A Fresh Load of Hickory Arrives..

It’s always a good day in the workshop when a fresh load of hickory arrives. Months of planning go into sourcing the right timber to ensure we have the material needed for shinty stick production. Without hickory, there would be no sticks, and without sticks, there would be no shinty!

This latest shipment was ordered back in February and will see us well-prepared for the start of the next season. Planning never stops, though, work is already underway to secure next year’s supply.

Sourcing Hickory: From the United States to the Highlands

Over the past ten years, we’ve built strong relationships with our suppliers and sawmills. That trust has been vital in helping us through the challenges the timber trade has faced, from rising transport costs and global shortages to the disruption of the Covid years.

Our hickory story begins in the United States. Logs are selected and processed at the sawmill, where they’re cut into planks of the correct length and width. Hickory is famously tough on machinery, it blunts saw blades quickly, so many mills avoid it altogether. Once cut, the timber is carefully dried and treated to ensure it is free from insects or larvae before it can be imported into the UK.

The Journey Across the Sea

From the sawmill, the hickory is loaded into containers and taken to the docks, ready for its journey across the Atlantic. Sea freight from the US to the UK can take 2–3 months, influenced by shipping routes, seasonal congestion, weather, labour strikes, and customs clearance.

On arrival, usually into Liverpool, the container must clear customs before being unloaded and sent to a distribution centre. From there, it makes the final leg north by lorry to our workshop in the Highlands. Each delivery is the result of months of coordination, and when our stocks run low, it can mean plenty of sleepless nights until the load finally arrives.

Changing Uses for Hickory

Hickory once flowed freely into the UK. It was the timber of choice for tool handles, axes, hammers, and more – but in recent decades most of those have switched to plastic, reducing overall demand. That meant we had to think creatively about how to continue sourcing the specific dimensions we need for shinty stick manufacturing.

A Smarter Way to Cut

The breakthrough came during discussions with our supplier, when we were able to tap into a product line heavily used in the US. In the past, our hickory arrived in single long lengths, just enough to produce a full-size adult stick, and sized so it would also fit onto a pallet. Every component then had to be cut from that single length, which often left waste. And because junior and kids’ sticks are made to different sizes, it was impossible to utilise every inch of timber.

The sawmill was willing to cut our hickory to new dimensions set out by their production line. But if we stuck to just one uniform length, we still had to pay for the leftover wood from each log. The solution was simple but transformative: the mills now cut the remaining timber into the three main components we use for stick-making, along with pre-cut junior and kids’ lengths.

This means we now receive hickory in five different lengths, a more tailor-made product for our needs. It maximises efficiency at the mill in the US and reduces waste here in the workshop.

The benefit goes beyond efficiency. It allows us to keep costs under control at a time when the price of equipment is a real challenge for shinty players and families. Best of all, the savings we make are something we are delighted to pass directly on to our customers here in Scotland.

For us, this is about more than timber, it’s about protecting both the tradition of the game and the people who play it.

Alan MacPherson – Tanera Camans

Sourcing Hickory From the United States to the Highlands Video