Hickory firewood. Pain in the Butt!!

[Deleted member 83629]

i usually let it season before i split it i got a little pile of it seasoned not very many hickory trees around my part though.

 

[Marine5068]

I've taken some small Bitternut Hickory trees down for customers around here. I cut it for firewood and mix it in with my Maple, Oak, Elm, Birch and whatever else I'm burning at the time.
Not many Hickories left around me. I do have three nice Bitternut Hickory trees in my front forest that I wont touch.
It's hard, stringy wood but the harder the better BTUs.
The nuts are inedible and don't germinate easily from what I've seen so far in the ten years I've been here.

 

[Spawn]

It should have started flipping end for end to the woodlot as soon as the orange gleam from the sun reflected off the handle of that Farmboss.

Rumor is hanging a shoulder down the chimney makes for some great BBQ, never tried that.

Speaking of coals and Hickory, try an ugly steak. When you got 'em all red and all the bark and stuff is burned off just nice clean coals, throw a couple 3/4" or thicker steaks right on the red coals. Keep an eye on it so you can flip it pretty quick you want a little headroom so you can keep it clean. Medium Rare in about five minutes.

 

[Landmark]

I found a guy that calmed that the timber company don't want hickory and toss it as side.
He has an 18 wheeler with a loader crane mounted on it and he could bring me 12" logs all day long.
I asked for a price. he said 500 dollars for about 7 cords, delivered.
I pulled a wad of 1000 dollars out in cash and said bring me two loads, and I'll pay on delivery.
That was six months ago, I called him to see what was the hold up, and it's one excuse after another.

My mesquite guy went from 250 a cord to 500 a cord overnight. Guess I wont be selling mesquite any time soon ether.

Shipping cost is whats killing me.

Why wouldnt the they want hickory. I think that guy is blowing smoke. Good call on his bluff.

 

[STLfirewood]

I'm going to cut and split 2 cords of all Hickory today. It's not that bad with a SS. I'm also going to sawmill some today. Hickory is pretty tough on the band saw blades. Good thing I can get the sharpened for $7. I'll try to get some pics.

 

[066blaster]

I never had much trouble using a log splitter to split it. It seemed to split good ( shagbark)

 

[066blaster]

Hickory nuts are the best in chocolate chip cookies. And I mean way better than any other nut. I used to bring a few bushels of nuts to this old couple and they would give me a pound of clean nuts. They would sell some at are farmers market for $20 a pound. They had a whole system for cleaning them. Definitely worth gathering and cleaning when your bored during winter.

 

[haveawoody]

066blaster,

Same for me using a log splitter.
No real trouble with it for me on a hydro, I wouldn't want to hand split green shagbark though

 

[Rburg44]

Shagbark = PITA
Pignut = EASY

And the buyer of timber around here doesnt give any money for hickory either according to the farmer said i can take and cut all the hickory i want just dont touch and oak that isnt dead

 

[cheeves]

I've taken some small Bitternut Hickory trees down for customers around here. I cut it for firewood and mix it in with my Maple, Oak, Elm, Birch and whatever else I'm burning at the time.
Not many Hickories left around me. I do have three nice Bitternut Hickory trees in my front forest that I wont touch.
It's hard, stringy wood but the harder the better BTUs.
The nuts are inedible and don't germinate easily from what I've seen so far in the ten years I've been here.

When I lived out in the hills of SE Ohio I would put the acorns in a plastic bag! Brought back some after they sprouted, and planted them here! They're super rare here on the coast having been used for handles and such over the years! Only ones left are over in the Town park named after one of my relatives!

 

[STLfirewood]

Here are a couple pics. I ended up cutting and splitting 2 cords. It will come out of the kiln in 4-5 days.

 

[CRThomas]

kiln drying wood when you need it is the only way to go. I see what you are saying about 4 to 5 day its ready to burn. I only sell Ash people order wood I tell them next you will get delivery chunk split put it in my kiln next day its 14 % ready to deliver don't need to stack wood up for years wait for it to dry.

