Hickory vs ash for hiking staves

A buyer choosing between an American hickory and a European ash hiking stave faces a real and meaningful trade-off, not a marketing distinction. The two woods sit at adjacent points on the temperate-hardwood spectrum — both are ring-porous, both are tough, both have substantial working traditions for impact-bearing tools — but they are not interchangeable. Hickory is denser, harder, and more shock-resistant; ash is lighter, springier, and more readily available across the British and Irish hill-walking tradition. The right answer depends on the user, the use, and the supply.

This comparison sets out the technical differences, the working-tradition context, and the practical recommendations for several use cases.

At a glance

	Hickory (shagbark)	Ash (European)
Binomial	Carya ovata	Fraxinus excelsior
Family	Juglandaceae (walnut)	Oleaceae (olive)
Density (12% MC)	~810–860 kg/m³	~680–710 kg/m³
Janka hardness	~8,100 N (~1,820 lbf)	~5,000 N (~1,125 lbf)
Modulus of rupture	~139 MPa	~103 MPa
Modulus of elasticity	~14.2 GPa	~12.0 GPa
Shock resistance	Highest among commercially-worked hardwoods	High, but modestly below hickory
Native range	Eastern North America	Most of Europe, into western Asia
Working tradition	American hill-walking, tool handles, baseball bats	British and Irish hill-walking, hurleys, oars
Supply (2026)	Abundant, modestly priced	Substantially compromised by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus dieback
Weight at 6 ft × 30 mm stave	~750 g	~620 g
Cost (2026, retail blanks)	Modest	Modest, but rising as supply tightens

For the full individual treatments, see Hickory and Ash. The four-wood comparison at Holly vs blackthorn vs oak vs ash covers the British natives.

Density — hickory ~20% heavier hand-for-hand

The single most consequential difference between the two woods is density. Shagbark hickory comes in at around 830 kg/m³ at 12% moisture content; European ash at around 700 kg/m³ at the same moisture content. The ratio is roughly 1.18 : 1 — a hickory stave at given dimensions weighs about 20% more than an ash stave of the same size.

Translated to a real hiking stave: a 6-foot stave at 30 mm diameter (the conservative size for a serious hill-walking stick), in oven-dry mass, runs about 750 g in hickory and about 620 g in ash. The ~130 g difference is real, sustained, and felt — over a full day’s walking, the heavier stave is the heavier stave, and a user who finds hickory acceptable for ten miles may find it tiring at twenty.

The density difference is not just about weight. It also shapes:

Inertia in motion. A heavier stave carries more momentum once swinging; this matters less for steady walking and more for pole-vault-style assists over rough ground. Hickory’s higher inertia gives more positive swing-through assistance; ash is more responsive.

Impact-bearing capacity. Higher density correlates with higher resistance to splintering and crushing under impact. Hickory’s denser structure absorbs sustained impact (axe-handle work, baseball-bat work, bo-staff work) better than ash’s slightly more open structure. For a walking stave that occasionally takes hard contact with rocky ground, the difference is real but modest.

Heat retention and feel. Heavier woods feel cooler and “denser” in the hand at first contact, then warm to body temperature more slowly. Hickory feels more like ironwood; ash feels more like a working hardwood.

Hardness — hickory substantially harder

Janka hardness measures resistance to indentation. The Wood Database lists shagbark hickory at around 8,100 N (~1,820 lbf) and European ash at around 5,000 N (~1,125 lbf). Hickory is about 60% harder than ash by Janka measure.

Hardness affects a stave in several ways:

Surface durability. A hickory stave shrugs off bruises, scrapes, and rock-impact wear that would dent or scar an ash stave. Over a multi-decade working life, a hickory stick stays cleaner-surfaced than an ash stick used on the same terrain.

Ferrule retention. The metal ferrule (foot) of a stave is held in place partly by friction against the wood; harder wood holds a ferrule more securely than softer wood, with less seasonal looseness as humidity changes.

