Hickory: To stain or not to stain

[tailfeather]

Hi fellers,
Longtime reader but first time poster.  Finishing up a snakeskin-backed hickory selfbow.  I'll be finishing the bow with truoil.  In the past I've stained hickory bows and have used bear grease but never finished one with truoil.  The belly wood is so white I want it darker, but don't think the truoil will darken it enough without first applying something to darken it.

Do any of ya'll regularly stain hickory?  Oil or water based stain under the truoil?

Sorry to start out with a question, but I know someone has the answers.  Learned a ton from this site.

[JonW]

Hickory doesn't take stain real well. It will take some of the darker type stains like Walnut. I used some Ebony stain once and really liked it.

[Don]

I have used leather dye, like fiebing's. 
Come in many colors and you can mix color to what you like.
I get mine at a local shoe repair shop.
Something else I have used is aquafortis. But it takes heat to change the color after applying and with the skins already on you may not want to use it now.
Just other options.

[tallpine]

I use Fiebings too. you can thin it with alcohol to get the shade that you want

[George Tsoukalas]

I've used Rit in denatured alcohol (rubbing alcohol worked for me too) but it takes a few coats to cover it. Then I spray with spar urethane for 3 coats. Jawge

[autologus]

Take a piece of scrap and apply some Truoil to it in several coats and see how much it darkens it.  You might be surprised to see how much it darkens it.

Grady

[BOWMAN53]

Cherry stain looks great on hickory, water based and just let it soak into the wood a long time before you wipe it down. Ive never had a problem with hickory not taking the stain.

[Onebowonder]

Pignut Hickory can be a booger about not taking stain.  My first bow was pignut and it was WAY too bright.  I live in the Ozarks, so finding some Walnut hauls was trivial.  I boiled them in some vinegar and water, mashed them down and boiled them some more, then strained off the solid chuncks, added a couple tablespoons of light weight mineral oil, and rubbed it into the wood.  Worked great, and felt real primitive too!   

OneBow

[DavidV]

Hickory takes the vinegar/steel wool stain nicely, not splotchy like oil based stains. Here's one I did, sorry about the bad pictures but you get the idea.

[Strongbow]

I have used the walnut hull and steel wool/vinegar stain with good effect on hickory.  If I want a darker finish, I also like to use the walnut hull as first coat, and then re-coat the with steel/vinegar solution.  The tannins are what react with the steel wool/vinegar solution, and there are extra tannins in the walnut hulls (some tea leaves can also give you a similar effect).  As others mentioned test some on a scrap first, ideally with the same wood so you know you like it.  This bow is hickory backed and I used 2 coats of the walnut hull stain on it:

[osage outlaw]

I've used RIT dye mixed with alcohol on hickory with good results. 

Probably not the shade you are wanting but here is my wifes hickory bow stained with RIT and finished in tru oil. 

[DavidV]

Exactly Strongbow, i left that part out. I wipe the bow down with strong tea, if it's strong enough the wood will turn black.

[tailfeather]

Great info.  I like that vinegar/steel wool stain. Thanks so much, all. 

[Weylin]

Another vote for Fiebing's leather dye.

[Buckeye Guy]

Hickory loves stain , any stain !!
Sand it good and watch the transformation begin !
Sanding is key to any good stain job !!