# What to do with Hickory?



## Daniel (Feb 4, 2012)

I've got a buddy who just took down a couple of pretty big Hickory trees and wants to get them milled...

Anyone got good advice on milling hickory? Anything to watch for, any "best practice"?

Thanks!


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## JMC (Feb 4, 2012)

The advice I have been given is to not go too wide because it gets kinda squirlly, if you need wider make sure you add way more thickness than you want it to finish out at.


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## Daniel (Feb 4, 2012)

Interesting, thanks. Best to plain saw, or other?


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## Mike1950 (Feb 4, 2012)

JMC is right- I bought a bunch of misc wood at and auction ten years ago. There was some hickory in the pile and half of it was warped more than needed for rockers on a chair :dash2:- made damn good chunks for the smoker though.


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## Daniel (Feb 4, 2012)

mike1950 said:


> JMC is right- I bought a bunch of misc wood at and auction ten years ago. There was some hickory in the pile and half of it was warped more than needed for rockers on a chair :dash2:- made damn good chunks for the smoker though.



No doubt! Thanks for the input... and OMG those lamps! I WANT ALL OF YOUR LAMPS. GIVE ME YOUR LAMPS!!!! :hang1:


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## Daniel (Feb 4, 2012)

Joe Rebuild said:


> Be sure to spalt some.



O rly?

Best method for spalting hickory is to (let me see if I remember my spalting lessons)...

1) saw it into planks (4/4 is best??)
2) stack it wet with no stickers
3) cover it with a tarp in a shady area
4) wait and watch
5) check it on a regular (monthly?) basis
6) when the appropriate amount of fungus has infiltrated the wood, uncover, scrape, dry, and sticker as normal...

Yes?


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## Mike1950 (Feb 4, 2012)

Daniel, The lights are worse than the wood for addiction and it is uncurable. I sell 1 and buy 3, now matter how you work it the math does not work. They came as I have said from a period of time when craftsman and craftsmanship was king.


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## Daniel (Feb 4, 2012)

mike1950 said:


> Daniel, The lights are worse than the wood for addiction and it is uncurable. I sell 1 and buy 3, now matter how you work it the math does not work. They came as I have said from a period of time when craftsman and craftsmanship was king.



Hopefully, that time is coming back. (Insert political rant appropriate to your own views here... I say that because honestly I think that most of us, left, right, center, green, red, blue, or whatever are actually saying the same damned things with different words... the words get in the way of the message and people argue over semantics when more often than not they're saying the same damned thing!!!).

Oops. Sorry.

:wacko1:

Anyway... I LOVE those lamps. I think I know a place where I can get some, too... Nom nom.


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## Woodsman (Mar 28, 2012)

Daniel said:


> I've got a buddy who just took down a couple of pretty big Hickory trees and wants to get them milled...
> 
> Anyone got good advice on milling hickory? Anything to watch for, any "best practice"?
> 
> Thanks!



I mill a fair amount of pecan (which is a hickory). I have so far had really good luck with drying it. I have been able to dry 24" wide boards FLAT that were cut at 1". Planing takes them to 13/16" and doesn't skip anything. The trick is in the drying. I don't have any access to hickory, but I would suspect it's drying properties are very close to pecan. I do, however, work a lot of hickory building cabinetry and the like, so I am aware of how it works (characteristics/properties). I prefer my air-dried pecan over the kiln dried hickory any day. The table below was made with 2 boards 20" wide x 1" thick. [attachment=3561] It is possible to achieve wide boards, you just have to be patient.


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## Graybeard (Mar 29, 2012)

Beautiful table.

The only wood I've ever gotten powder post beetles in my firewood was bitternut hickory. Can't figure it out.

Graybeard


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