End-grain wear. The shod end of a stave wears against the ground; hickory wears slowly, ash wears more quickly. Most working hill-walking sticks have rubber, brass, or steel ferrules to protect against end-grain wear, but where the ferrule is lost or worn through, hickory’s end grain holds up better.

Resistance to fastenings. Hickory accepts collars, ferrules, and threaded fittings more securely than ash, though both woods are workable for fitted stick construction.

Shock resistance — both excellent, but differently

Both hickory and ash are tough woods — both are at the top of the temperate-hardwood scale for shock-bearing capacity, which is why both have substantial tool-handle traditions on their respective continents. The difference is in how they handle shock.

Hickory absorbs sustained impact along the grain through the dense, tightly-packed late-wood combined with the cellular structure of the walnut family. The wood is stiff and rigid under load; it does not deflect much before transmitting the impact to the user’s hand. The result is a stave that delivers strong shock-feedback (you feel the impact) but resists fracture even under sustained heavy contact. American baseball bats, axe handles, and pickaxes are made from hickory because of this rigid-and-tough character.

Ash absorbs impact through springier deflection — the wood flexes more under load, dissipating impact energy in elastic deformation before transmitting it. The user feels less direct shock, but the wood may flex visibly at the point of impact. Hurleys (the Irish stick used in the sport of hurling, see Bataireacht for the related martial-arts context) are made from ash specifically because the spring-deflection cushions the impact of stroke against ball.

For a hill-walking stave, both characters have virtues:

• A stiff hickory stave transmits ground-feel to the user accurately. The user knows what surface they’re walking on through the stave’s response.
• A springy ash stave cushions repeated impact against rock or paving. Over a long day, the springier stave is more forgiving on the user’s wrist, elbow, and shoulder.

User preference is real here — some walkers prefer the hickory transmission (better terrain awareness), some prefer the ash cushioning (less fatigue). Neither is objectively better; the ergonomic difference is real but modest.

Weight in the hand — meaningful for all-day carrying

Combining the density and dimensions, a 6-foot stave at typical hiking-staff diameter:

• Hickory — 700–800 g, depending on exact dimensions
• Ash — 580–680 g

For someone carrying a stave through a full day of walking, the 100–150 g difference is material. The ash stave is the lighter all-day choice by a clear margin, particularly for users whose hill-walking tends toward distance rather than rough technical ground.

For shorter walks, day-hiking, or use as an occasional support stick rather than a sustained working aid, the weight difference is less consequential. A casual user who walks a few hours a few times a year is unlikely to notice the difference; a regular long-distance walker will.

Working tradition — American vs British/Irish

The cultural register of the two woods is different:

Hickory is the American working-stick wood. The American Southern carved-walking-stick tradition (see American South and Appalachia), the Western martial-arts bo-staff supply, the working tool-handle and baseball-bat industry, the broader American outdoor-equipment market — hickory is the canonical wood across all of these. An American walker wanting a serious hill-walking stave from a domestic working-tradition wood reaches for hickory.

Ash is the British and Irish hill-walking-stick wood. The Welsh shepherd’s-crook tradition, the Lake District hill-walking-stick economy, the Irish working stick supply, the British Stickmakers Guild competition culture, the Scottish hill-walking-stick tradition — ash sits centrally in all of these. A British or Irish walker wanting a serious working stave reaches for ash unless they have a specific reason otherwise.

The cultural-register difference is not arbitrary. It reflects supply (hickory is native to North America, ash is native to Europe), working tradition (each region developed its woodcraft around its dominant native hardwood), and accumulated knowledge (regional makers know their regional wood best).

For someone in the United Kingdom or Ireland, ash is the traditional choice; hickory is the import. For someone in the United States, the situation is reversed; hickory is the traditional choice, and European ash arrives in the American market only as a specialty item.

Supply — hickory abundant, ash compromised

The supply situation has changed substantially in the last decade:

Hickory remains abundantly available across North America. The American forest-product industry produces large volumes of hickory for tool handles, sporting goods, and the broader hardwood market; stick-stock supply is secure for the foreseeable future. European import of American hickory is straightforward and modestly priced.

