Sauldos and a question

[john brenton]

Hey Everybody,

I've been MIA due to an overseas trip and the fact that the new forum design scares and confuses me.

I'm sure this question has been asked a billion times, but I'm too lazy to look it up. There's a local guy with some pecan, and I was wondering what the definitive answer was on whether or not pecan was the same as hickory. I read that they are not technically the same, but for example, would a baseball bat of pecan be the same as a bat of hickory?

If the price is cheap enough I promised to make some things for the wifes, plus I'd like to make some tools out of it. Pecan...yeah or nay?

[David Weaver]

Is the intention to make a baseball bat as decoration? If not, you might want to go with ash or maple.

You could use it for general turned items, tool handles and axe/hammer/hatchet handles.

Btw, I don't know what people usually refer to as hickory, but it looks like "hickory" might have the same complication as stuff sold as "white oak" (scroll down in the link to hickory - notice hickory/pecan).

http://www.sizes.com/units/janka.htm

That complication being when someone says they have white oak for sale, you say "OK, which white oak". Some of the different species are not remotely close in working properties - some are buttery, and others dry and powdery and really undesirable because the pores are dusty and gritty even if the surface is shiny and smooth.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I used a small pecan log, about 6" diameter, to make a heavy commander type mallet for timber framing that seems to work well; and I think golf club woodies were made from pecan. Also, hickory is often used for handles. So why not give it a go?

Pam

[john brenton]

Hey David,

I'm not actually going to make a baseball bat, I don't think I'm up to turning seasoned hickory/pecan that on the pole lathe. I was just curious to know if the properties were comparable. For tools, I actually wanted to make a few big bow saws, handles, mallets, scratch stocks etc.

I had no idea that hickory wasn't used for bats much anymore. Just goes to show what I know.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

yay. Most lumber yards regard it the same.

[David Weaver]

Wooden golf clubs were made of persimmon - at least the good ones were. I never had any "good ones" when I was a kid (before they were all metal). Some of them may have been persimmon, anyway, but they were "beat" by the time I got them.

The shafts in some of the really old clubs were hickory, though, and they stayed in putters longer (you can still get putters with them).

[Brett Bobo]

Afternoon John,
As Mike stated, pecan is hickory. If getting down to brass tacks, the density of hickory is slightly higher than the density of pecan, e.g. 52 lb/ft^3 vs. 47 lb/ft^3. I have a whole pile of pecan logs ready to be turned and as you may have previously heard, pecan has been labeled as "pecancrete" once it dries out. Once dry, it's very hard and difficult to work with. Particularly when it's spalted, I think it's beautiful stuff.

[Gary Hodgin]

There's been a discussion of wood in bats in MLB for a while. For the past several years, there's be an uptick in the number of broken bats. Some have attributed this to the replacement of some ash bats with maple.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Maple-Bat-Regulations-and-Major-League-Baseball&id=2059763