Mockernut & Bitternut Hickory

Any worth to considering milling these? I have a lot of both, plus shagbark, but the biggest are the mockernuts and bitternuts. Many of the old ones are hollow at the butt some have at least 1 good saw log in them. One 16"-18" mockernut just blew over last week and despite having some hollow at the base, appears to to have a good solid middle trunk section (I haven't put a saw to it yet).

I have a Granberg CSM and just wonder if it's worth fooling with milling these trees instead of just making firewood out of them. What is the wood like? Useable around the farm as rough cut stuff? Any commercial value?

Thanks. -WSJ

Hickory can have quite a bit of character to it and is quite strong. Hammer and axe handles, baseball bats, etc come to mind. I've seen cabinetry and flooring from hickory. It varies from plain straight grain with light color to dark brown. Hickory is also used in smokers, and some folks pay good $ for hickory for that purpose.

Mockernut? I never heard of it! I had to google that one, and its just another species of hickory with hairy underside leaves. aka white hickory

it probably is.be advised though that hickories are very stressed and will want to move once the saw is put to them.had some done last year,got a couple of 2 inch slabs cut,as i was walking away from the pile to have lunch there was a loud cracking noise. i went to see and one piece had split half way down the whole length.also once it is dry it is very hard on tool cutters.

good luck
rob

Bitternut are the most beautiful of hickory, IMO. Almost always a deep red/brown heart with dark lines & figure. The wood in all hickory is very tough but has no rot resistance, so keep it out of the elements. I plan to cut a few trees this summer. Going to build myself a gun cabinet and share some of the lumber with other woodworking friends of mine. It's a treasure of a wood once finished out, but it's not easy to work with.

I mill hickory every once in a while,



and i don't mind it at all. My mill slices right through it,



with no problem at all and hickory makes pretty good lumber,



SR

with no problem at all and hickory makes pretty good lumber

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Does it stay flat? I heard from a fellow at work today who has a bandsaw mill that his experience is that it's unpredictable and not terribly stable in terms of form (probably not exactly how he phrased or the correct terms, but you know what I mean).

Otherwise, thanks all. If the butt log is sound I may try to at least make a cant out of it instead of firewood. -WSJ

WSJchester said:

Does it stay flat? I heard from a fellow at work today who has a bandsaw mill that his experience is that it's unpredictable and not terribly stable in terms of form (probably not exactly how he phrased or the correct terms, but you know what I mean).

Otherwise, thanks all. If the butt log is sound I may try to at least make a cant out of it instead of firewood. -WSJ

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Apparently it "can" be stable. The box stores stock pre-fab hickory cabinets and if the hickory wasn't stable then it would be way too much headache to keep in stock. What I have heard is that hickory is a bear to saw, but like the poster above I haven't had any issues milling. It IS tough to work with, though. Very, very hard, and will expose the weakness of your tooling if you try using dull blades.

I sticker it properly and put it in the middle of the stack, so it ends up with plenty of weight on top of it. I haven't had any problems with it at all.

SR

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This is Bitternut hickory we milled a little over a year ago. Some of it moved almost immediately after sawing, as in 1"x8" warped the 8" direction about 6"-8". Could make nice chair rockers:msp_ohmy:, we rolled the cant 90 degrees and the rest seems to be behaving itself.

Sounds like particular attention to stacking, stickering & drying are key. Thanks all for the education. -WSJ

Hickory isn't all the same. The difference between mockernut, bitternut or black hickory; and the the shellbark (or possibly shagbark) in Sawyer Rob's photos is much like the difference between post oak and white oak. Shellbark & shagbark (like white oak) tend to have straight grain so they cut & dry straight. Mockernut, butternut & black hickory (like post oak) cause more problems in the sawing and drying process. In both cases: shaggy bark= good. Give it a go. If the boards twist too much, run them through a chipper and sell them for meat smoking chips. You'll get almost as much for the chips as you'd get for the lumber!

[QUOTEIn both cases: shaggy bark= good. ][/QUOTE]

Thanks. The one down now (and the 2 from last year that were more hollow than not) are mockernuts. I do have some big bitternuts and shagbarks too, although the shagbarks of any size also have a tendancy to have a lot of rot.

I cut up some of the downed on this weekend but only ended up with one log-length piece because I stuck a saw and had to make another cut where I didn't intend to free it. Oh well - the short piece can be firewood anyway. Might still try milling some of it to see how it goes.

-WSJ

I'll go just a bit off topic here with some unsolicited advice. Keep a couple of plastic felling wedges handy. When you stick a saw, drive in a wedge to open up the cut, and it'll slide right out. You can also cut wooden wedges to do the job, but it is hard to do when the saw is stuck in the cut.