Question About Downed Hickory Tree

[bowtarist]

I live on the Brown/Monroe county line here in Southern Indiana.  A few weeks ago, maybe as much a four weeks, we had some pretty harsh weather and a lot of trees came down.  I've been out mushroom hunting the last couple of days and have found a fallen hickory tree.  My question is, how long do I have to cut some staves?  Is it already too late, has the fungi and bugs already set in?  How do I know?  I make a lot of arrows, but never a bow.  Tryin' to get away from fiberglass and into the real world of archery.  I possibly have some arrows to trade for a finished bow if anyone is interested.  I plan on going to a faster comp. this weekend and posting some pix of my arrows.  I'm hoping....  Thanks for any sugestions you all can give me, Derik P. Gratz

[Matt S.]

I am no means an expert as my bows are made from boards, but I have heard that you can't let white woods sit too long before the rot and bugs set in. I'd personally go out and check the wood by removing a section of the bark and seeing how the wood looks. I'd waste no time in harvesting the wood if it looked good.

Good luck on the hickory harvest and your first self bows. It's quite addicting!

[PEARL DRUMS]

Its still good, go cut some nice 7' chunks and get them split, peeled and ends sealed.

[Bow Nut]

I just cut one the other day I leave my logs 7 foot to leave plenty of room for drying cracks at the ends.  I guess you wont know about bugs untill you get the bark off.  I would get a few logs if you can and get the bark of asap split into halfs atleast and seal the back and the ends then spray with some insecticide to keep the bugs away and kill any that might be there.  If there is any bug damage you could always take a ring or two off the back of the stave to get past it depending on how deep they are.  I got some osage recently that the bugs went about 1 1/2 deep into.  I dont think 4 weeks is to long but I am no expert on this maybe some one more knowledgeable on this with post soon.

I just saw pearl drums post I would listen to him.

[Pat B]

If the tree is still living the wood is still good. If it has been down and dead for a few weeks I'd say it was too late for bow wood. Hickory is a very strong bow wood and makes a very good bow but it will be infected by fungi in no time if it is on the ground dead.

[bowtarist]

Thanks for the replys guys.  I pretty much knew the answer, just wanted to see what the ones who know thought.  I'll give it a check, pull off some bark and look around it.  Pat, is there anyway I can tell if the fungi has set in?  Probably not, huh?  If it's got live leaves still on it,  I'll go from there.

[Pat B]

You may see discoloration in the cambium or wood under the bark but not always. If the leaves are still on it and not wilted it should be good. Be careful of cutting blown over trees with a chainsaw. Lots of hidden tensions in a tree like that. Does crazy things. 

[okie64]

Pretty good chance the fungus has already set in on it this time of year. The wood will probably be discolored under the bark. Couple of years ago I cut some logs out of a hickory that looked perfectly healthy with green leaves and nuts on it. Only thing was it was leaning over on another hickory tree. Turned out it was infected with fungus and a waste of time. Heres a pic of what the wood looked like.

It also checked real bad which isnt common for hickory.

[Dean Marlow]

I would go for it. Get it in as soon as possible and debark it and seal it. Dean

[crooketarrow]

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[crooketarrow]

  I cut and build a lot of HICKORY bows 4 WEEKS IS BORDER LINE. I would'nt but my time into it. I like to cut peel spray and ad reflex then seal all in a couple days. WHITE WOODS are really exceptable to fungus's in spring and early summer.
  But like someone said peel some bark and see. The trouble is it may not show yet. Once you remove the bark this is where the bug eggs are. Your stave is ok but I spay with just a lowes pestaside anyway.

[Eric Garza]

A couple springs ago I split a shagbark hickory that had fallen the previous fall.  It had been lying on the ground from September 2008 through May 2009.  I got several nice bows from it, just had to avoid using the section of the log that was in direct contact with the ground.  If your hickory has been down only 4 weeks, I'd go for it.

[JW_Halverson]

Okie's pics show the "spalting" that certain kinds of fungus cause.  If that was maple, it would command big prices from a furniture maker, but a bowyer would feed it to his woodstove. 

Cut it, split it, debark, shoot it with a good insecticide and see what happens after it cures.  Make sure you mark all of those staves before you toss it in with other staves so that if one proves bad you won't worry about whether you are culling good staves or bad ones. 

Good luck.

[Buckeye Guy]

Go for it !!
 Tomorrow if possible!!
Guy