call me if your jewelry goes missing LOL....

 

[rdust]

I'm burning some right now, it actually seasoned pretty fast. I chose any oak and ash as my choices since it's most available around me. Hickory would be in my top 2 if I had plentiful access to it. I only have about a 1/3 cord of it left, I'm going to put that into the shed tonight with a 1/3 cord of well seasoned ash for when it gets really cold here.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Hard maple # 1 in my book,Oak dose take along time to season and it dose reabsorb moisture,maple wont do that. hickory makes great flooring or furniture!

I hate to be argumentative, but . . .

You got that backwards. Maple (and beach) will reabsorb water if not protected. Oak holds on to its own water a long time, but does not absorb outside water.

 

[westkywood]

I've probably got 10 face cords of Hickory. Ive had it for a little over a year. The smaller cuts seasoned pretty good in a year . I'm saving most of it for the next 2 years. Its hard to beat Hickory. It burns a long time and burns hot..I'll take all I can get. I have the luxury of having a place to store wood for 3 years...

 

[rwh442]

I am fortunate to be one of those rare ones that lives in and around a hickory lot (shagbark). It does take a while to season but not quite a long as oak. Maybe 1.625 years instead of 2 . . .

Someone mentioned the wear and tear on the chain. That is a definate negative. I can cut oak and maple all day but only one 16" hickory and the chain is done. Hard stuff. The shaggy bark tends to push/pull the chain to the side which wears the bar also.

The bark on the other hand makes great kindling. The wood burns long and hot.

Another negative I have noticed is trying to harvest dead standing hickories. It seems like you have a maximum of two years to cut a dead one down or they turn to dust/punk BAADDD after that. Almost useless.

 

[TROY COOK]

Dead btu's, Not hard maple from the U.P.!! Just kidding,I suppose all hard wood could reabsorb water,I never had that problem with hard maple,I guess how you stack and store has a lot to do with it! Beach around here is rare,east 150 miles there is lot's,In my experience with beach it's good hard long burning but hard to split, I guess you could say splitting it is no day at the beach! My wife wont let me buy a log splitter until I'm 50! looks like 6 more years with my maul!
Anyone burn Ironwood? Sparks fly from your saw with it, Ironwood will warp your stove if you don't watch it!!

 

[Redburn]

Hickory is a choice wood very dense burns along time . Great for over night burns . I get lucky some times and get some but not often a friend has a large one down in hi yard I got the limbs and when the snow melts I am going back for the trunk ...... Pignut I think the nuts are very small

 

[Jags]

Hickory is definitely on my preferred list. Its right under osage/locust and just above white oak. It knows its place.

It goes like this:
Osage
Locust
Hickory
White Oak
everythingelse.

Bold = interchangeable.

 

[northwinds]

My wood lot is mostly shagbark hickory and oak. Hickory is one of my favorites, but not my favorite.
As others mentioned, it cuts hard and rots quickly after dying. I've found that it sparks hard too. I've
got a couple of burn marks on the floor from opening the door for a coals only fire only to have a spark
shoot across the room. I wouldn't be turning any down though. As soon as I see one die, it gets added
to my woodpile.

 

[Jags]

My wood lot is mostly shagbark hickory and oak. Hickory is one of my favorites, but not my favorite.
As others mentioned, it cuts hard and rots quickly after dying. I've found that it sparks hard too. I've
got a couple of burn marks on the floor from opening the door for a coals only fire only to have a spark
shoot across the room. I wouldn't be turning any down though. As soon as I see one die, it gets added
to my woodpile.

Yep, I ain't sure why, but once one of them buggers hit the ground you can watch them decay in front of you. Get 'em quick.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hickory used to be one of the favorites around these parts. That is perhaps why we don't have many hickory trees any more too. We used to find a lot of hickory trees in cow pastures and fence rows. After the small dairy farms died out, then the fences came down and also the trees. Hence, we now have very few hickory trees. We have 5 or 6 on our place but they are very small. We do try to protect them, in fact, I just cut down a dead ash that was close to a couple hickory trees. I had to be careful how I fell them and all went well.

 

[wendell]

I had it in my top two.

The other night I went to stir the coals after a load of hickory and it was sparking so bad I had to shut the door. After the door was shut, I had a piece (too small to see) explode in the air right next to me and shot out about 30 sparks like the 4th of July. So, not only does hickory heat well, it is entertaining!

 

[HardWoodW]

I live in a neighborhood dominated by shagbark hickory and red oaks. The best parts about shagbark is a) they're natural habitat for bats which eat skeeters and b) people hate them because they drop huge nuts on their homes and children. So far the past 2 summers I just follow the sound of chainsaws and pick up some free wood. Almost forgot- I like the way it burns too- even the sparks.

 

[rwh442]

HardWoodW,

Guess that explains the bats in the summer. Never knew that. They come out like clockwork at night.

 

[DBoon]

I guess I'll count myself as one of the fortunate few - my father-in-law has a whole hill of Bitternut Hickory. He lives off the winter blowdown. Last summer, we cut about 8 full cords for him, and 2 for me - half of which is in the meadow drying out for next years burning. He'll overwinter on 4 cords of it. It does take a toll on a chain - I became pretty proficient at sharpening after each tank of gas (got some good advice here - thanks everyone).

I'll let you know how I like it when I start burning it next year. Right now, living on some pine, cherry, hard maple and ash.

 

[waynek]

My wood lot is mostly shagbark hickory and oak. Hickory is one of my favorites, but not my favorite.
As others mentioned, it cuts hard and rots quickly after dying. I've found that it sparks hard too. I've
got a couple of burn marks on the floor from opening the door for a coals only fire only to have a spark
shoot across the room. I wouldn't be turning any down though. As soon as I see one die, it gets added
to my woodpile.

My woodlot is down river several miles from Northwind's and consists of about 1/3 Shagbark hickory and 1/3 various oaks.
I work up all the hickory I can get my hands on in my woodlot and in the "swinging forty." The "swinging forty" is the land of two neighbors. They do not burn wood so I have permission to harvest dead and down trees. In addition, I work up the tree tops if and when the land is logged.
jackpine