Curly Hickory?

[DLH]

I have a board of hickory has nice straight grain but is really curly. I was wondering if this would be ok without a backing? I have it out to about 12in now and stopped just to here another opinion on the subject. Will post some pictures if I can hunt down my cable to the camera.

Thanks,

Daniel

[carpentertimw]

Your hickory has straight grain but is curly if it is curly that means the grain is not straight. That is what i have always heard anyway.

[okie64]

I think Im confused. Ive seen curly maple but never seen curly hickory. I would like to see a pic to see exactly what you mean. Hickory is tough stuff and hard to break but even it needs to have fairly straight grain and not too many runups in the rings.

[vinemaplebows]

I have some curly hickory as well. Mine is cut edge grain, and will be used as backing, but I will add silk to it to assure it will hold.


Brian

[dmikeyj]

Your hickory has straight grain but is curly if it is curly that means the grain is not straight. That is what i have always heard anyway.

Doesn't the term curly denote wavy appearance in the wood, but NOT the grain?  Every piece of curly maple I have has straight grain, and the curls are perpendicular to the grain.

Mike

[DarkSoul]

Have any of you ever split curly wood? For firewood, for instance. The curly wood I've split always undulates on the curly surface. Take a look at this picture:



It's very clear that the grain makes a zigzag pattern. Since the bow will not follow this zigzag pattern, we can conclude the grain has to be violated. This violation may be relatively mild, because the zigzag is fairly shallow and does not go from one side to the other, across the limb. But it's still a violation. I'm sure this will weaken the wood, the question is just if the shallow violation is enough to cause any troubles. Some woods (such as hickory) will take mild grain violations better than others.
After all, Sam Harper also used a piece of curly (red oak) wood...

[dmikeyj]

Thanks for that pic DarkSoul, I have never seen it raw like that, always in board form. 

Mike

[carpentertimw]

the pattern in oak is actually the rays rather than curl. if you look them up you will find out the difference, i don't have time to find the explanation and post it here.

[DLH]

Thanks darksoul thats what its like almost looked like the rays in quartersawn oak but its rift sawn ill post pics this week when I have more . Ill just see how it goes was free anyways. Thanks all.

[FlintWalker]

Making a bow from wood like that pictured wouldn't be violating the grain any more than the taper does on a pyramid style bow. Use what ya got.

[okie64]

Does anyone know what makes the grain curly like that? Is there any way to tell before you cut a tree whether or not it will have curly grain? My guess is you wouldnt know until you split it. I ask because we have lots of hickory and maple around here and I would like to cut some for some wood projects.

[mikekeswick]

Making a bow from wood like that pictured wouldn't be violating the grain any more than the taper does on a pyramid style bow. Use what ya got.
[/quoteViolated back fibers are NOT the same as cutting in a width taper.

[crooketarrow]

  The gain is wavey but still straight enough for a bow. The waves are in each ring. As long as you don't have run off it's as tuff as any hickory. I made my bows from staves but as long as your board don't have major run offs I don't see why you can't use it for backing. Makes a really perrty bow.

[randman]

Does anyone know what makes the grain curly like that? Is there any way to tell before you cut a tree whether or not it will have curly grain? My guess is you wouldnt know until you split it.

Guitar and Violin makers are very familiar with this kind of wood. I've been told it is because of the size of the tree it's found in. Usually a very big and old tree. The weight and size of the tree above compresses the grain in the wood below causing it to fold and "accordion" like that. You will usually see it in the lower trunk of the tree. I'm not an expert that's just what I have read and been told. And you can see it in a large standing tree sometimes in the trunk area. There are expert wood selectors that can walk through the forest and pick out the individual trees that have it.