Shagbark

[dahmer]

Ive had this stashed down at the neighbors farm since it was cut last October. Started splitting it today. Sure glad it burns great because you fight for every split, that stuff really holds together. I’m figuring I should get around 4 cords of split wood when I’m done. I have a 3-4 year plan and have 15 cords split and stacked now so this stuff won’t be used until the 2023-2024 winter.

 

[merc_man]

It sure is tough stringy splitting but worth it for them cold nights.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[Sagebrush33]

Hickory is my all time favorite wood fuel. I hoard it whenever I get the chance to stash some. I mentioned in another thread that I camped out on a farm in a trailer for a year or so. My heat source was my stove. I stoked up the stove around 11pm before hittin the sac. It had a nice bed of coals that I added a 6x20'' round in. On top of that I stuffed in a bunch of 3'' white and red oak rounds. It was 20*F with wind chills in single digits. The stove stoked my dog and I outside in the middle of the night. Going out there the cold was welcoming. After a few I went in and opened the stove. All the oak was gone, and there sat that hickory round. One big glowing red ember.

Shagbarks are my absolute favorite tree ascetically. Magnificently beautiful to me. I like chestnuts, black walnuts, and others as well but the shaggies remind me of Halloween as a kid. It was that time of year I can remember watching cartoons with witches and the like. There was always a shagbark in those toons.

 

[legdelimber]

Temp in the low 70's and 95% humidity at 2:40 a.m. here.
Makes Sagebrushs trailer and stove, sound sort of inviting for a an hour or so.

 

[drf256]

I get pignut here and yes, it’s a Beoch to split. I’m at around 20 colds now, and I burn around 4 a year. Used to split in June for December and leave in the sun. This batch should get better every year. The majority is oak.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I used to love burning shag bark hickory in Connecticut years ago. It hardly grows around here and some people have tried importing it from the East. Honey locust has similar bark and about the same density. I cut a cord of it last month and will be splitting it shortly, weather permitting. But, the grain texture and hardness of hickory is in a class by itself. I made a bunch of furniture with it and I must admit that it wore out a lot of my tools.

 

[Al Smith]

Hickory isn't so bad if it's green cut .Dead standing you best have a good splitter . Something is causing them to die .I've got a big fat one in the woods I should drop .Looks to be all of 3 feet in diameter and 60 plus feet of main stem . I'll never have enough power to snatch the whole log even if I hook the Oliver crawler on it .It's going to be cut down into smaller logs then it's horsing those big rounds into the splitter .Best you could do short of a skid loader is to roll them in place .A lot of good fire wood but a lot of work involved to get it . If you make it into lumber you'd best have carbide tipped cutters ,saw blades etc . Chainsaw chains you just have to file more often like every tank full of gasoline .

 

[Slacker]

My helper and I were cutting shag bark today. 24" bar on my MMWS 462. Full comp full chisel and it still bumps on the rev limiter buried in hickory. Absolutely wonderful tool.
Thanks @Mastermind

 

[Wood Doctor]

Looks like stove wood -- rather short lengths. I don't blame you even if it's not stove wood. Those pieces are so dense they would barely float. Picking them up will be a challenge and perfect training for U.S. Olympic athletes who might volunteer to help load your truck with them.

I used to love working with hickory to make furniture. Three of the end tables in my rec room are hickory. They remind me of that whenever I try to move them around.

Slacker, your saw got one whale of a workout, and so did you. Two thumbs up!

 

[Slacker]

Looks like stove wood -- rather short lengths. I don't blame you even if it's not stove wood. Those pieces are so dense they would barely float. Picking them up will be a challenge and perfect training for U.S. Olympic athletes who might volunteer to help load your truck with them.

I used to love working with hickory to make furniture. Three of the end tables in my rec room are hickory. They remind me of that whenever I try to move them around.

Slacker, your saw got one whale of a workout, and so did you. Two thumbs up!

Yes, stove wood. Also fireplace.
The saw was bought specifically to buck hickory and Locust. Bucking That stuff will kill a 50cc saw in no time flat. With a brand new chain the chips look like a dull chain.
Tough stuff and heavy as lead.

 

[wcorey]

Yup, love burning that shagbark. One thing I don't love is getting pelted by all those big loose chunks of bark the saw kicks out, stuff shoots out like bullets and seems more like slate than bark...

 

[Moparmyway]

Does shagbark hickory do the "sparkshow" when re-loading the firebox, like other hickory species do ?

 

[Al Smith]

Bone dry hickory will blow sparks like a 4th of July fireworks show .It certainly puts out the heat though .Fact I've got a 24 footer all chunked up by the splitter I might get to today .I've kind of lost my enthusiasm with the mercury around 15 degrees with a wind blowing .

 

[Al Smith]

Now then hickory for lumber .According to a local hard wood mill pig nut sometimes called bitter nut or smooth bark and often argued about what to call it makes the best lumber .Hickory is a second cousin to pecan and bitter nut has about the same coloration . If you are into wood working you'd best invest in some carbide tools because this stuff machines hard and will knock the edge off high speed steel in a jiffy . None of the hickories takes weather well . An unsawed log doesn't last long .Real quick to grow a nice crop of toad stools .