Is Hickory tough to cut?

[KMB]

Wood Doctor, nice work!

Kevin

 

[LAH]

Wood Doctor, nice work!

Kevin

What he said.

 

[ropensaddle]

John, here's a tile coffee table I made using hickory:

The tapered legs are made using five glued-up pieces that surround interlocking aprons:

This construction is very strong. The aprons will never separate from the legs and no corner braces are required:

Each tile rests on a slab, 3/4" thick. The ceramic tiles are separated by 5/16" thick hickory strips. So, no tile grout was required. The tiles can be lifted out in the event of a large shipping move. This table is heavy to say the least and believe me, I really had to keep my tools sharp to cut and shape all the pieces.

Nice dado work clean talent

 

[KMB]

An update. I finally got back to the Hickory tree. I found that the landowners brother had been cutting on the tree. He had got the smaller part of the tree cut up, and had gotten the bigger part of the tree on the ground and had cut as much as he could with whatever size bar he had on his saw. The landowner didn't know what saw his brother had or what size of bar. So what was left for me was to cut through the big rounds to cut them free and then to make noodles. Most all the rounds had to be cut in half, then quartered, then the quarters cut again...and even then the pieces were still big and heavy! I had guessed at 36" rounds, and the 2 rounds I measured were approx. 34". There were I think 8 or 9 of these big rounds. Well the 044 should be broke in after all the cutting it did, about 4 or 5 tanks of fuel. The 044 with the 28" bar and sharp skip chain did pretty good...wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Since the wood was only about 7 miles away, and with the blocks I had cut so hard to handle manually, I decided to take the splitter to the wood pile. I got the trailer that I use from the neighbor, borrowed a friends 4-wheeler, hooked the splitter to the 4-wheeler, loaded the 2 on the trailer and away I went. I wish I owned all of the items I used (trailer, 4-wheeler, splitter), but I don't. I do look after and maintain the equipment as if it were my own...if I break something...I'll fix it or get it fixed. Fuel tanks are filled to where they were when I got the equipment, and some more added. (I'm not boasting, just telling that I appreciate my friends and neighbors letting me use their stuff that I can't afford yet, and they trust me to look after their equipment)

I'm VERY thankful that the landowner volunteered to help with the splitting. I guess I should have taken more pictures of some of the blocks. I'm in not bad shape, about 6'2", 210 pounds, and of good health (thank the Lord), and I've learned to stretch before I handle the wood. But, most of those Hickory blocks were HEAVY...WOW...or I need to eat my Wheaties . But it was a good work out for me to get them up on the splitter. I was tired, but felt good. For different reasons, it took me 3 trips (3 part days) to get all the wood I took. After I finished the job (Saturday afternoon), I thought to myself that most folks locally would not have went through the trouble of quartering the wood, hauling the splitter and 4-wheeler back and forth, and spending the time splitting for the firewood...but the firewood guys on AS would have...I think.... Since the equipment wasn't mine I always brought the trailer, splitter and 4-wheeler home with a load of split wood in my truck box each trip (3). One trip, I had my wife drop off my bro-in-laws 5'x8' trailer for one load that she came back and got after it was filled. I think it was worth it all. The loads were loosely stacked to get max loads. I'm guessing about a full cord worth of good solid wood. And it was close to the house.

Here's a few pics...I should have taken more.

What I started with:

The 044 with 28" bar on one of the bigger rounds before quartering:

The 4-wheeler and splitter loaded:

The smallest of the 3 loads in my short box pickup:
http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=87328&
stc=1&d=1232378707

The one 5'x8' trailer load:

 

[stihl sawing]

Nice job Kevin, Those were some big rounds. That's a neat splitter. It's low to the ground so you don't have to pick them up so high. Good to see ya got the job done.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

I do look after and maintain the equipment as if it were my own.

Good trait to have... I tend to look after borrowed equipment better than if it were my own. I don't generally like to borrow stuff and don't like to lend stuff out unless I know they're like you. The last time I borrowed a tiller I had to fix it, not my fault, just needed some tweaking and maintenance to get it to run like I wanted.

Ian

 

[KMB]

Nice job Kevin, Those were some big rounds. That's a neat splitter. It's low to the ground so you don't have to pick them up so high. Good to see ya got the job done.

The splitter is owned by my pastor and he bought it many years ago when U-Haul was renting splitters. I guess he bought it when they quit renting them out. I don't know the tonnage rating, but it is run by a 8 hp B&S, and I'm guessing the cylinder is a 5". It busts through some pretty tough wood. The low height is nice for loading...but not nice for handling the wood on the splitter. An AS member had offered to modify the splitter to make it higher and to add a log lift, but I don't own the splitter. And even if I had permission to do the mods, I couldn't afford it now anyways.

