Hickories generally have from five to seven oblong, pointed leaflets per leaf stem, including a grouping of three at the tip. The fruit develops during the summer into woody four-lobed husks up to 2" long that contain the nut. Generally straight-grained and coarse-textured, air-dried hickory weighs about 50 pounds per cubic foot.
Hickory heartwood varies from tan to brownish-red. The sapwood is nearly white. Although some woods equal hickory in a single property, such as hardness or stiffness, not one commercially available wood can match it in the combination of hardness, bending strength, stiffness, and shock resistance. Traditionally, hickory has been used for objects that require strength and must take abuse--tool and implement handles, ladder rungs, and wagon wheels.
In sports, hickory became hockey sticks, tennis rackets, bows, skis, and even fishing rods. Man-made materials have repleaced hickory in many of these products today, but the wood still lends itself to chairs, rockers, stools, and tables--and any project requiring bent wood. Hickory is plentiful throughout the eastern U.
You'll find hickory plywood available, too, but if it's specifically pecan, it commands a premium price. Veneer costs 50 cents a square foot. Remember that hardwood retailers may mix pecan boards in with other hickories and sell them all as hickory.
Because pecan tends to have a more pinkish tone, it could alter staining and finishing results if mixed with tan-colored hickories in the same project. So for best results, sort if it's possible. Because hickory's hardness even tops sugar maple, you'll definitely need carbide-tipped blades and cutters for your power tools. With that caution in mind, follow these additional tips:.
Save Pin FB More. Hickory prices should compare similarly to other utility hardwoods such as Red Oak or Soft Maple.
Common Uses: Tool handles, ladder rungs, wheel spokes, flooring, etc. Comments: Hickory is among the hardest and strongest of woods native to the United States. The wood is commonly used where strength or shock-resistance is important. Pignut Hickory falls into the True-Hickory grouping , and is considered to be a ring-porous wood. The strength characteristics of Hickory are influenced considerably by the spacing of its growth rings. In general, wood from faster-growing trees, with wider spaced growth rings, tends to be harder, heavier, and stronger than wood from slower-growing trees that have rings which are closer together.
In addition to strength and hardness applications, the wood of Carya species also has a very high thermal energy content when burned, and is sometimes used as fuelwood for wood stoves. Additionally, Hickory is also used as charcoal in cooking meat, with the smoke imparting additional flavor to the food. Related Species:. Related Articles:. Pignut Hickory sanded Pignut Hickory sealed Pignut Hickory endgrain Pignut Hickory endgrain 10x Subscribe Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments I give permission to use my email address to send notifications about new comments and replies you can unsubscribe at any time.
What about wood for a spear shaft? Marcusrandall and kal, you said shagbark for training swords. Anybody got thoughts on it? You say fast growth is harder and stronger than slow growth wood?
You are right in that, generally, slower grown trees tend to produce harder and stronger wood. A notable exception is with most ring-porous woods such as hickory where the slower it tends to grow, the more volume of the wood is taken up by rows of very light and weak earlywood pores. Scientific Name: Carya ovata. Distribution: Eastern United States. Tree Size: ft m tall, ft. Janka Hardness: 1, lb f 8, N. Shrinkage: Radial: 7. Endgrain: Ring-porous; large to very large earlywood pores in a single intermittent row, medium to small latewood pores solitary and radial multiples of , few; tyloses common; parenchyma reticulate bands absent from earlywood row in true hickory group, but present in pecan hickory group ; narrow rays, close spacing.
Rot Resistance: Considered to be non-durable to perishable regarding heartwood decay, and also very susceptible to insect attack. Workability: Difficult to work, with tearout being common during machining operations if cutting edges are not kept sharp; the wood tends to blunt cutting edges. Glues, stains, and finishes well. Responds well to steam bending. Odor: No characteristic odor. Prices are usually in the low to mid range, depending upon local availability.
Hickory prices should compare similarly to other utility hardwoods such as Red Oak or Soft Maple. Common Uses: Tool handles, ladder rungs, wheel spokes, flooring, etc. Comments: Hickory is among the hardest and strongest of woods native to the United States. The wood is commonly used where strength or shock-resistance is important. Shagbark Hickory falls into the True-Hickory grouping , and is considered to be a ring-porous wood. The strength characteristics of Hickory are influenced considerably by the spacing of its growth rings.
In general, wood from faster-growing trees, with wider spaced growth rings, tends to be harder, heavier, and stronger than wood from slower-growing trees that have rings which are closer together. In addition to strength and hardness applications, the wood of Carya species also has a very high thermal energy content when burned, and is sometimes used as fuelwood for wood stoves. Additionally, Hickory is also used as charcoal in cooking meat, with the smoke imparting additional flavor to the food.
Related Species:. Related Articles:. Shagbark Hickory sanded Shagbark Hickory sealed Shagbark Hickory endgrain Shagbark Hickory endgrain 10x Shagbark Hickory sculpture Subscribe Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments I give permission to use my email address to send notifications about new comments and replies you can unsubscribe at any time. I am new to wood turning and after a couple of projects wanted to turn a mallet out of hickory.
Are those insect holes or can anybody tell me what it is and is the wood still durable as a mallet. In regards to your question: yes and most probably yes, unless the face of the mallet looks like swiss cheese, then you may want to ditch that piece.
Good luck with the mallet! I am the inventor of Siege Stoves. Photinia is perhaps the best! It is an extremely dense almost white wood, harder and stronger than oak. I would like to find out if photinia is stronger than hickory —I suspect that it is.
0コメント