Hi
Last winter a rather large hickory tree came down across my driveway. I have a nice slice of this tree I was going to use for mallets and handles. When I finally got around to opening it up I see the outer wood looks like the hickory I know but the inner wood is very dark brown (see photo) My question: is the brown inner wood some kind of disease? Does it contribute to any loss in strength of a billet?

Thanks
Don
Don.Carolan@comcast.net
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