Splitting Hickory and the outer wood is light like Poplar. This normal?

[BlueMule]

So the most of my quality wood experience is with several oak species here in MD. I've split some Hickory, but not enough to instill any memories of the experience.

A huge Pignut or Mockernut Hickory went down in the backyard about 2 years ago. Last winter I bucked the half of the trunk that was contacting the ground in some places and got those rounds up off the ground onto large branches laid parallel as a makeshift rack. They were left uncovered in deep woods from December or so until now. I'm just getting to those rounds now for splitting/stacking.

So the bark is a little mushy in some spots and there's a few Patent-leather Beetles under it in those mushy areas but other than that the wood overall is fine. When I'm splitting the rounds from the trunk (each round is about 2.5' in diameter) the heartwood is indeed heavy, but the outer wood is light like Poplar and seems to lack the density that I've come to expect from dealing with oak. But the majority of it is still hard to split despite being much lighter than oak. My 22 ton splitter has to put out some real effort to get through branch junctions. All the oak I've worked with has been heavy and dense, from the heartwood on out to the bark and it's throwing me off.

So is this everybody else's experience with Hickory?

 

[Longstreet]

Are you 100% sure it's mockernut and not tulip poplar? The leaves of the two are very different but the barks are easily mistaken for the other. I personally find the barks to be very similar.

Edit: I'm speaking specificly to the trunk bark.

 

[jaoneill]

We cut a fair amount of northern smooth bark hickory that is similar to what you describe. White wood at the perimeter, dark amber interior. The lighter color will vary from tree to tree but on average with an 18"-20" tree it is the outer 1"-3"

 

[blades]

Hickory- yes the outer layers will go punky quite quickly if left in ground contact dido in the stacks if not top covered and the bugs do like that stuff. core stays pretty good. Had my fair share over the years and this is what I had observed. Oak given the same treatment will tend to do the same on the outer layers not as bad though.

 

[Hasufel]

So the most of my quality wood experience is with several oak species here in MD. I've split some Hickory, but not enough to instill any memories of the experience.

A huge Pignut or Mockernut Hickory went down in the backyard about 2 years ago. Last winter I bucked the half of the trunk that was contacting the ground in some places and got those rounds up off the ground onto large branches laid parallel as a makeshift rack. They were left uncovered in deep woods from December or so until now. I'm just getting to those rounds now for splitting/stacking.

So the bark is a little mushy in some spots and there's a few Patent-leather Beetles under it in those mushy areas but other than that the wood overall is fine. When I'm splitting the rounds from the trunk (each round is about 2.5' in diameter) the heartwood is indeed heavy, but the outer wood is light like Poplar and seems to lack the density that I've come to expect from dealing with oak. But the majority of it is still hard to split despite being much lighter than oak. My 22 ton splitter has to put out some real effort to get through branch junctions. All the oak I've worked with has been heavy and dense, from the heartwood on out to the bark and it's throwing me off.

So is this everybody else's experience with Hickory?

I had the exact same thing happen. Two mockernut hickories came down--one was dead standing, the other was alive until it fell. I bucked them right away but didn't try splitting them for 6+ months because I was waiting for cooler weather. When I finally got around to them I found pretty much the same thing as you--a good core surrounded by lousy, crumbly, lightweight wood that wouldn't even split properly. Looking around on this forum, I found that this seems to be an unfortunate characteristic of hickory. Oak is very different--it might get punky in a thin layer around the outside but it takes a long time for the innards to go bad. I discovered some red oak rounds that had been buried under leaves for at least two years and there was a surprising amount of good wood still left in them.

 

[CincyBurner]

Hickory sapwood quite prone to rot, even when on the stump.
A couple years ago I bucked up a snag that came down. I figured rounds would get less rotten as I cut toward the top, but not so. As I cut further up the tree (and away from the road and up a slope) I was cutting parts of the trunk with a with very little heartwood, and a much larger proportion of the wood that was punky, quickly reaching point of diminishing returns.