Which Wood is Stronger: Oak or Hickory? 

My grandfather was born in 1899. He was a World War One veteran. He was also a master gardener. After he got home from France, he sold the family plantaion he inherited in central Florida, and bought 4 houses in Jacksonville, Florida. He raised his family in one, rented the other three. He also bought 3 one acre plots and raised vegetables, rabbits, chickens, and honey bees. My grand mother put all his produce up in Mason jars. He also worked for the US Post Office. Thats how he supported 9 people through the Great Depression and the World War two homefront shortages. None of the other grandchildren paid him much mind. They were too busy playing. I loved my granddaddy . He taught me how to fish, and hunt. And he taught me something about wood. At the end of the growing season, he had a big metal milk can filled mostly with sand. Hed pour coal oil into the milk can till it covered the sand. Then he'd stick his garden tools down into this for the winter. He taught me wood was created to take water from the roots to the tree's limbs, and it would do that even after the wood was dead. Thats why wood rots like it does. Live wood has sap to keep the wood more supple. Dead wood tool handles are kiln dried so they wont rot. They are not supple, so they can break. If you soak dead wood in coal oil( kerosene) and boiled linseed oil, you replace the sap, making the wood supple again. It also makes it essentially water proof. Ive been doing this for years with my gun stocks , and ramrods for my traditional black powdwr guns. He was right. I ordered a solid oak walking stick. You can be sure it will get this treatment.

As Clint Eastwood said in the movie the Pale Rider, " Nothing beats a piece of good Hickory".

17 fEB 2024 - That is the clearest and most comprehensive explanation I have ever heard. As usual with you, Keith, your presentations on RU-vid are by far the best.

Hiya I've made a few canes for people over the years I love hickory and oak . But one of the hardest woods I've ever made a canes from was lignum. Really too heavy for a daily walking cane but wow what a cane stronger than any wooden cane I've ever made . African blackwood another beautiful wood but sadly too heavy for daily use . And I'm a martial artist who uses staffs bokens ect which tend to be made from oak Ash or hickory. Keep up the great work 👍

Years back a martial artist who was an engineer in the wood products industry did an article for JAMA on impact strength in various woods from the very common to exotic hardwoods. His conclusion was much the same. Impact grade hickory was so far ahead of the pack that you needed a telescope to see it. Then regular hickory and Osage Orange. Ash was in the next tier. White oak was further down but still respectable.

Love my hickory heart cane from your shop. One of my most prized possessions.

I have a Hickory Heart peace keeper/maker style from G M Shuey, rounded horn and more open crook. It is wonderful and has neve failed me in close to 20 years.

I have experimented with all sorts of exotic and common hardwoods from Asia, Africa and the US for Filipino stick fighting and as Bokken with Kenjutsu and Jojutsu. I have found that many of the hardest woods break easier upon 90 degree impact than woods that have a little elasticity. I have never had my Kamagong bastón broken. But have broken lignum, cocobolo, black walnut etc. As a bollen Japanese white oak (from Hokkaido) has the best grain and strength to withstand battles with harder woods, mainly because the strikes and receptions are glancing and not a 90 degree impact.

I didn't know that so much engineering went into cane design. Very interesting. Sounds as if the ideal is a mid-weight cane made of hickory.

Excellent video Keith. Thank You my friend.

Keith, Thank you very much. Very informative and educational. You pre-emptively answered several questions I had about the best wood for a carry cane. By the way, I passed my test and am now in the Intermediate level of Gary Hernandez's RDT Cane system. I am waiting until I get better with a cane and know more about them before I get a really good carry cane. I do however have tha Canemaster Dojo practice cane, as well as some other ones, for practice. Tom Nugent

Thank you sir. Recent drop foot caused me to seek a walking cane. Solid bamboo. Beveled crook handle. Stolen from my car when I was walking good. Atlanta Craigslist lost and found.

Willow because it bends but it does not break. I am of course biased because I have an awful lot of the stuff. A lot of people deride Willow as being too light nothing like Ash or Oak for handling tools, which is what I mostly use it for, however it does get very hard with age. I love it and I do not care what the naysayers say. FWIW I have broken through a heavy fire door using a willow cane with an antler handle so yeah it is more resilient than you would give it credit for.

That does answer the questions I had!

There are, as I remember it, 13 species of hickory and Janka hardness & impact resistance varies greatly among them - not all hickory is the same. I do love good hickory but I also wonder what I am buying sometimes.

Ordering one of your canes today! I will post a video soon 🙂

Thank you for sharing this sir!

I used to work for a baseball bat company and of course we tested every kind of wood possible for making our bats and we found Northern white ash was not as brittle and would bend better than Hickory by far Hickory was extremely brittle in our test so Northern White Ash is what I recommend

My cane is Northern White Ash. It is Octagonal. I built it myself. It is more than stiff enough and strong enough to use as a defensive tool. There is a reason baseball bats are made from Northern White Ash and Not Oak or Hickory. I am currently crafting a second cane out of Hickory.

I saw a video recently where someone was using beech for a club-style weapon. He made a good case for why beech would be more impact-resistant than oak. Maybe the cost of beech would be prohibitive. I'd love to be able to make my own, but I'd have to come up with a way to generate steam and bend the crook.

