Standing (dead) hickory

RavioliKid · December 29, 2009, 05:59:05 PM

Hi, y'all!

I hope your Christmases were joyous and safe.

I'm taking stock of what needs to be done around here in the coming year. One of my hickories died during the past year, and I'll have to take it down.

Would the wood be of any use to anyone? When I had an oak taken down a few years back, Oakiemac took some of the trunk. Is hickory useful? If so, would anyone want it? I haven't gotten beyond the "thinkin' about it" stage yet. I'm in Kalamazoo, just so you know.

Tom · December 29, 2009, 06:12:46 PM

Hickory is pretty wood, RavioliKid. It makes good table tops, furniture and baseball bats. It's also hard as a rock and can be difficult to saw.

It makes good firewood and cooks some of the best steaks you could imagine, along with some mighty tasty bacon and bar-b-cue.

I'm sure you will find a use for it, even if it isn't artistically oriented.

WDH · December 29, 2009, 06:59:09 PM

Ravioli,

Hickory has poor rot resistance and is a favorite wood for the beetles that attack dead and dying trees. If it has been dead for any real length of time, the wood may be infested with bugs, so if the wood was sound enough to be sawn into lumber, it would need to be kiln dried with a heat cycle at the end with temps high enough to kill the bugs. Otherwise, I would be concerned that the beetles would totally ruin the lumber.

I agree with Tom about how beautiful the wood is and also about the hardness. It is hard as Hades is hot.

If nothing else, it makes great firewood or wood to cook with.

Magicman · December 29, 2009, 09:39:40 PM

Quote from: WDH on December 29, 2009, 06:59:09 PM
It is hard as Hades is hot......If nothing else, it makes great firewood or wood to cook with.

If you use it for firewood, you had better hope that you don't have to split it.

ahlkey · December 29, 2009, 10:27:56 PM

If the tree is large enough for lumber it can be milled and used for various woodworking projects. I have used it successfully for cabinets and flooring. It has a very high level of BTU's (more than Oak) so firewood demand is high. It is easy to split. This past year the USDA forest department out of Minneapolis studied my site regarding the Hickory dieback. Current understanding is the Hickory Bark Beetle (HBB) and "Ceratocystis smalleyi" are responsible for a distinct rapid decline and death of hickory trees. If you were subject to the HBB the bark would have noticeable exit holes from the crown downward. The KBB attacks the crown first and if you cut it within one year of the initial attack you will be fine. However, once the tree is standing dead for a full season it is subject to decay and will typically fall. The KBB attacks only the bark so the lumber will be fine as long as you get to it within a year. I have a fair amount of experience harvesting these trees over the past few years.

WDH · December 29, 2009, 10:32:08 PM

ahlkey,

Powderpost beetles are a scourge around here. There seems to be something about hickory and pecan that they love. Do you see powderpost beetles as an issue in your experience?

Brucer · December 30, 2009, 12:39:54 AM

Build you a fire with hick'ry, hick'ry, ash or oak,
Don't use no green or rotten wood; they'll get you by the smoke.
You'll just lay there by the juniper, while the moon is bright,
Watchin' them jugs a-filling, in the pale moonlight.
;D ;D

ahlkey · December 30, 2009, 12:47:50 AM

I have not seen Powerpost beetles as an issue in the hickory dieback. My understanding of Powerpost beetles is they will attack freshly cut hickories & oaks or even dead standing trees but not healthy species. Early this year I milled 5,000 board feet and have yet to experience any significant problems with Powerpost beetle within the lumber.

By far the most common scenario for the hickory trees has been rapidly declining crowns and foliar wilt symptoms, resulting in tree death within one year of first crown symptoms. This seems to be due to the KBB's emerging late June early July and attacking otherwise healthy trees. The HBBs carry viable spores of C. smalleyi on their bodies which are dislodged, germinate and infect the attacked host.

RavioliKid · December 30, 2009, 10:48:25 AM

Thanks, everyone.

The tree died sometime during the summer - the leaves came out in the spring and it looked fine in May or June. Along around August, I noticed that the leaves had all withered.

It breaks my heart to lose a tree - especially one that was so gorgeous!