May be a silly question but here goes. What are the easiest ways to destinguish between butternut and bitternut hickory? I am located in central Wisconsin. I was cutting up what I thought was butternut ( it was very heavy wood but i assumed it was because it was green) about a month ago. Once I discovered the relative poor quality of this wood vs other species available, I passed this up. Later that week I was talking to a log truck driver and noticed he had a bunch of what I thought was butternut. He told me he was hauling hickory for his firewood. I was certain that this was butternut from earlier research. Based on what the truck driver said, I am not positive anymore. I have pictures but they were taken on an iPod. I could email them to someone, but if there is an accurate way to distinguish between the two, I would love to know.