Anybody tackle a BIG hickory

[Eric Krewson]

I was bush hogging up at the land I hunt and noticed several hickories that uprooted when the tornadoes went through, no tornadoes just high winds and very wet soil. The land owner said I could salvage what ever I wanted.

When I have bow students I usually give them a hickory stave to practice on. I am currently out of staves and am considering trying to stave out one of these hickories. The tree I am considering is not dead and still has all it's green leaves.

The trunk is about 20" in diameter, not having cut a hickory tree even close to this size in the past, I was wondering if one can even split such a massive trunk. On large osage I usually make my first split with a chainsaw.

I am unsure if the bark will pull off easily at this time of year as well.

Anyone have experience with a tree this large?

[broketooth]

its my understanding that this is the time of the yr to harvest hickory for staves . it will also let go of the bark easy. remove the bark now seal the back and ends with shellac and store in a dry place belly side up in a well ventelated dry place you should be able to use it by jan. rv

[ChristopherO]

Eric,
I've not tackled staving out a hickory that size.  Saying that, though, I have a friend had a dozer fell a couple dozen shagbarks last week that he wants cleaned up.  I plan on taking the chainsaw mill out there next week and making lumber out of 5 or six, Lord willing.  If you have access to a hand held chainsaw mill that may be the best route to make this workable.

[red hill]

Eric, My experience with hickory of that size is limited to dry wood. Attempting to split dry hickory of that size for firewood wasn't worth the effort.  Green hickory will split better, especially with wedges and a maul. Dry hickory is too dad gum tough.
Chris, could you post some pics of using the chainsaw mill, please? I've looked at a few small mills in catalogues and wondered how well they actually work. The hickories I've cut for bow staves were 8"-11" in diameter and weren't too hard to split. I just have better luck with dimensional lumber when making a bow.

[T Folts]

I would use the chainsaw and split it down the center first then hit it with wedges and a maul.
Debark it and seal it.

[scrub-buster]

My one and only hickory tree was about 14-16" at the base. It split OK.  I am working on a 24" osage right now.

[Osagetree]

20"

Yep, you can do it Eric...

[Eric Krewson]

Red Hill, look on utube, lots of chainsaw mill videos.

Some friends use an Alaskan chainsaw mill but they live far away. I don't know if I want to invest in the mill, and extra long bar plus a rip chain. I wanted one to cut out stock blanks for my flintlock building but after investigating I decided against going this route.

I prefer split staves for my students instead of dimensional lumber.

[okie64]

If you are going to use a chainsaw mill then I say go for it. If you're going to try to split it out with wedges and a maul I say good luck. It can be done but it is going to take a LOT of work. I guess it depends on how badly you need bow staves to decide whether its worth the effort or not.

The bark will pop right off this time of year.

[ALW]

I've done one that big and it took a lot of wedges and time.  But it will give you a bunch of staves.  And next to no crown on the back.  I say go for it.  Maybe "teach" your students, hands on of course, the right way to split out staves!  LOL.....

Aaron

[StoneAK]

I have split hickory that was 18" or so at the trunk with wedges. Try to get the bark off as soon as possible and seal it.

[rainman]

Just harvested one that size in June, will split especially with 2 guys hammering wedges.  Bark should still peel right off.

[John Scifres]

I helped split a 20" osage once.  It took 4 guys, 6 wedges, 2 sledges, 2 axes, 4 hours and 24 beers after.  Several ibuprofen the next day and about 5 years to recover and I'm up for another one that big.  Actually that's not true, I had the opportunity at 3 of them that big this winter and passed on them.  They were taken to a mill instead.

So I'd say it COULD be done with hickory. I think I'd give it a go.

[DVSHUNTER]

Eric, I just split one last week with my neighbor Chris. It took four wedges a small axe to start in the end, and a sledge hammer. It wasn't bad at all. I didnt even bother to put on shoes.  The bark didn't quite "peel" off my staves, but it did come off pretty easy.  I've split some big osage with under five wedges, it just takes some effort, but this was easy, everyone would do it right.  At least it isnt 100 degrees out anymore.

[scrub-buster]

Here is a pic of the 24" osage I am working on.

 

[Shaun]

Brad Merkel worked up a bunch of big hickory trees like you are asking about. Hickory splits real easy - nothing like the fight with osage. After quartering Brad split belly pieces and then continued to split outer pieces into staves. The quarters on a 20" tree will make 4 staves each. You need to keep splits equal - that is half the wood in each piece to discourage run out, ie. take a large quarter log and split belly piece off bark piece with equal wood mass in each. Then split bark piece down the middle and split each of these down the middle.

Brad cuts the belly splits for his firewood.

[Wingless Arrow]

i dont know about the splitting part, but i just debarked a hickory and it was the easiest thing ever. so no worries about that part, but good luck with splitting it.

[okie64]

I must have had some really tough hickory because the stuff I've tried to split is ten times harder than splitting osage. It made splitting osage seem like a piece of cake. Heres what the hickory I've split looked like. Lots and lots of interlocking grain.
 

[Javi]

That don't look like the hickory we got in Texas.. for sure

[RAU]

I split a shagbark hickory that was atleast 15 inches thick maybe a bit more and it wasnt tooo terrible. Id do it again