Kevin

 

[KMB]

Good trait to have... I tend to look after borrowed equipment better than if it were my own. I don't generally like to borrow stuff and don't like to lend stuff out unless I know they're like you. The last time I borrowed a tiller I had to fix it, not my fault, just needed some tweaking and maintenance to get it to run like I wanted.

Ian

I'm the same way you are about borrowing from others...I don't like to do it, and lending out my stuff...only to a select few. I've been borrowing a small air compressor for saw cleaning work, and it needed a new coiled hose and a connecting fitting seemed worn. Even though it was like that when I got, I bought a new hose and fitting for it. It's a small thing for the use of the compressor.

Kevin

 

[rngrchad]

I just took a blowdown Pignut (Mock) Hickory the rest of the way down this weekend. Went out tonight and gave it a go a splitting the rounds up with splitting axes. Suprisingly with the cold weather, hand splitting was difficult, but manageable. I didn't plan on being able to split it up without borrowing a hydraulic splitter, but the good news with cold weather is, so long as it stays cold, I won't have to #### around with dragging a splitter all the way out to the tree! Yah. It was about 22" to 28" diameter. I was cutting with a 372 running semi-chisel oregon on a 28" bar. No problems at all other than two slight sharpenings.

 

[KMB]

I just took a blowdown Pignut (Mock) Hickory the rest of the way down this weekend. Went out tonight and gave it a go a splitting the rounds up with splitting axes. Suprisingly with the cold weather, hand splitting was difficult, but manageable. I didn't plan on being able to split it up without borrowing a hydraulic splitter, but the good news with cold weather is, so long as it stays cold, I won't have to #### around with dragging a splitter all the way out to the tree! Yah. It was about 22" to 28" diameter. I was cutting with a 372 running semi-chisel oregon on a 28" bar. No problems at all other than two slight sharpenings.

Glad you could get it done that way. Even with the splitter, the Hickory that I split was tough stuff with hardly a straight grained piece of wood. A few times we had pieces that the splitter had to slow down to get through the wood. We did have a few pieces that we had to reposition because the splitter wouldn't go through the wood. Not sure if a maul would have went through most of it without a lot of swinging. Time was important and in this case I believe the splitter would have been faster than a maul. But for some types of wood, a maul (or splitting axe) can be faster than a splitter.

Kevin

 

[whiting-5]

while back i posted about my hickory score you are right those rounds can be heavy i tried both ways going after a trailer load and hauling them home then spliting at my leisure just to much work that way trying to get them in the trailer without hurting myself im a little feller 6 5" 275 pounds but accidents do happen and cant be down hurt to many depend on me!!! so now i take my flat bed with 16 foot trailer ball mounted to my trailer in back to haul the splitter works killer split the big rounds verticle on splitter than toss into trailer and flatbed. i love hickory.

looks like nice score there kevin.

 

[KMB]

while back i posted about my hickory score you are right those rounds can be heavy i tried both ways going after a trailer load and hauling them home then spliting at my leisure just to much work that way trying to get them in the trailer without hurting myself im a little feller 6 5" 275 pounds but accidents do happen and cant be down hurt to many depend on me!!! so now i take my flat bed with 16 foot trailer ball mounted to my trailer in back to haul the splitter works killer split the big rounds verticle on splitter than toss into trailer and flatbed. i love hickory.

looks like nice score there kevin.

Sounds like you got a nice set up there with pulling the splitter behind the trailer. I had also thought about hauling the blocks home. Like you said, I might have hurt myself loading and unloading. 6'5", 275 lbs, little fella...compared to what.... How does Hickory burn compared to Oak?

Kevin

 

[whiting-5]

well my oak and hickory are both pretty dry i like to get my fire going with oak then start adding small hickory to it and work my way up in size with hickory my clayton stove has the draft blower that blows from bottom of shaker grate up (this setup is for burning coal also) i can get the firing rippin with the hickory when i go to bed i jam the stove full of hickory and it will last all night and have really good heat. i have 18 acres of oak but this spring im going to haul a boatload of hickory home from the mill then worry about oak have enough oak on the ground in piles to cover next year.

 

[KMB]

well my oak and hickory are both pretty dry i like to get my fire going with oak then start adding small hickory to it and work my way up in size with hickory my clayton stove has the draft blower that blows from bottom of shaker grate up (this setup is for burning coal also) i can get the firing rippin with the hickory when i go to bed i jam the stove full of hickory and it will last all night and have really good heat. i have 18 acres of oak but this spring im going to haul a boatload of hickory home from the mill then worry about oak have enough oak on the ground in piles to cover next year.

Sounds good. Especially since I gave a bunch of the Hickory to my mom-in-law who uses wood for her only heat.

Kevin

 

[trimmmed]

Gee wizz Kevin, when you asked if hickory was tough to cut you never mentioned the size. Or maybe you did and I missed it. I don't think I have ever cut one bigger than 16" diameter, those rounds are huge! Enjoy the heat and the great aroma.