peacon or hicory or ash

[4woody]

 Wich is the hardest

[beenthere]

Pecan hickory is harder than White ash (8100 # at 12% mc to 5900 # at 12% mc) according to the Wood Handbook. Found no hardness numbers for the true hickory's, like shagbark, shellbark, pignut, and mockernut.  But the specific gravities are higher than the pecan hickory's so I suspect the hardness of the true hickories are the hardest (mockernut and pignut hickories with the highest specific gravity).

[VA-Sawyer]

Wow, it took a whole 12 minutes to get an answer. Gottta love the Forum.

[4woody]

hay thanks for the quick answer and this is the best form to be at

[WDH]

The true hickories, like shagbark and mockernut and pignut are definitely harder.  Sometimes you can actually see sparks when you plane hickory.  But, even though hickory is harder, pecan is still plenty hard.  Recently I planed from the rough about 400' of pecan.  Had to sharpen the planer knives twice to get it done.  Face planing on the jointer is tough too.  Ash is so much easier to work with in my opinion.

[rebocardo]

I have cut dried mockernut hickory, cross cut and ripping, with a chain saw. I would say it is a lot harder then the red oak dried. I do not think I have ever cut ash.

[4woody]

the reason i ask which wood was harder is because me and some guys were talking about baseball and they said that the bats were made out of ash because it is the hardest and i  said no peacon is and if they used it insted they would get a lot  more home runs with peacon than ash

[Ron Wenrich]

I don't think its as much hardness as it is weight.  If you took the weight of an average ash bat and made if from hickory, it would be a lot heavier.  Most guys prefer the lighter bats.  Bats are also made from hard maple and bamboo.

[TexasTimbers]

and i said no peacon is and if they used it insted they would get a lot more home runs with peacon than ash

Actually you get alot more homeruns with cork (filled that is) just ask Sammy Sosa. 

[4woody]

will we are going to make one out of peacon an see

[rebocardo]

The other thing about a bat is it has to be able to give and take, otherwise it will shatter.

[4woody]

we have a peice drying right now  it wont be long now an we will see

[metalspinner]

I heard that Barry Bonds started using a maple bat when he began that incredible homerun streak.  Some say he started using something else as well.

[DanG]

Go for it, 4woody!  That's gonna be a really nice bat.  Eat a couple of boxes of Wheaties before you use it, though.  That's gonna be one HEAVY sucker!

[Phorester]

As RECARBO said, ash gives and takes. Because of that it can withstand a hard shock (95 mph baseballs for instance) better.  That's also why the better quality long handled tools usually have an ash handle.  Fire rake handles are ash.  Hickory isn't  as good at bending and recovering over long lengths as ash, but it's real good for short handled tools like hammers.

Pecan is actually in the hickory family, so the wood properties are somewhat alike.  But my dendrology textbook says, " The timber produced from the pecan hickories is not as strong or heavy as that of the "true hickories"."  Goes along with what other posters have said here.

[Greg]

the reason i ask which wood was harder is because me and some guys were talking about baseball and they said that the bats were made out of ash because it is the hardest and i  said no peacon is and if they used it insted they would get a lot  more home runs with peacon than ash

I read recently that I much all wood bats in professional baseball are made of hard maple (for the past 20 years or so).

Greg

[Phorester]

You got my curiosity up Greg, so I did some checking. Best I can tell, maple bats account for about 30% of wood bat production.  Most of the other 70% are still made from white ash.

[SwampDonkey]

White ash