Recovering from New Baby (see post New Baby), but would like to start a new home for the wife and kids this year.
I am leaning to a sort of country folk style.
Anybody ever worked with hickory?
I have seen and think the wife and I would like hickory cabinets with clear finish using a mission style door to continue the simple country theme. Hickory, or as they say in my home state of Tennessee, hickree…one sillybull.
Replies
Beautiful wood, unbelievable amount of movement. Make sure to glue up doors and give enough space between them. Really.
My first hickory cabinet now has shiiplap doors all year because they swell so much they wouldn't open on rainy humid days.
I went with a butcher block type slab door. Rail and stile or any floating panel will help but watch the frame spaces.
Good luck and congrats.
Like jackstraw says, the stuff does move.
If you are building them from KD stock the one thing I have learned to do is let it set for 24 to 48 hr before assembly. Ripping, jointing, and sometimes cutting to length changes the stress in that wild grain pattern. What is flat and straight after milling may not be that way after a day or two. Better to see it happen stacked on the bench than in the assembled cabinet :(
Dave
As a finisher hickory is a dream to work with...its relatively hard stains consistantly and has nice grain pattern. Good choice. stinky
Hickory is a little tough on the tools, but then you get a very durable product in the end. Here's some hickory from my woodlot. Oil finish, no movement problems, (installation incomplete when I took the pic).
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
uuuuummm........beautiful
I want to thank each of you for the comments and advise...good advise.
VaTom, a special thanks to you considering our run in and exchange related the Pastors home (note I said Pastor's home and not Church parsonage). Related to that exchage, please forgive me if I was out of line, or did not seem to be able to see the forest for the teees.
I am building our own home, never used hickory before and am sure this will be a model for future clients....form what I have seen hickory is indeed beautiful.
I'll echo what DaveRichardson said. Maple also has a reputation for moving around. My process is slow but the results are quite stable:
Cut all stock ~1/2" long
Joint 1 side & 1 edge
Plane ~1/8" fat, balancing amount taken off each side
Rip to ~1/2" wider than finish
Sticker and do something else for a week or two
Repeat steps 1-4, to finish size
Keep stickered till ya use it
My shop has relatively even humidity and is kept at 60 degrees which helps. Sorry if that's a bit remedial!
That was then, this is now. As I mentioned, I obviously rubbed you the wrong way. Disagreeing is reasonable, getting personal isn't. Thanks for the thought.
Couple things I'd like to point out about hickory. When we lived in Denver, hickory and pecan were sold from the same bin, interchangeably. I made a lot of furniture from it at the time but never knew for sure which wood I was working. I know here, 'cause there's no pecan on my property and I cut the tree. Pecan sounds to me more like a Texas tree than hickory. No?
Below is a pic I took for Duane awhile ago concerning hinges, but it shows what happens to hickory after a decade of sun exposure. The heartwood and sapwood tend to blend out and end up being very close in color to the birch of the door. Used birch doors (3/4 hr fire rated) 'cause I had them. Same reason I used the hickory.
Our whole house is trimmed with hickory. Liked the color then, and don't mind the color now. But that high contrast in the hickory dresser won't last. A decade later, no vacuum cleaner dings in the baseboards. Tough stuff.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Beeeeeee-u-ti-full
What MC do you shoot for when working with hickory? Maybe mine is to high and that is why it sometimes goes nuts on me (pun intended).
Dave
Hi Dave,
12-15%, depending on time of year. Which is not a recommendation. Works great the way we live. Lower mc is a mistake, again, in our house. There's no right answer to your question 'cause it depends on the climate the piece is going to live in.
I just accepted my first furniture commission in several years. My approach is to always measure the clients' existing mc during a transition period so I can learn how they live. I know that our house (and lifestyle) isn't normal. We monitor rh constantly and adjust when necessary. I don't yet know what mc is appropriate for them. But I will before I start construction.
I'm sure you know that you can use off-optimal mc wood just fine. You just need to plan the piece so that the wood will do whatever it's going to do without creating problems. Unfortunately, the wood for my commission isn't one that grows here. So I'll be at the mercy of a wood vendor and whatever mc they have. Within reason, won't be a problem with some consideration for future movement (drier or wetter). If not within reason, I'll change the mc here before construction.
Hoadley's "Understanding Wood" (Taunton Press) will explain to anybody just how much movement to expect, given parameters. It's the parameters I have to determine from the client's house and the boards. You really don't want to eat an expensive piece. (Duh)
Below is what I'm required to match up, the only piece they really like. As I expected, they confirmed that the mirror was a later addition, as was the second top. So there are various elements to play with. Haven't seen the piece yet, only the pic. Client is a couple hrs away, but very nice folks. Initially they want bed and nightstands. But were thrilled I'd work with them and have a housefull of ideas. Might be designing for them for several yrs. Or not, depending on how the first piece goes.
Unfortunately when I asked which elements of the dresser they most admired, they chose not to answer. Wanting to leave as much decision to me, the designer, as possible. Not my style, but I can live with it. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
If you had turned the top drawers bottom side up it would look like a goose
didn't build these, but this is my kitchen. We did Hickory floors to, really like it.
I see from that "one wheeled dump truck" in the foreground you had some good help :)
Dave
the best!
Thanks guys, when the time comes I will have all of this good info and may conatct the contributers again to go over details.
If I have seemed unresponsive it is becasue I have been out of pocket (see post Las Vegas Stones). Not much time now as I am playing catch-up.
Tx
I built a set of hickory cabinets and found the wood beautiful to look at but I hated the hardness of the wood!
I used to shun away from oak because I didn't care for the wood, since the hickory cabinets I've now reconsidered my view on building with oak.
One of the first jobs that I had when I took a job with a cab shop in Austin was making Mesquite cabinets, now I don't mind the hickory, go figure.
I'm on a mini vacation up here in Iowa but if I were home in TX I'd post some pics of the hickory cabinets that I built.
The hickory does lend it self to a country look though so your thinking would be dead on in that regard.
Doug