Pecan is hickory or is it

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it depends on it's genus, sooooo yes and no

Carya illinoinensis is Pecan
All other carya genus are types of Hickory.

All Carya genus bear nuts and have roughly the same leaf makeup.
Most other hickory nuts i think are on the bitter side and not pleasant to eat if mempry serves
 
Yes, and no ... :rolleyes:

Google pecan, or "wiki" it, and you'll get tons of answers that may help. What I took away is that they are similar enough to use them together, and you would not know the difference. One site said hickory tends to get used for lumber, and pecan for veneer.
 
they are nut trees. that's about all I know.

pecan is lighter colored than hickory...at least the pieces that go in my smoker are.
 
A lot of cabinet shops will tell you they are.... when ordered in for a job you can get either. they look and work the same.......
 
I had an old wood worker tell me east of the mississippi is pecan and west is hickory or something like that but they are different as he turns shafts for golf clubs from hickory and knows the difference. I also have over a hundred pen blanks in hickory I got from him beautiful to turn and finish. I made a bunch of Pens for Troops using them.
 
Pecans and hickory are distinct nuts, distinct trees, and distinct lumber. But it takes some experience to tell the difference. In the timber market, pecan is often sold as hickory, there isn't as much market for pecan. Depending on where you are, if you bought a truck load of hickory lumber there is good chance that you would get some pecan mixed in.

When you are working it, hickory cuts and sands cleaner, pecan tends to fuzz up a little when worked.
 
One doctor always stopped at a local bar after work for a hazelnut daiquiri - a special drink the bartender created just for him. One day, the bartender ran out of hazelnut flavor so he substituted hickory nuts instead.
The doctor took one sip of the drink and exclaimed, 'This isn't a hazelnut daiquiri!'
'No, I'm sorry', replied the bartender, 'it's a hickory daiquiri, doc.'
 
GoatRider said:
One doctor always stopped at a local bar after work for a hazelnut daiquiri - a special drink the bartender created just for him. One day, the bartender ran out of hazelnut flavor so he substituted hickory nuts instead.
The doctor took one sip of the drink and exclaimed, 'This isn't a hazelnut daiquiri!'
'No, I'm sorry', replied the bartender, 'it's a hickory daiquiri, doc.'
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Click Me and press the red button!
 
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Well heck. I am none the wiser. I have been looking for a pecan slab. I guess the only way of assuring I get one is to drive to texas, find a pecan orchard that is being thinned and get it there. That ain't happening anytime soon.
 
"Non the wiser yet" and here is another bit of info that contradicts some said earlier. My dad used to say that they were "cousins". Pecan paneling has always been dark and is expensive but not as popular as it used to be. I have used hickory handles in hammers, sledge hammers and other tools for over 50 years. Hickory handles are lighter colored than Pecan. I had a pecan tree cut down in our yard in 2005 and salvaged some of the log. Still have two pecan trees in our yard. Our pecan is somewhat darker than most hickory that I have ever used, but not as dark as walnut, except in old paneling in offices and some old expensive homes of the 40's, '50's and '60s.

My dad, in his retirement, made wood pallets for shipping. He got lots of hickory that he used and often put back nice looking boards of many varieties of wood for me. Hickory ran light to mildly reddish/brown and sometimes with streaks in it. Another difference is that my pecan has a milder smoke flavor than hickory but it is similar.

I went to a specialty wood shop in Memphis back in 2000/2001 looking for some light colored hickory as in hammer handles. They showed me some darker wood. I said, "That's not hickory". They replied, "No it is pecan actually, but they are the same thing." I didn't buy it, but bought some ash instead.

Some people, for some reason consider them the same, but they are not, and do not produce the same kind of nuts. They are similar and they might be in close tree families, but they are not the same. Hickory, when green makes great thin strips such as for weaving in chairs seats (different from caning). I had a Japanese friend who wanted me to find a green hickory tree and send him some of the strips (called splints) so that he could make the chair seat. It is common to find chair frames made from hickory, but not so much from pecan. Pecan seems to be a tad more brittle to me than hickory.

Just my opinion. I am not an expert, but I did grow up on a farm with lots of trees of different kinds. Did a lot of hunting and quite a bit of woodwork - not so much with pecan but some with hickory, but mostly oak, walnut, maple and cherry.
 
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Haynie said:
Well heck. I am none the wiser. I have been looking for a pecan slab. I guess the only way of assuring I get one is to drive to texas, find a pecan orchard that is being thinned and get it there. That ain't happening anytime soon.
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South of Phoenix down to the Green Valley areas south of Tucson has Pecan orchards -- Shorter Drive.

The orchards cut and sell most of the prunings for firewood -- but some of the Tucson Turners buddied up last winter and got a bunch of turning wood for a nominal fee.
 
From `Identifying Wood` by Bruce Hoadley

The true hickories are pignut hickory , shellbark hickory , shagbark hickory and mockernut hickory .

The pecan hickories are pecan , water hickory , bitternut hickory and nutmeg hickory .

The true hickories are denser , hence generally stronger . They are typically ring porous whereas the pecan hickories are semi-ring porous . Other differences visible on end grain at 10X generally allow identification of the two groups , but not of individual species .
 
The Penguin said:
Come Thanksgiving, somebody better not hand me a hickory nut pie and tell me it's pecan.
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I have a feeling you would like hickory nut more than pecan, especially Pig Nut Hickory. The nutty taste is more intense, but the nuts are tough to crack, you need a heavy sledge hammer and lots of patience. Even after you crack the outer shell the inner dividers in the nut are hard to crack. If you work hard for a couple hours you might get enough small pieces of the nuts to make a pie.
 
I've eaten hickory nuts once. We were at a lakeside campsite here in TX, and there was a hickory tree next to the picnic table.

you're right about the work required - a lot of work for very little reward.

give me Texas paper-shell pecans any day.
 
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