Keith, I am not sure which cane I will order and will definitely take you up on calling Canemasters first. I seem to be able to handle a 7/8s inch cane faster and surer than the thicker ones. Especially if I go with the thinner 7/8s inch cane, I would want the strongest cane possible. Of course that means hickory. But which type of hickory would be the best ? Would it be the Thumper Stock or the Heartwood ? Of the two, how do they compare in strength and weight ?

I just ordered the teardrop shaped Cane in Hickory.

As an Englishman I should choose Oak but Clint Eastwood recomends Hickory 'Pale Rider'

I have an abusive grandma , who will use her cane to bully everyone in our house , I’ve just ordered my Hickory cane, and this time blood will be shed .😬

My Italian uncle used to make canes out of osage orange, man those things were tough. I suppose not as tough as hickory, otherwise they would be on your list.

It would be good to see this tested on a ballistic gel dummy. At my age I'd basically have to swing with everything I have and hope it's enough to put them down for good. It needs to be powerful enough to end the fight, before it even starts, in one devastating critical hit. I've tried it on some watermelons but it doesn't feel realistic, there's no way a human head is that soft. I just don't know if a wood cane is capable of delivering deadly force when needed.

Great video Keith- i just received my heartwood hickory classic- I love my new cane- i wrote Cane Master's when it arrived- the rubber boot for the bottom was split- i have received no reply from CaneMasters in a month..

I do not need a cane, at all, but I want one of this Hickory canes just because I love quality crafted things. 😁

May I add, Oak has a beautiful grain that accepts stain very well. Aesthetically speaking, imho, Oak as an advantage, as Mr. Melton points out, the mechanical properties of Hickory are superior.

I have 2 hickory canes from cane master…a training basic style and a everyday carry self defense that would definitely get the job done if ever needed

I assume Hickory is slightly heavier do to it being more dense. If so; approximately how much so. I just ordered your Viking cane in Hickory today. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you.

Isn't eastern hop-hornbeam also available in the US? Scientific name is ostrya virginiana. Figure something dubbed colloquially as "ironwood" or "musclewood" should be pretty good for a self defense cane, or does it just end up too weighty?

Which oak are you referring to? and what about pecan?

Weight factor comparison?

Based on your video, and you naration of between the two wood's. Hickory is the best, but slightly higher in weight. Took four minutes to say what just took me two to four seconds to say.

How about drilling and adding some lead to the bottom 4 or 5 inches?

is hickory best wood for bo staffs for shock resistant and not breaking? can someone answer pls

I have a question about a different wood. How about IPE wood?

Where does Hawaiian Koa wood fit on the scale?

As August 2024 I followed the video twice et 2 Achievments dowsn't pop for me. Body Count (100%) and Sailing By (50G)

lbf is pounds force not foot pounds which is a measure of torque. Thanks

while Hickory is best possibility available, there are woods that are harder denser and have even higher rapture modulus than Hickory. they are however expensive and difficult to find. I am however little bit surprised that higher density is that important. After all higher density means higher weight and you don't want your cane too heavy. of course with greater density everything everything else improves as well. I think hickory has just right density and still has very high rapture modulus and good hardness so it is probably the best overall choice as you said oak is a good choice but hickory is better.

Hickory for any shock-resistant project, but never leave it in the weather as it will rot rather quickly. Fungi love hickory and will invade instantly if moisture is allowed to penetrate the wood. Oak is a better choice if you need weather-worthy wood for your project.

I make my canes from 3/4 inch oak dowels, just because it is easy to get and because I use whitetail antlers for my handles and the 3/4 size will fit into the antler. I think I can defend myself from a knife attack, but a crowbar. I think I might try to take it or go for the jab to the gut, instead of avoidance.

You know you are old when you start getting interested in wood

I hate websites that have popups that block my access.

I like elm myself.

Have you taken a look at Osage Orange wood? I believe it excels Hickory's stats.

Interesting ... but let me ask you this: ash? I've just seen Rick Gomm's post. He mentions ash too. I mention ash because it's the traditional wood for hammers in the UK on account of its strength and flexibility and has some favour for walking stucks because it flexes a little and absorbs shoch rather than just transferring it into your arm. We do have hickory handles, but that's mainly for pickaxes. A garden spade would most likely be ash. Oak handles? Not so much at all.

Which wood is the lightest for weak old wrists?

Hi Kerry is my bet

I went with oak, which isn't as strong as hickory but plenty strong for me. Just went with it because it looked better.

While hickory would be the leader of the pack I have used Japanese ash on a few projects with excellent results.

Police batons in the old days were hickory.

👍

but what about live oak its janka is over 2000

i prefer osage orange

Where does black locus fall on this scale?

I'd say that you're hickory too....

CaneMaster canes are ridiculously expensive and over rated. I bought a solid hickory cane from purpleheart armory for only $41.99! Its strong as hell, good looking, wide crook, and so easy to manuver. The greedy canemasters care more about money .

Hickory is stronger HANDS DOWN!

so why do you bother to make canes out of oak or any other wood?