Any suggestions for using Pecan

[Keith Webster]

I have a job coming up that calls for the cabinets to be built from pecan. This will be my first time to work with pecan. Oak is the hardest wood I have worked with in the past. Pecan is known to be one of the hardest to work with. I will purchase all of the plywood in standard 4x8 sheets but I purchased s3s by the board foot for the face frames because of the cost (2.40 per bd ft vs. 1.49 per ft milled . I will need to plane and rip it down to 3/4 by 1 1/2. Any suggestions will be helpful.

[Barry Beech]

It really isn't that hard to work with. Just be careful, especially on end grain, because it will split fairly easily. Also, it is a very heavy wood. It doesn't take stain very well either. On a table that I made, I used gel stain. It turned out fine.

Good luck.

[Larry Fox]

Never worked with it in wwing but save your offcuts as they make a great smoking wood. Imparts a nice flavor to chicken.

[Mike Henderson]

I agree that it's not that hard to work. The wood is hard but not so much that it causes problems. The biggest problem I had was when turning legs I had some splitting when turning a pommel but maybe that was because I'm not a very good turner.

Otherwise, it cut and routed well as long as the tools are sharp. I found it to be similar to working white oak.

Mike

[Dennis Peacock]

Pecan and Hickory are almost the same. You can intermix hickory and pecan and under a finish, never easily be able to tell the difference. Around these parts, hickory is also referred to as a poor man's pecan.
Pecan does sand and machine well and does hold up to abuse very well.

[Keith Webster]

thanks for the info