Bitternut Hickory wood

[rapaport]

I cut a 6" Bitternut Hickory down on the 26th of Jan. I went to split it about a week later. When I went to split I about tore the trunk apart. It shredded and split all over. I think I might get a good stave. A few staves I inspected after the split looks like there are bad splits going right into the bow part of the wood. But is it normal for hickory to shred and really splinter up when splitting? Or is there a difference in types of Hickory and is there one type of hickory better than another in performance and straightness and knot free? I have used hackberry a twice. Love hackberry!  This will be my third bow and first hickory. Please advise... Thanks

[Pappy]

Not usually,it will usually split pretty straight,I have split a lot of Hickory of all types and once ina while you will get one that splits bad,ones that grow in fence rows or out in an open field seem to split the worst. I usuall only cut big Hickory and in the woods for that reason. I also cut late spring or early summer,don't know if that makes a difference in splitting but sure make the bark easier to come off.
   Pappy

[rapaport]

That winter bark is definitly attached. I tried peeling and the bark even pulled some strands of white wood with it. Sure wish I would have left that tree alone. But it was so perfectly straight. Im going to take the trees sprouting in my land scape and transplant where the one I cut. I feel bad that I waisted a tree for possibly only maybe two or three staves. I never seen a tree just pull apart shredded like that. Maybe it has to do with winter. I dont know.

[richardzane]

i've not had a whole lot of luck YET with Bitternut Hickory(NE Ok.) but the bark is wonderful for all kinds of uses.
Its thick and it comes off in full sheets in the spring once the sap is flowing. Wiith a drawknife you can skive off the rough outside bark
and sand it  and it polishes up like any hard wood, only with a net like pattern.
I wonder ,I bet one could even make a cool grip out of it ..it'll shrink around a piece of wood.
I'm looking for a particular tree now for a quiver or two.  I was only able to get two useable staves from an 8" dia. hick. i cut two years ago. Being in a hurry, i didn't let it season enough ,so both bows set pretty badly...both ended up cracking.
I'm with you, i love working hackberry but also enjoying the challenge of black locust and k coffee tree which
are both beautiful woods....just tempermental

[The Gopher]

The only hickory i've split was pignut and was about 5" in diameter. I split it green and it was the easiest thing i've ever done. I'm barely exaggerating when i say that i started the split with a hatchet then on the first good whack with a wedge the whole thing split down in a straight line.

[trad bow]

Super nice rattel Richard. Hickory from in  the woods splits easier for me than trees out on the edge. Trees on the edge, the grain seems to follow suns path thru the sky, kind of twisting to keep up with it.

[richardzane]

thanks Trad,
in the woods not on the edge....might just be why the hickory i've split was pretty knarly.