Last week, swmbo placed an order for some furniture. End result? A
trip to kettle-moraine with a u-haul trailer. I returned with 2 sheets
of 3/4 baltic birch, 2 sheets of 1/2 baltic birch, 2 sheets of 1/4
maple ply, 120 board-feet ot hickory, and 110 board-feet of hard maple.
I kept the lumber separate in the trailer, but some had to be turned
diagonally to fit in the 12' long trailer! Also, some of it moved
around on the way home. While pulling it out, I was a bit worried at
one point because there were a few boards that I couldn't tell apart.
I ended up looking at the markings they put on the boards while rating
them. Seemed like they used different marking schemes for different
species. The also used different color paints on the endgrain when
stickering them.
So if I didn't have this way to cheat, how could I have identified them
as hickory or hard maple? Some of the boards looked very different. I
think in some cases, the grain pattern looks different. But for the
boards in question, they looked identical to me. Is there some sort of
test I can apply or characteristic I can look for just in case my
assumption about the markings turns out to be false? I'd hate to
discover at finish time that I mixed them up on the same project.
brian
ok, so hickory is an open-grained wood?
The color is nearly identical between the two.
The grain pattern is completely different on some boards, and nearly
identical on others. I thought about the hardness also. I tried
crushing some wood with the tip of a screwdriver. My admitedly
unscientific test showed them to be about equal, although I know
hickory is supposed to be much harder.
I've never worked with either wood before. Up until now, it's been all
pine, red oak, and plywood.
brian
brianlanning wrote:
> ok, so hickory is an open-grained wood?
>
> The color is nearly identical between the two.
>
> The grain pattern is completely different on some boards, and nearly
> identical on others. I thought about the hardness also. I tried
> crushing some wood with the tip of a screwdriver. My admitedly
> unscientific test showed them to be about equal, although I know
> hickory is supposed to be much harder.
>
> I've never worked with either wood before. Up until now, it's been all
> pine, red oak, and plywood.
>
On average hickory is a bit more than 10% denser than sugar maple.
So if you can accurately mesure and weigh some samples from each
you may be able to tell them apart. Can you use a hole saw to cut
a standard-sized sample from each board?
You may also find that the maple burns much easier when cutting
it, as with a hole saw.
--
FF
>Burn a small scrap. If you've ever eaten hickory-smoked food (or even
>smelled it being cooked), you'll recognize that distinctive hickory smell
>immediately. If you don't smell that, it's not hickory.
I can't believe I didn't think of this. They're all good ideas.
Thanks.
Now I know what to do with the hickory scraps from that project (duh).
brian
In article <[email protected]>, "brianlanning" <[email protected]> wrote:
[snip]
>So if I didn't have this way to cheat, how could I have identified them
>as hickory or hard maple? Some of the boards looked very different. I
>think in some cases, the grain pattern looks different. But for the
>boards in question, they looked identical to me. Is there some sort of
>test I can apply or characteristic I can look for just in case my
>assumption about the markings turns out to be false? I'd hate to
>discover at finish time that I mixed them up on the same project.
Given that you know the pieces are either hickory or hard maple, here are a
few ways to tell the difference, other than making the determination visually:
- Cut a sliver off with a penknife, wet it, and sniff. Maple has almost no
odor, whereas hickory does.
- Taste it. Hard maple has a faintly sweet taste, or none at all. Hickory is
distinctly bitter.
- Burn a small scrap. If you've ever eaten hickory-smoked food (or even
smelled it being cooked), you'll recognize that distinctive hickory smell
immediately. If you don't smell that, it's not hickory.
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.
brianlanning wrote:
> So if I didn't have this way to cheat, how could I have identified
> them as hickory or hard maple?
I can't say I see much - nay, *any* - similarity between maple and
hickory...
Hickory has rather coarse pores, maple does not
The grain pattern is different
Color is generally different
Hickory is harder too but that doesn't really help ID it.
--
dadiOH
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In article <[email protected]>, "brianlanning" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Burn a small scrap. If you've ever eaten hickory-smoked food (or even
>>smelled it being cooked), you'll recognize that distinctive hickory smell
>>immediately. If you don't smell that, it's not hickory.
>
>I can't believe I didn't think of this. They're all good ideas.
>Thanks.
>
>Now I know what to do with the hickory scraps from that project (duh).
You betcha. In my shop, most of the scraps go to the fireplace. All except
hickory. Those go to the grill.
--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.