fundamental physics question

[uDevil]

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What you're looking for is the speed of sound in wood (not speed of wood), and it is much faster than the speed of sound in air:

http://www.uk-piano.org/sound.html

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Also, it's possible that a shock wave (traveling faster than the speed of sound in the material) is formed:

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A shock wave may be described as the furthest point upstream of a moving object which "knows" about the approach of the object. In this description, the shock wave position is defined as the boundary between the zone having no information about the shock-driving event, and the zone aware of the shock-driving event, analogous with the light cone described in the theory of general relativity.
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To get a shock wave something has to be travelling faster than the local speed of sound. In that case some parts of the air around the aircraft are travelling at exactly the speed of sound with the aircraft, so that the soundwaves leaving the aircraft pile up on each other, similar to a tailback on a road, and a shock wave forms, the pressure increases, and then spreads out sideways. Because of this amplification effect, a shock wave is very intense, more like an explosion when heard (not coincidentally, since explosions create shock waves).

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_wave