is this Hickory or Ash?

[bigealta]

Shoot, C.S.&S.'d a CRV load of this yesterday (July 16) in 96% humidity. I originally thought i scored some hickory at the municipal dump site as i just took a quick look at the leaves. I've not cut any hickory here but just found out we do have pignut hickory around. I was all fired up to try hickory, but now i think this is ash. I'm pretty sure as i look at the color of the wood and took a closer look at the leaves. I had to be fast as the town usually trucks out the wood 1 day after it's been dumped. It split ok, Not as easy as oak. It was also lighter than oak.

 

[Eightball1313]

ash

 

[bigealta]

Yeah, oh well, still ok. Now i have to relook at all these trees around that i thought were hickory. Many are probably ash. Do all the common hickory trees have nuts? Thanks

 

[Eightball1313]

Yeah, oh well, still ok. Now i have to relook at all these trees around that i thought were hickory. Many are probably ash. Do all the common hickory trees have nuts? Thanks

im not sure if they all have nuts or not honestly. you should be able to tell by the bark if its a hickory or an ash. everything about a hickory is rock hard! i know when i cut them on the processor the bark is hard, the wood is hard, the sawdust feels like rocks hitting you haha

the hickory logs i cut usually have like a purple-ish color in the heart wood

 

[bigealta]

im not sure if they all have nuts or not honestly. you should be able to tell by the bark if its a hickory or an ash. everything about a hickory is rock hard! i know when i cut them on the processor the bark is hard, the wood is hard, the sawdust feels like rocks hitting you haha

the hickory logs i cut usually have like a purple-ish color in the heart wood

Ok thanks, still looking for my 1st hickory to burn. After 20+ years of burning you would think I'd have come across some. Perhaps i have and never realized it. I'm now mostly all oak and take passes on wood that's not. Some locust and cherry make their way in but not much anymore. I do get ash sometimes but not enough to really know it immediately. Got to sharpen up the I.D. skills!

 

[blades]

burn a thin chip for a smell test. that split looks awful clean for hickory which is pretty stringy. so leaning towards some type of ash and the leaves look opposite each other like ash

 

[bigealta]

burn a thin chip for a smell test. that split looks awful clean for hickory which is pretty stringy. so leaning towards some type of ash and the leaves look opposite each other like ash

Yeah i zoomed in on the edges of the leaves and they match the white ash. Also the diamond pattern on the bark is a match to white ash. Split tougher than oak. I'm not sure but i think hickory splits similar to oak? And the somewhat lighter weight than oak puts this in 95% sure it's white ash. Still a good score, just want to get some hickory so i know how to recognize it quickly.

 

[blades]

Depending on conditions Hickory can be as nasty to split as American elm.

 

[bigealta]

Depending on conditions Hickory can be as nasty to split as American elm.

Oh interesting, somehow i thought it's characteristics are similar to oak.

 

[johneh]

This is what the hickory I get looks like split.

 

[bigealta]

Starting to lose interest in hickory now. The top priority for me is a hardwood's ease of splitting as i'm hand splitting everything. That stringy hickory looks problematic.

 

[CincyBurner]

Definitely ash. Ash has opposite branching habit/ hickory alternate branch habit.

I've split hickory (bitternut) that was easy splitting (fairly easy even though stringy) but some was really tough. The tough stuff was from tree with heavy borer wound response.
Ash usually easy for me to split, but recall wood from an open-grown tree particularly tough going.

 

[brenndatomu]

It was also lighter than oak.

Ash has a lot lower moisture content than oak, and it will probably be usable this winter, if not then next for sure! Try that with oak!
Hickory is still worth any potential headaches with splitting IME...

 

[bigealta]

Ash has a lot lower moisture content than oak, and it will probably be usable this winter, if not then next for sure! Try that with oak!
Hickory is still worth any potential headaches with splitting IME...

Yep, I'm working on late 2 year and 3 year stack building so i've got the time at this point to wait. That said i won't turn down easy splitting ash. The lighter weight does make it nicer to deal with loading in the CRV..

 

[bigealta]

Definitely ash. Ash has opposite branching habit/ hickory alternate branch habit.

Ahhh, Ok now i can tell for sure. Thanks

 

[Simonkenton]

The one pic with the stringy wood says Hickory to me. Also, ash is easy to split where hickory is hard to split.
When you stack it, keep an eye on it. If, in six weeks the wood is covered with fine powdery "sawdust" from bark beetles then it is hickory.

 

[bigealta]

The second pic shows that the branches are across from each other. So that makes it Ash. Hickory has alternate branching.