Hickory and alder are two of the most common choices for rustic-style kitchen cabinets, and both are well-known smoking woods, but as lumber they are at opposite ends of the scale. Hickory is one of the hardest, toughest and heaviest native woods; red alder is light, soft and easy to work. This page sets out the Wood Handbook numbers for shagbark hickory and red alder and what they mean in practice.
Hickory vs Alder: the numbers
| Property | Shagbark hickory | Red alder |
|---|---|---|
| Janka side hardness, 12% MC | 1,880 lbf | 590 lbf |
| Density at 12% MC | 50.3 lb/ft³ | 28.7 lb/ft³ |
| Weight per board foot | 4.20 lb | 2.39 lb |
| Bending strength (MOR), 12% MC | 20,200 psi | 9,800 psi |
| Stiffness (MOE), 12% MC | 2.16 million psi | 1.38 million psi |
| Crushing strength parallel to grain | 9,210 psi | 5,820 psi |
| Shrinkage green to ovendry, tangential | 10.5% | 7.3% |
| Shrinkage, radial | 7.0% | 4.4% |
| Shrinkage, volumetric | 16.7% | 12.6% |
| Tangential / radial ratio (cupping tendency) | 1.5 | 1.66 |
| Width change per 1% MC, flatsawn (Table 13-5) | 0.411% | 0.256% |
| Heartwood decay resistance (Table 14-1) | slightly or nonresistant | slightly or nonresistant |
What the numbers mean
- Hardness: Shagbark hickory is 219% harder than Red alder (1,880 against 590 lbf), so it resists dents from furniture feet, dropped tools and wear correspondingly better.
- Weight: Shagbark hickory is 75% heavier. A 1 x 6 board 8 feet long (4 board feet nominal) weighs about 16.8 lb in shagbark hickory and 9.6 lb in red alder at 12% moisture content.
- Strength and stiffness: Shagbark hickory is 106% stronger in bending and 57% stiffer. Stiffness is what decides how much a shelf of the same size sags under the same load.
- Movement: a flatsawn board 10 in wide that goes from 6% to 12% moisture content (a dry winter to a humid summer indoors) swells about 0.247 in (1/4 in) in shagbark hickory and 0.154 in (5/32 in) in red alder, from Handbook Eq. 13-2 and the Table 13-5 coefficients. Allow for this in table tops, panels and floors.
- Decay resistance of the heartwood: Shagbark hickory: slightly or nonresistant; Red alder: slightly or nonresistant. Sapwood of every species has low decay resistance.
Appearance, working and what to watch for
Hickory shows strong contrast between pale sapwood and brown heartwood, usually sold mixed as calico or rustic grade, with bold grain. Alder is pale pinkish brown and even, turning honey-coloured with age; knotty alder is its rustic grade. In a cabinet door the difference is visible across the room: hickory looks busy and varied, alder calm.
Hickory’s hardness and toughness come at a price in the shop. It is hard on tools, prone to tear-out and needs pre-drilling for screws and nails, and it shrinks and swells much more than alder, so doors and panels need proper construction. Alder machines, glues and finishes very easily and moves little, but it dents with a fingernail compared with hickory. Neither has decay-resistant heartwood.
Working hickory and alder in one kitchen
Mixing the two is common: alder boxes and shelves with hickory doors, or the reverse. Because hickory moves more, use frame-and-panel doors and let the panels float. Pre-drill every hinge and handle screw in hickory; in alder, use the correct pilot size so screws do not strip, since soft wood holds screws less firmly. Our wood screw pilot hole chart gives sizes for both hardwoods and softwoods.
Which to choose: verdict by use
| Use | Better choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen cabinets that take knocks | Hickory | About three times as hard; dents barely show in calico grade. |
| Cabinets with an even stained colour | Alder | Takes stain evenly; hickory varies board to board. |
| Flooring | Hickory | One of the hardest domestic floor woods; alder is too soft. |
| DIY furniture with hand tools | Alder | Soft, light and easy to work. |
| Tool handles | Hickory | The hickories top the Handbook impact bending test among native US woods. |
| Smoking fish | Alder | The traditional Pacific Northwest salmon smoking wood; hickory is stronger flavoured, more usual for pork and beef. |
Frequently asked questions
Is hickory harder than alder?
Yes, about 3.2 times as hard: 1,880 lbf against 590 lbf in the Wood Handbook.
Are alder cabinets durable?
They are durable as boxes and doors, but alder dents more easily than oak, maple or hickory. A good hard finish and a rustic or knotty grade hide small marks.
Hickory or alder for smoking?
Both are used. Alder gives a light smoke traditionally used for salmon; hickory gives a strong smoke often used for pork and bacon. Use only clean, untreated, unpainted wood.
Sources and method
All property values are read from our parsed copy of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-190, 2010), a US Government publication in the public domain, the same data as the wood species database. The percentages and the board examples above are our arithmetic on those values. The values describe small, clear, straight-grained specimens: real boards with knots or sloping grain differ, and structural lumber is sized from graded design values in your local building code, not from this table.
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-190, 2010. Chapter 2 (species descriptions), Chapter 4 (Tables 4-3, 4-4 shrinkage; Eq. 4-7, 4-9, 4-12 density), Chapter 5 (Tables 5-3b, 5-5b strength and hardness), Chapter 13 (Table 13-5 dimensional change coefficients), Chapter 14 (Table 14-1 decay resistance)
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook, 2021 edition (FPL-GTR-282)
Last reviewed: 24 October 2026. How we build and check our data: methodology and corrections. Spotted an error? Please let us know.