Can you turn Hickory?

[John Hixon]

Is this stuff too hard or just right?

[Bob Hallowell]

Ok, I will play your silly little game can you turn hickory?


BTW turns nice greens. so rough it then finish turn it.

Bob

[John Hixon]

Ok, I will play your silly little game can you turn hickory?


BTW turns nice greens. so rough it then finish turn it.

Bob

I'm not playing games. I am new to turning and never tried hickory. I suppose some woods are too hard, some are too soft, I don't know. Please, if I ask a question, I need a basic answer.

What do you mean, turns nice greens.

[Quinn McCarthy]

John

I turn hickory all the time in segmented bowls. I have made some spindles from it as well. You have to make sure your tools are really sharp. Also sharpen along the way if needed.

I hope that helps you.

Quinn

[Steve Busey]

>> What do you mean, turns nice greens.

John,

Generally, most woods turn easier when they're green, or recently cut. The dryer they are, the harder they cut. I don't think he was talking about turning salads... ;)

Hope that helps

[robert hainstock]

any sustance can be turned. All woods can be turned. Some are harder to turn than others. Hickory will require sharp tools and patience. best of luck. :):)
Bob

[John Hixon]

Thanks, Guys, a neighbor is having trees cut down and I might be able to run a midnight requisition on some pieces.

There is also white and red oak.

Several logs in excess of 20" in diameter that will probably be split and burned.

[Glenn Hodges]

I have turned a good bit of hickory. Hickory is a cousin of pecan which I have turned more than a show dog can jump over. Some of the hickory has beautiful character and some it bland. This might be difficult to determine in the dark.

[Ben Gastfriend]

I've turned some wet hickory and it's now drying using the DNA process. Turned pretty well while wet/green. I did have to run to the grinder a little more often. We'll see in 6 months when I finish turn.

[Bernie Weishapl]

John the only wood that I had trouble turning was black locust and hickory is not half as hard. Hickory turns well. I would get all you can handle especially if it's free.

[Barry Elder]

John, I can only turn hickory if you send me some! Turned some "bird-pecked" hickory and it looked very nice. Offer to turn a bowl for your neighbor and maybe he'll let you have all the wood.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Look at my posts about Andy's wood.

It will show you what you can do with Hickory! If you go through all of them, you will see haw it came to me and "Final Chapter - Andy's wood" to see how it came out.

Bruce

[Chris Barnett]

Where in East Tennessee? Would be nice to have some, neighbor :D.

[John Hixon]

PM Sent just now

[Bob Hallowell]

I'm not playing games. I am new to turning and never tried hickory. I suppose some woods are too hard, some are too soft, I don't know. Please, if I ask a question, I need a basic answer.

What do you mean, turns nice greens.

John,
I meant no offence in my post, I was just playing sorry if you took it wrong. But I did answer you question It turns good green/wet and then finish turn after dry.

Bob

[Cyril Griesbach]

John,
I have turned a lot of Hickory and, like others have said, it turns great when it's green. When it's dry it's like concrete so sharp tool are an absolute must so sharpen often because they dull quickly. Hickory also splits readily as it dries so be very cautious with what ever drying method you choose. I've had success with Dave Smith's DNA process.

We turners use what is called the 10% rule when rough turning green wood to dry before finish turning it. This means leaving a wall thickness in your rough turned bowl of 10% of the diameter. However, my experience with Hickory would be to leave more than just the 10% because the Hickory I have seems to warp more than some of the other wood species. Also, if (actually, when) it develops surface cracks in the drying process, you should be able to turn past these when you finish turning.

I hope this helps.

[Harvey Mushman]

No messin' around! Hickory turns quite nicely when wet. However, let it dry in the rough shape for 6 months and it is like turning a brick, very hard and tough! Shallow cuts are called for. Ultra-sharp tools are a necessity. The end grain will tear a bit on you. It is all worth it when you are finished. A beautiful, nearly indestructable bowl will result.

Guys - Can we please pay attention to punctuation? Some of the run-on sentences are very difficult to read without commas and periods.

[Bob Hallowell]

Guys - Can we please pay attention to punctuation? Some of the run-on sentences are very difficult to read without commas and periods.

Sorry, Grammar nor spelling were my best subjects:D

Bob

[Dean Thomas]

Had someone provide some nifty pen blanks out of hickory, cut on the bias. The grain and the movement involved was really special.

They were very nicely dried blanks and the areas at the bottom of the blanks was a little chippy because of the nature of the wood. Patience and sharpened and resharpened tools will help you conquer!

[John Bartley]

With all the warnings about drying very hard, and about bad cracking ... has anyone here tried turning hickory green to finished size? I'd be curious to hear about other's experiences and to know if Hickory being turned to finish size before drying results in an unusably cracked bowl or a delightfully quirkily warped one?

cheers

[Paul Vicchitto]

This bowl was green turned to finish form. 2 coats of Antique Oil Buffed with Beal tripoli and carnuba. 7" x 3". It turned very nicely when green finished wall thickness about 1/4 ". I couldn't beat the price.....free!!!

[Joe Petersen]

Funny to read this post. Today I came home to find a set of drumsticks my wife bought to "remember the old times". They are hickory. and obviously turned on a lathe. They have plastic tips. Probably the same as the UMHW or whatever the heck that stuff some woodworkers use for jigs and such. I think I could make them. If only I had a lathe. Good information here.

[Bob Hallowell]

I turned a nice 12" salad bowl for my mil for Christmas and it turned out great. No movement after final turning, I soaked it dna and finished turned in 3 weeks.

Bob

[Maylon Harvey]

Since it is one of the woods that is plentiful to me for turning (probably 10 cord out back in the wood pile for the outside boiler), I've tured a few Hickory bowls. Every time I put a big piece in the fire, I think, boy, that would make a nice bowl and want to save it. It turns great wet and DNA drying works pretty good, but not 100 %, at least not for me. Turned all the way wet gives you some interesting bowls when dry. But don't drag it out. I turned one and decided to sand it the next day. Wrong, it had already moved so far it was impossible to power sand and I had to do it the hard way. But it was worth it. The bowl sides warped just like flower petals and it was a favorite.

[John Bartley]

Paul & Maylon,

Thank you for your answers. Paul's bowl is beautiful! and has almost the same colouration as the hickory that I have stored in a snowbank outside:). I think that based on these answers, I'm going to turn mine green to finished size.....and sand at the same time!

cheers eh?

[Paul Vicchitto]

Have at it and Good Luck!

[Kennneth Sain]

I thought most wood baseball bats were Hickory (?)

[Russ Peters]

I'm new here and just starting to think about turning.... mainly been doing band-saw boxes and scroll work... please enlighten me to what DNA drying is. I am assuming that it is denaturedalcolhol but have never heard how or what effect it has on wood

OK I found the search tool.... now I know no need to reply

[Rick Gifford]

I thought most wood baseball bats were Hickory (?)

Most bats are made from Ash.

[Chuck Jones]

I just started turning last summer. Here is one of the very first pieces I turned. It's shagbark hickory from a very large tree at the entrance of our farm. Much to our disappointment it died. I sawed it into lumber a few years ago and it was quite dry when I turned it. I didn't have much trouble with it.