Hickory

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sb47

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My neighbor finally brought me a 18 wheeler load of hickory from Tennessee. :happybanana:
I started splitting it today and man does it split like a dream.
A log company is cutting it from his ranch in Tennessee and are throwing all the tops up to 24'' and just pilling it up and burning it. I made a triad if he would bring me a load down with him. Well he came through today and brought me a good size load. I get request for it almost everyday so to say I'm excited is an understatement.
Man I hope I can get more of it. It doesn't grow here locally so to get some is a real treat. It sure smells good when splitting it. What a treat.
He regularly travels from Tennessee to Houston on a regular basis so I'm going to see if he will bring me all he can haul.
He got stopped by every DOT check point and said he was just under being over weight. These trees wrere just cut 3 days ago so they are extremely heavy, and I will agree. Green hickory is some heavy wood and he only has a limited time to get it before they are finished with his property. I told him I'll take all he can bring me, for as long as he can.
 
Good score. There are several types of hickory here and some split better than others. One of the few woods I don't usually sell but keep for myself to burn. Should sell for a premium for you.
I cut some shag bark and that stuff can be tuff splittling. Very stringy. I dont sell the hickory either. Nice hot burning wood on them cold nights.

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I cut some shag bark and that stuff can be tuff splittling. Very stringy. I dont sell the hickory either. Nice hot burning wood on them cold nights.

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My buddy cut a shagbark down yesterday. He said a ton of bats flew out from under the bark. Never saw that but then most of my cutting is in th winter.
 
My buddy cut a shagbark down yesterday. He said a ton of bats flew out from under the bark. Never saw that but then most of my cutting is in th winter.
Steve dont say that to loud around where I am at, holy cow the NRCS has a stiffy for the Indiana bat and if you cut a tree with some in it what a mess.
 
As was said Hickory can be stringy. Nothing like Elm, but not an easy splitting species like Red Oak either. Can also be tough on chains. Great long lasting coals and intense heat though.
Been splitting this load of hickory for the past few days and it splits very easy. It's all very strait grained with almost no forks or knots. The bark comes off very easy as well. Pecan is way more stringy then this hickory I'm working on. I wish I could get this kind of hickory on a regular basis. The heart wood is dark and the sap wood is almost white. It sure smells good when cutting and splitting it. I can't wait to do some smoking with it. I'd love to sell all of it but I might just have to keep most of it for myself.
 
Shagbark, pignut, mockernut are the kinds of hickory I can think of without searching. The shagbark one is easy to identify. It is strong and flexible as boards. Like said heavy. Maybe if it is a green log it can legally be transported? There are bug control rules for firewood not sure the specifics.

If you burn it in secondary combustion mode adding fuel earlier than normal charcoal can be harvested. Kind of messy.
 
After working it all up into splits it worked out to 2 cords worth. Not a huge load but considering that I only paid 50 bucks for what I traded for it, I got a great deal. He had other things on the trailer so the load was not all hickory.
My tree guy brought me a 3 cord load of live oak witch I should finish up tonight.
Got another visit from a guy that has a pizza joint with a wood fired oven. He told me he just bought another location and will open a second location next month and he wants to secure a cord a month of red oak heartwood and will pay in advance to secure it for him.
He picked up another 1/4 cord today.
Red oak heartwood makes perfect pizza oven firewood. It lights easy, burns long and hot and burns very clean with a slight sweet smell when burned.
He and others that have wood fired pizza ovens that buy from me say it only takes 2 min to cook a pizza. They run them at 900* so they cook very fast.
I have 3 pizza joints, 2 BBQ joints, and 10 Speck's liqueur stores that take 200 bags a month plus about 50 cook off teams that buy from me on a regular basis. Plus many regulars back yard cookers that I supply. Life is good!
 
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