Hickory issues

[Gene Zimmerman]

I am about to undertake a kitchen cabinet reface using hickory. I know nothing!! anyone with some experience they would share would be appreciated. I will have to rip and route quite a bit, and i have been told it has considerable stress in it. Is this so? and how does it manifest when working with it? will be making shaker style doors, with ply hickory panels, so at least dont have to build up and route the panels. any way, any experience anyone has would be appreciated. g

[Keith E Byrd]

Gene, I don't know what you mean by it has a lot of stress in it. I have made a couple of projects ( I can upload pictures if you like) nothing as big as cabinets - I made a large toy box and hickory footstool and found them fairly easy to work with and very easy to sand and finish. Make few cuts and try it - I don't think you will have any problems

[Ed Sallee]

I just made a humidor out of hickory... just posted it....
Hickory is some tough stuff. It seemed to want to splinter easily.. I didn't run across any stress issues, but then again... I only worked with one board for the box and another for the lid.....

But... it is tough and it is heavy...

[John Shaffner]

Gene, I love the look of hickory. I am actually going to do our kitchen in the spring, with hickory. I have done 2 sets of kitchen cabs in the past and they came out great, customer loved them.

Hickory is hard, use sharp tools. It is also rather splintery, again use sharp tools. I does have a tendency to move around a bit, plan accordingly if you're doing raised panels. Sanding and finishing is quite normal and the look IMHO is stunning.

I had ordered 25% more than I needed to do the cabs and ended up getting more, so order 30-35% more if you want to have enough. Inevitably you'll have waste and hopefully a little extra for the stash.

Good luck,
John

[tim young]

I'm building an entertainment center out of Hickory. Extremely hard wood. Very hard on your tools. I did have a board pop on me the other day. I was ripping a board for a glue up that was about 10" wide. About 6" into the cut, the board split near the blade. I turned the saw off and removed the board. I've had no issues sanding or finishing Hickory. I actually prefer it w/o any stain. Tim

[Darnell Hagen]

Hickory is tough, tough, tough. You'll spend five minutes sanding out a scratch, until you realize you've just worn out your sandpaper. It's very heavy, too. I've made a few dining tables from the stuff, an 8/4 hickory table top is backbreaking.

It varies in colour quite a bit, do that's a bit of a challenge. Figured hickory is beautiful, it's curl can be as tight as in maple.

Are you able to buy hickory ply or are you making your own veneer?

[Robert Chapman]

+1 on hard and splintery. It's a very durable wood. Whenever I work with it I end up picking tiny slivers out of my hands for days.

[Brad Reiter]

Just finished up planning and T/G'ing ~1000 sq ft of hickory out of rough cut for my floor. Not sure if your project is as involved but be ready to sharpen your tools constantly otherwise you get tearout.

The most trouble i had was planning it, like i said tearout is the biggest issue, the grain constantly is changing direction but use sharp bits and take lighter cuts and you will be fine. I did notice the rough cut i was using was fairly bowed and twisted which may have been just some wind ravaged trees.

The flooring is being acclimated currently, but it sure looks nice, it was a bear to mill but the results will be worth the extra work.

[Quinn McCarthy]

I have done 2 kitchens in Hickory. One person wanted the whitest hickory I could find and the other the wildest grain. It is a splintery wood. Good sharp carbide tools are essential. The cabinets are solid as a rock. I haven't had any issues with using hickory. I have never heard under stress used for hickory. Any wood can be stressed if it isn't treated right. Improper kiln drying can cause stress. Stress on a tree can be from where the tree grew. Hope that helps.

Quinn

[Paul Ryan]

Dont forget it burnes easy too. I have done a bunch of stuff out of hickory including my kitchen. It is hard, hard, hard, as others have stated, it splinters, and it burns easy. But it is one of my favorite woods. The grains and colors make it beautiful. Save your wood chip it works great in the smoker.

[Lee Schierer]

Our entire bedroom suite is made from hickory.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~us71na/leedresser.jpg
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~us71na/suedresser.jpg
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~us71na/hheadboard.jpg

Sorry for the grainy photos they are old.
You will need carbide tools and will need to pay attention to grain flow when routing, planing or jointing to avoid chip out. It will burn easily if your tools aren't sharp and well aligned. You also will not want to stop a router bit in mid cut while in contact with the wood. It will sand to a glass smooth finish, but doesn't like to take stain. All my hickory was air dried and I had a few pieces that reacted when cut. Mostly bowing on rip cuts. You will not want to make large cross grain glue ups as the wood will tend to split as it changes with the seasonal humidity changes. It smells nice when working with it and the scraps work well in the Barbie....;) You will need to drill pilot holes of the right size for all screws and will want to lubricate the threads with beeswax before screwing in any screw the first time, other wise the screw may break or the wood may split. It glues up just great with regular PVA type glues.

You can trim with your hand plane and chisels, but again pay close attention to grain flow and make sure your tools are sharp.

I currently have about 300-400 bdft part of which will get converted into a bedroom set for my grandson. It has been air drying in my garage attic for 20 years.

[Steve Griffin]

Nothing but good advice so far.

I've done 2 kitchens in hickory and some furniture and don't find it's handling qualities much of a problem.

The only thing I would add is that it ages poorly--especially in bright sunlit rooms, it will turn pale and the grain washes out. All the lights and darks blend together. Still looks nice in it's own way, but it will never be as stunning as when new.

-Steve

[Darnell Hagen]

other wise the screw may break

Ya, that is an issue with Hickory.

Here's the last table I made, sorry about the glare.


http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s168/DarnellHagen/scan0004-1.jpg

[Jim Eller]

Gene,

This is my first project with hickory. I bought a mess of it for 50 cents a board foot so I thought I should use some.

I decided to build my granddaughter a hope chest from it. I did not have any issues with making the rails, stiles or the raised panels with it. I put the corners together with a tongue and groove set and thought I may get some splintering running with the grain but it came out perfect. Maybe it was luck.

As you can see, it is still in the beginning stages.

The corner shot is the t&g joint, 3/4" from the end. It is just dry fitted but it went together well in all four corners.

I'm really happy a bought a bunch of the stuff.

Jim

[Gene Zimmerman]

thanks for all the advice. good stuff. loved the pics.
i went to the lbr yard and looked at what they had.....not quite as stunning as i had hoped, in that it doesnt have the wide color variation i was looking for. expecially the 1/4" ply i plan on using for the panels in the cabinet doors. i dont have the capability to glue up lots of 3/4 for panels, so ply is my only choice, unless someone knows something else. any other hickory options/choices out there for the door panels that will give me more color variation?