Can you turn Hickory?

[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

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.