 

[CTYank]

We have five species of hickory around here. Definitely the best fuelwood is shagbark because of the air-dried density.
They can all be difficult with a blunt bludgeon of a cheapie maul, like I used to use. Using a maul with an edge and an efficient head shape, they're much less torture. Around here most apple and some black cherry are more difficult to hand split.

Couple of days, and I hope to load out more blowdown shellbark. First batch of the wood was no big deal to split. Got some you don't want? PM me for an address to drop it off. Seriously.

 

[BillNole]

I got a good load of shag-bark hickory a few years ago. Turned out it was buggy and I ended up burning half of it in the firepit to keep from infesting my woodpile (and house when they wake up after it's brought inside!) I ended up darn near ruining my firepit, melting the heavy grate and crumbling half the blocks from the crazy heat. Couldn't stay less than 10 feet away any longer than needed to chuck another log on when burning it. Man, that's some HOT burning stuff!

We usually had to crack a window or door in the living room when burning it in the fireplace.

Split it all by hand as I did then, not having a splitter at the time. Wasn't' nearly as hard as splitting the spaghetti-elm we get around here sometimes, but it did take some knowledge of working the grain. I had a neighbor I cut and split with sometimes come over and swing for awhile. He gave up after half an hour. He still has some 5 year old elm stacked that he hasn't split yet too. He's strong and a hard worker, but just doesn't have the patience or desire to take care of it, I guess.

If I knew then what I know now, I'd have never burned up over a full cord of hickory in the firepit, but would have tarped it and cooked them little critters dead instead! What I wouldn't give to get another load of shag-bark hickory!

 

[sachsmo]

I've only cut a few Shagbarks out of the woodlot, mine are like telephone poles (25+ feet limbless)

I cut an Pignut? that was too close to the drive and my brother said it was a stringy mess.

Guess 30% of the woods here is Shagbark and 10% White Ash.

We were some of the first to see the effects of that purty little green bug so I'll be burning Ash for a long time.

 

[zogger]

Here is how I process shagbark. First pic is big round on the ground, thin slabs taken off with anvil on a stick. Second shows the heartwood chunk left, restacked off the dirt, this gets left until final work. This is the A+1 primo wood around here, for cook wood or firewood bundles or polar vortex burning. Last shot is the stacked slabs, they can get layered on top of the mixed bag stacks to act like shingles, or resplit one more time to go into a grade B bulk cordwood pile to go out. Once I have all the big rounds slabbed, I come back and finish it with the fiskars and the stump and tire routine. I could do it all with the maul, but no need. Splits loads easier once debarked. The rounds were big enough I had to roll them into place, no carrying. Not huge diameter but this is some dense heavy wood. Smells wonderful. Once you get the slabs off with the bark, very little bugs at all ever go into the heartwood splits.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Around here, every Shagbark Hickory I've worked up splits stringy to the point of full cycle splits and harder to stack because of that. I would not put it at the top of the list of favorite firewood even though the BTU's are great.

Bitternut Hickory is totally different.

Stuff splits great and I split 3 ft diameter rounds in half with 3 whacks by hand.

Not a lot of them around here but if I find a dead one or blow down, it is at the TOP of the list to get first.

Ever count the rings on any hickory? Seems like it is about 10 years to the inch.

 

[sachsmo]

Ever count the rings on 'Ironwood' (American Hophornbeam)?

 

[Marine5068]

When I lived out in the hills of SE Ohio I would put the acorns in a plastic bag! Brought back some after they sprouted, and planted them here! They're super rare here on the coast having been used for handles and such over the years! Only ones left are over in the Town park named after one of my relatives!

Rare here too

 

[Holtby]

Fairly plentiful around here. Good wood, few days ago with the dang "omega block" arctic blast I burned some hickory knots in the evening and for overnight.

I find it dulls chains fast because of all the dirt under the bark (shagbark) and is medium hard to split but not that bad. About the only real negative I have with it is bugs love it!

I get lost of bug dust from hickory and hackberry is real bad for insect bored dust by the piles!!!!!