European ash is in crisis. Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, the fungal pathogen causing ash dieback, was first detected in continental Europe in the 1990s, reached the United Kingdom in 2012, and has since spread across the great majority of British and Irish ash populations. Forest Research (UK) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) project that the disease will kill the substantial majority of mature European ash trees in Britain and Ireland over the coming decades. Some genetic resistance is being identified, and small-scale resistance breeding is under way, but the species’ working-stock supply is substantially compromised and likely to remain so for at least a generation.

The implications for stick-makers are concrete:

• Working ash blanks have become more expensive and harder to source over the last decade
• Some traditional ash suppliers in Britain and Ireland have shifted to hickory or to other woods (notably oak and chestnut) as ash supply has tightened
• Felled ash from disease-management programmes is entering the market as salvage material; the wood quality varies, and a working maker should inspect carefully
• Long-term, the ash supply will probably stabilise at a substantially-reduced level, with ash retaining its place in the working-stick tradition but not at the volume it had before the disease

For an end user, the practical implication is that hickory has become comparatively more accessible than ash in the British and Irish market over the last decade — a reversal of the historical pattern that may persist for the foreseeable future.

Recommendations by use case

For long-distance flat-ground walking (10+ miles per day, mostly trails): ash. The weight savings matter; the springier feel reduces wrist fatigue; the cultural register suits a British or Irish walker. If ash supply is constrained, look for sustainably-sourced or salvage ash; if the price is prohibitive, consider hazel (lighter and traditional, see Hazel) before substituting hickory.

For hill-walking on rough terrain (mixed rock, boggy ground, scrambling): a coin-flip between hickory and ash, with personal preference and supply availability deciding. Hickory’s harder surface stands up to rock contact better; ash’s spring is more forgiving on the user’s body. Either wood is fine.

For sustained back-country use (multi-day expeditions, remote terrain, the stick as serious working tool): hickory. The hardness and shock-resistance pull ahead under sustained heavy use. A working hickory stave will outlast a working ash stave by a meaningful margin under the same use-pattern.

For occasional weekend hiking (a few hours a few times a year): either wood; the difference doesn’t materially matter at this use intensity. Buy what your supplier has; spend less rather than more.

For a presentation piece, a gift, or a competition stick: ash if British or Irish tradition matters; hickory if American working register suits the recipient. Either wood holds polish well, takes engraving cleanly, and looks the part.

For walking-stick-as-self-defence (within reasonable legal limits): hickory. The harder, denser wood is more durable under the kind of accidental hard contact that can occur when a stick is also occasionally a defensive object.

For traditional bo-staff or martial-arts work: hickory. The American martial-arts bo-staff supply is built around hickory; the wood’s stiffness and shock-bearing capacity suit partner-practice work in a way that ash’s spring does not.

For a hurley specifically: ash, exclusively. The Irish sport of hurling uses ash specifically for the hurley because of its spring-and-cushion impact response; hickory is too rigid for the use case. (This is not a hill-walking-stick recommendation; it’s included for context.)

Beyond the two

The hickory-vs-ash comparison sits within a broader stick-wood field. For users for whom neither wood fits, alternatives include:

• Hazel (see Hazel) — lighter than ash, traditional in some British contexts, less impact-tough but very pleasant in the hand
• Oak (see Oak) — heavier than both hickory and ash, denser-grained, the timber for serious heavy walking sticks rather than light hiking staves
• Blackthorn (see Blackthorn) — different register entirely; the Irish working-stick wood, denser than hickory and shorter in working length, more weapon than walking aid
• Bamboo (see Bamboo) — much lighter than either; the Asian tradition; works well as a hiking stave for some users, less well as a serious support stick

For most British, Irish, and American hill-walkers, however, the choice between hickory and ash is the practical one — both are available, both work, and the trade-off is real but manageable. A pair of staves, one in each wood, will reveal individual preference faster than any amount of reading.