working with hickory and/or beech

Re: working with hickory and/or beech

L. Hanson

>Hickory - and it's sister wood Pecan - can be a cantankerous wood, wanting to split and tear out. It dulls tools fast, also. It can range from a medium brown color to almost white sapwood, which can make it tougher to find matching grain between boards, but for strength there is little difference between the two. But it just looks like wood should look, at least to me, so is one of my favorites. I made all of my kitchen cabinets out of hickory, and I love the look of it. Look for heavier pieces, as the lighter one don't finish as smoothly, IMO.

Beech - also look for the heavier, solid feeling pieces for the same reasons. The color of beech is more uniform, making matching grain on separate pieces much easier. I love the look of beech that's been finished with BLO and shellac, it has that old-world wood look to it, if you know what I mean. It is more close grained than hickory, and shapes better with a rasp, at least for me. It's a more homogenous material throughout than hickory, with less differences between individual boards than hickory.

For saw handles, planes, and similar items, my choice is beech. For hammer and sledge handles, hickory will take more abuse, and is my choice there.

Re: working with hickory and/or beech

Steve Kubien

>Thanks for the info. I am actually making a bokuto (or bokken if you are so inclined). It is a form of wooden Japanese sword used for paired practice in many martial arts. Strange, but my sensei feels people could get hurt (like, dead!) if we use real swords. I think he is just being negative.

Sounds like the beech will work better for me with the more uniform grain and ease of working. This will be the first time I've ever used a drawknife or (gasp!) a spokeshave so the hickory sounds a little daunting.

Again, thanks!

Steve Kubien

I agree with Mr. Hanson

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Stay away form Hickory, nasty stuff with hand tools. I have a piece of Pecan I use to test smoothers on, it (the pecan) wins alot...

Re: working with hickory and/or beech

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>Steve,

I think I remember discussing this with you before. No matter.

Steve, for all the reasons stated I'd choose hickory for a boken. I would try to rive it and steam bend it to shape. A boken like that would easily outlast any other one and would be a formidable weapon as well.

If you want a shiny smooth thing for demonstrations or some controlled sparring (kata?) (I forget which art you study) consider mahogany or beech. Both are like working aluminum. They have tight grain and will take and hold crisp detail (not that there is any on a bokken). Another nice choice would be apple. But for a sparring tool, choose hickory. Mine is store bought, imported from Japan, and made from Red Oak. I thought there wasn't any Red Oak over that way, but you never know. I've seen mahogany ken and other (what I consider) exotic boken on the internet. But I wouldn't spar with these.

Lastly let me mention that the boken is only marginally safer than the katana. Either can kill you, one is just messier. My understanding is that the shinei was developed to prevent the accidental deaths caused by sparring with bokken in our 17th century.

Also, depending on your teacher, I wouldn't trust him to know what is safe and what isn't. I saw two fellow classmates sparring. One guy threw the other (like judo) when their swords crossed. Being agile, coordinated, japanese, this occured without injury. Had I tried such antics, I may have killed the guy as I would have undoubted fallen on him! Their arts and experiences weren't developed with guys like me in mind! Please be careful.

O saka ni shiretsu rei shimasu

Adamsan

Re: I agree with Mr. Hanson

John, NY

>I think Bokken are traditionally made from Japanese white oak but I would think Hickory will be just fine.

Incidentally it is rumored that Musashi Miyamoto, Japans most famous swordsman, only used bokken to beat/kill his last few challengers, so safer than swords? That depends...

Re: working with hickory and/or beech

Darrell in Oakville

>Steve,

Hey, how about ash? I have some air dried riven ash sittin in the back of the garage. Yer welcome to a hunk of it. You gonna drop by on Saturday for the Galoot Xmas BBQ? I doubt we'll be firing the forge but we can definitely plane some wood in the shop.

Darrell

Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

Re: Japanese red oak *LINK*

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>There are piles of red oak in Japan, used in tools for chisel handles and dai. It's not porous like our red oak. The Hon red oak is especially hard and dense, many love it for dai.

Pam


Mosaku Shooting Plane

Re: working with hickory and/or beech

Steve Kubien

>Hi Darrell,

Thanks for the offers but I have to decline on both of them. Ash is strong enough and light enough to move but it will splinter instead of dent (so I've heard).

As for the Christmas BBQ, I really wish I could but I've got class in the afternoon, and a party in the evening. I could blow off the class but I need to spend some time with the kid-lettes.

See ya,

Steve Kubien

Re: I agree with Mr. Hanson

Steve Kubien

>You are correct about the Japanese white oak. Apparently their w.o. is much different than the North American stuff. I can't comment on that but my jo is made from Japaese w.o. and it is a treat to use! Nice tight grain that dents (rather than splinters) when you strike with it.

As for Musashi-san, much of his history appears to be guessed upon instead of verifyable facts. I've heard that many of his bouts/duels saw him win by using twigs, bokken, and even large wood spoons! Many believe he was never defeated. The historians of S.M.R. Jodo claim the founder defeated Musashi in a rematch once he developed jo and its techniques. No matter what you believe, the legend of Musashi-san is great stuff!

Arigato gozaimatsu

Steve Kubien