Shagbark Hickory?

[Tom Albrecht]

Whoa! That's a Hard Wood!
My neighbor up the road from me in Wisconsin lost a nice Hickory to the Vernon County road crew-- they said it was a road hazard and left her the main trunk. It was right on the edge of the road, but from what I could tell from a cursory look and after burning up two chains, it was right where it stood for the better part of 200 years.
Originally I asked her if I could have a chunk, and promised a bowl, but she said she was hoping to find someone with a portable mill to make some lumber for her remodeling project. When that idea fell through she told me to help myself to whatever I could use for my turning projects, but I should leave one piece for her friend for "some kind of game" that he plays. So I showed up with my equipment yesterday and her boyfriend asks me if I could leave him a three foot section for Hammerschlagen:
https://www.google.com/search?q=ham...7j69i59j0l4.4920j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I had never heard of this before, but after he described it and I asked, "So you really want to use a piece of this beautiful 200 year old tree to fill with nails?", she changed her mind and told me to take all of it.

Am I going to regret this? Anybody here turn Shagbark Hickory bowls?

 

[Charlie Knighton]

I turned a couple vases out of some kind of hickory.....do not double turn....turn it green fast if you do not burn up your chainsaw trying to make blanks.....enjoy

 

[John Torchick]

Driving nails into a stump? That is supposed to be fun? Good luck in turning the SB hickory. I remember those trees on our farm in central Ohio. Made for good squirrel hunting.

 

[Paul M. Kaplowitz]

I've turned a lot a hickory. Some of it is very hard. The figure varies in individual logs. Sharpen often and use the highest RPM's you can > pmk

 

[hockenbery]

I try to turn hickory once.
Mostly Hollow forms or natural edge bowls.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I believe that there is a reason that they use hickory to make axe handles. 😀

Fresh green hickory turns like butter and dry hickory turns like concrete.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I use a hickory grinding wheel to sharpen my carbide cutters for my metal lathe and mill. 🙂
I salvaged a hickory staircase from an old building, some of the hardest wood I have ever turned.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I have and am returning Hickory bowls, I have one on the lathe and am working on it just a bit at the time, have the inside done and sanded, rounded the outside but have to finish cut and sand that still.

The wood is hard when dry, but my biggest problem was the shrinkage that is higher than most hardwoods, so I am ending up with thin walls, as I was not aware of the high shrinkage when I rough turned the bowls some 20 years ago.

I have some pictures for you here, this is a wormy shagbark rough turned piece I was given.

Hickory crotch platter.


Hickory bowl with filled worm hole at the edge.


Hickory tray I turned for LOML, also a small hawthorn natural edge bowl.

 

[Tom Albrecht]

Thanks Leo. Rough turned them 20 years ago huh?
Nice photos too. You are a prolific turner and have worked with loads of species from what I've seen in this forum-- very inspirational.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Leo. Rough turned them 20 years ago huh?
Nice photos too. You are a prolific turner and have worked with loads of species from what I've seen in this forum-- very inspirational.

Yes Tom, when I had turned these pieces with a 8% wall thickness (usually enough), and they were dry, I measured them, and it looked (then) that I would not be able to return them, but I wasn’t willing to throw them out.

Stashed them on top of the highest shelve, and so they did not remind me every day of that goof-up, I could have found out the large shrinkage of Hickory, but didn’t, (now I know 😀) .

I don’t know if the rough turned bowls did get more round by just sitting or if I did not measure right (then) NA could not happen 🙄, anyway as these had come down and got mixed in with all the other rough turned bowls when we moved over here, I found them again a while ago, measured it again and decided it should be possible to turn it (nothing to loose anyway) and yes I have turned a few now after 20 years of waiting.

See I have always rough turned all the wood of a whole log or logs, and then let them dry, to then finish some of them, so that’s how I got such a pile of rough turned bowls, last count was over a thousand, there are fewer now 😉.

Have fun turning your Hickory 🙂

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Hickory is only slightly harder than Pecan 1880 hardness vs 1820. I have not turned Hickory but have turned plenty of Pecan. All you need is sharp tools. Even at that sometimes there is a piece which just does not want to behave, then it takes extraordinary measures.

 

[Tom Albrecht]

Hickory is only slightly harder than Pecan 1880 hardness vs 1820. I have not turned Hickory but have turned plenty of Pecan. All you need is sharp tools. Even at that sometimes there is a piece which just does not want to behave, then it takes extraordinary measures.

Hah! "Extraordinary measures" to me is going to mean slow wood heat and a lovely smoky fragrance that enhances an expensive brisket or some back ribs,

 

[Hy Tran]

I've turned KD hickory (maybe it was pecan?), to make a french-style rolling pin. Cut and laminated the plank, as it was 3/4" or 1" thick. Turns just fine with a sharp skew.

 

[Zach LaPerriere]

Well, being far from the land of hickory, the only thing I know about turning hickory is how to turn hickory into construction job site fame...

About fifteen years ago I peeled a "Genuine Hickory" sticker off a sledge hammer handle and then put the sticker on my hardhat after crossing off the last few letters with a Sharpie so it said: "Genuine Hick".

My co-workers claimed it was the greatest thing I did on the job. 😀

Eventually I peeled the sticker off and put it inside a toolbox where I still see it on occasion.