Substitue for hickory

[Dave Cottrell]

I want to make a Gramercy Tools bow saw, but I don't have hickory on hand, which is what is recommended. I have apple from my backyard, cherry boards and some maple (hard, I think -- it has some cross-grain figure).

Would one of these do as a substitute?
Thanks
Dave

[David Weaver]

You have apple from your back yard? Lucky.

I would use apple if your apple is dry and stable. It's nice to both the hand and the eye.

Maple should be fine, but you don't want it to be too far off from straight grained. Worst thing that could happen is it could break, though, and you could always redo whatever breaks, especially if you use a glue that can be reversed.

[Richard Dooling]

When I used to work for a hardwood supplier we treated hickory and pecan as pretty much the same wood with very similar properties. We weren't making tools though. Still from what I've seen, pecan would be a good substitute.

You aren't looking at a lot of wood, could you mail order it?

[Dave Cottrell]

I'm about 3 miles from Hearne Hardwoods and they have some pecan. If I can't get this apple to turn out the way I want it then I'll spring for a board of Hick-can or Pec-kory.

[john davey]

Dave if you are 3 miles from Hearne then you always have every species on hand :)... Just go pick up what you need...

I am building one of these myself and unfortunately am 2 hours from Hearne. I have a bunch of cherry and was hoping someone would chime in that it would be OK for this. I guess I could just make it in cherry and re do it if it breaks???

[Andrew Gibson]

I used some soft maple I had on hand. A year later and it is still working just fine. I keep waiting for it to break so I can make a nice one... :)

John if you have cherry then try one out of cherry. look for nice straight grain and maybe leave it a bit heavier, or go for thin and light like you will really want it, and expect it to pop at some point.

[Niels Cosman]

Im always a big fan of ash- In terms of bendability, durability, impact resistance ( dropped my gramercy bowsaw last week and both horns chipped off-i repared seamlessly BTW) and strength to weight:ash is a champ.
It's not as fancy as fruit wood, but i think it's a really handsome wood.
I was building from scratch, I would be all about the ash. Just my two cents.

[Johnny Kleso]

Bubinga makes nice handles and is not super expensive..

[Patrick Tipton]

Gents:

Hard maple is plenty strong for that application, as is cherry (slightly weaker than maple) or pecan/hickory (slightly stronger). I would make it with either what you have or what pleases you the most.

[Kenneth Hertzog]

Just a thought
Osage Orange was used for making bows long ago
how about a piece of that
also I think I have hickory on hand that is dry and in 4x4 form
how long of a piece do you need
ken

[Richard Dooling]

How important is it to have a wood as "springy" as hickory?

+ 1 on ash - should work well and is generally available.

[Alfred Kraemer]

Unless you make the parts very thin, many woods should be fine. If you go with soft maple you may have to take into account that is is more brittle than hard maple.
My choices would be ash, oak, or hickory. BTW, you may be able to get a decent piece of hickory from an old or new implement handle with fairly straight grain.

Alfred

[John P Lewis]

Dave-

The most split resistant wood I have ever worked with is persimmon, but good luck finding decent size pieces. The three woods that you have access to sound fine. If I lived 3 miles from Hearne Hardwoods I would be always broke (but happy)!:)