Hickory?

[Jack Mincey]

I had a man drop off some Hickory yesterday. I've turned handles and even a few bats out of it but never bowls. I cored a couple sets for him today. My ? is how does it dry. Is it bad to crack and move. His lathe isn't big enough for the big bowls from either set, so I would like to finish them if they stay together during drying. One is nature edge so I have already turned it to finial thickness to see how it does. I have both double bagged to slow the drying down as much as possible.
Thanks,
Jack

[Dave Ogren]

Jack,

As you know I am new to this only 84 bowls so far and 34 of them have been hickory. Most of them are still drying very few cracks. Of the last 4 turned this week 2 of them had a slight crack when it came off of the lathe, I used thin CA before it went into the LDD solution. After a few days (4 or 5) in the LDD I leave them upside down on the concrete floor for about a week or so and have seen no cracks in the last 15 or 20 bowls.

About the movement, I have been turning a 9 to 11 inch dia. bowl leaving the wall thickness between a 1/4 to a 3/8 inch. When they come off of the lathe they are from 1/8 to 1/4 inch or more out of round already.

I don't know if I am doing something wrong or ??? I have lowered the speed (RPM's) that turn them trying to reduce the heat generated by them. My chips are warm and the bowl gouge actually gets almost to warm to touch.

Best of luck, Jack, I am sure yours will turn out well. Keep us posted.

Dave

[Bill Bolen]

I've found hickory to be only slightly better than White Oak for turning. Seems to have a lot of movement while drying but does not crack as readilly as WO...Bill..

[Jack Mincey]

Thanks guy's, one of these bowls could turn out very nice if it makes it through the drying stage. The dark heart wood was all on one side, all the way to the bark almost. I know what to expect out of the woods I've turned in the past, just didn't know what hickory might do. It turned with a gouge very easy, but was not as easy to core as the other woods I've done. Just have to wait and see how it comes out. I have a few more rounds that I will have to core if these work out.
Thanks again,
Jack

[Nathan Hawkes]

i've really enjoyed turning hickory. It definitely is not fun to turn when dry at all--it turns well when wet, but still can't be hogged out like softer woods.
I think it really shear scrapes beautifully, and in my limited experience (a tree that fell in winter) the bark stays on pretty well.

When turned very thin, I got a pretty good amount of warpage, which I really don't mind, as all of them were natural edge bowls. Thicker than 3/8" may crack badly if dried quickly, and bark inclusions or small checks should be strengthened. I have probably turned 15-20 bowls from about 8 log sections--several were successive cores. Most were turned less than 1/4" thick, which seems to me to be plenty heavy and durable for regular use.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Jack, Hickory is no problem drying, but it moves more than most other wood, found this out the hard way, and still have a couple sitting that can't be returned as they moved just too much, but none did split on me.