a few hickory questions

[WhistlingBadger]

Removing the bark from these hickory staves has brought up a few questions.
1.  Is hickory bark good for smoking meat, tanning hides, or anything else?
2. Underneath the bark, there's a darker colored strip of wood before the white wood begins.  It looks like a few rings of heartwood got really lost and ended up outside the sapwood.  Anybody want to shed some light on what's going on there?  Will the darker stuff still make a good bow back?
3. Does hickory heart wood make good bows?  One of these staves has a really nice looking strip of heartwood.

Thanks!
Thomas

[Hawkdancer]

Thomas,
I haven't tried to use hickory bark, but it should have enough tannin to use for tanning, and also smoking hides.  I have cooked/smoked some meat with with bark on hickory - DELICIOUS!!
That darker strip is probably the cadmium.  It will help camouflage the bow.  Give the heart wood try, can't do any worse than exploding   !  Might back it with rawhide, boo, or sinew, though.  Haven't tried that either!  Good luck!
Hawkdancer

[RyanY]

1. I know some people use hickory sapling bark for things like chair seats or baskets but not sure if it can be used once dried.
2. That is still part of the bark I believe.
3. I think there’s a lot more variability with heart wood. Some boards with heartwood seem pretty solid. A hickory tree I cut years ago had pretty soft heartwood. Probably not as good as the sapwood in most cases.

[George Tsoukalas]

1.  ?

2. That would be the cambium or what we call the inner bark. No good for the back.

3. I never used all heartwood but I've heard sapwood is the best. Don't know for sure. I haven't seen many staves of hickory with enough heartwood for a bow.

[Dances with squirrels]

I have several hickory billets of solid heartwood. It looks like very good, solid, dense, flawless wood. I haven't made a bow with it yet though, so I can't say for sure.

But I'll probably use that before the hickory sapwood staves I have with petrified bark on them. The heartwood billets were belly splits and are already chased to a single ring. Time. Just gotta find the time.

[PatM]

That's the inner bark of hickory. 

 There was an article on leaving the inner bark on a hickory bow back in the early days of the mag.  Has to be cut in the winter.

[BowEd]

Pat is right.
If a person can it's best to cut hickory around this time of year.The bark pops off easily.Or get it from someone whos' treated it this way and has stored it properly off the ground and inside a shed.

I've only made sapwood bows from hickory.I've made arrow shafts from both heartwood and and sapwood hickory and don't notice any difference in density or spine.
Hickory bark is excellent for smoking meat and hides.Very nice taste and smell to it.The shagbark trees' bark itself is about like wood.Hard as a rock but thin wood.

[Hrothgar]

Great for BBQ, also smoking dried jalapenos into chipotles - a little bit can go a long way.