Hickory Limbs for Kitchen Cabinetry... - Woodworking Talk

Trappeur · 07-14-2008, 05:28 PM

I thought this was the right area to pose this question of what I'm looking for. I just got a new client who liked my cabinets in my kitchen in my shop and would like me to duplicate what I did there. See picture below..The upper cabinets as you can see I had custom artwork made for each cabinet door of the rocky mountains with scenes of elk in some of them and installed them as insets. This new job the cabinet doors are flat and I'm going to apply the artwork right onto the door and apply hickory sapplings around each picture (framed out) which I have to have split in 1/2. I want to get hickory with the bark on and already have been kiln dried so I have no bugs... The lower cabinets are just going to be applications of birch bark and also trimmed in the hickory. I'm also going to be making my cornice boards for the living room/great room, kitchen and dining room using hickory (bark on) instead of dowels...so I'll be needing hickory for that too. I have had a heck of a time in the past finding someone who can supply me with hickory alread kiln dried and split in half if possible...Hickory is like gold and the companies that I buy my hickory chairs from for clients don't want to part with any of their hickory....Can anyone direct me where to go or any of you craftsmen here do that for me? Of course I'll have to get the approximate footage I need....Thanks...

Trappeur

**Daren** · 07-14-2008, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trappeur

.so I'll be needing hickory for that too. I have had a heck of a time in the past finding someone who can supply me with hickory alread kiln dried and split in half if possible..

Ok, you stumped me on the birch bark last time cause I got mixed up where you lived. Girl, you are surrounded by hickory (pecan). I don't know how long of pieces you need...but you can "kiln dry" in the microwave. 30 seconds on-2 minutes off-repeat. Small stuff like you are looking at should only take 7-8 cycles (?), Dry and bug free. I bought a big old microwave at a yard sale for $10 that is in the shop (after I used the kitchen one to dry some cypress in the winter and the whole house smelled like a sick cat peed on a gym sock when the wife got home

) to dry small pieces. A cheap bandsaw you can 1/2 them, or even split them by hand with a wide variety of tools. Limbs are free. I reckon you live in the country with the horses and all, take a little ride and get a saddle bag full.

Trappeur · 07-15-2008, 01:19 PM

So thats my answer? Saddle up my horse, head for the woods and pack em in my saddle bags? Oh, and buy a flea market microwave (oh, I didn't know they came big enough to put 28" pieces in, ).....

Thanks for the answer!

Hi hooooooooooo Silver! (I mean Timmy, thats my horse)

Trappeur

**Daren** · 07-15-2008, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trappeur

(oh, I didn't know they came big enough to put 28" pieces in, ).....

That's why I asked how big of pieces you needed as a prefix to the microwave suggestion. "Hickory is like gold". I guess I am in the wrong business, I should leave the logs and just take the sticks (sure would be lighter to carry

)

dirtclod · 07-16-2008, 08:35 PM

I don't think I've ever seen a 28" microwave? Maybe dry them in a conventional oven? Ok, 28" ovens may be hard to find.

I think you're going to have to use a bandsaw to split them. Most of the hickories around here have so much interlocking grain that they seem as likely to tear as to split.

dbhost · 09-28-2008, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daren

...you are surrounded by hickory (pecan).

Uh, I thought Hickory, and Pecan are two completely different trees.

I have TONS (literally) of Pecan available to me here, and take advantage as often as I can. Thus far a resaw jig hasn't been built for my band saw, but the pieces are cut, just need to be slotted, joined, and final assembly done... For now, a "fence" of 4x4 cutoff squared up and clamped to the table at distance X, from the blade, one slice off to create the flat, then run the rest through...

Not the most efficient, but it is working so far...

GeorgeC · 09-28-2008, 05:58 AM

dbhost said "Uh, I thought Hickory, and Pecan are two completely different trees. "

I am with you. The only similarity that I know is that they both bear nuts. However, I think they would both look the same in this application.

I wish I had a lot of your pecan as I use it on my gril as a preferred smoking wood.

George

**Daren** · 09-28-2008, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbhost

Uh, I thought Hickory, and Pecan are two completely different trees.

Well yes and no. There are many types of hickory, some are very different from others but still hickories- mockernut (Carya alba), water hickory (Carya aquatica), bitternut (Carya cordiformis), pignut (Carya glabra), shellbark (Carya laciniosa), red hickory (Carya ovalis), shagbark (Carya ovata), sand hickory (Carya pallida).....
And Carya illinoinensis the pecan tree.

Pecan is a hickory species.

dbhost · 09-29-2008, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeorgeC

I am with you. The only similarity that I know is that they both bear nuts. However, I think they would both look the same in this application.

I wish I had a lot of your pecan as I use it on my gril as a preferred smoking wood.

George

I got a LOT of blowdown Pecan from Ike from a friend's orchard. Most of it is going to end up in the New Braunfels Bandera along with some big old hunks of Bossie... Mmmmmm Barbecue....

I figure I will try to mill as much of it as I can on the bandsaw, and smaller, or too hard to work with chunks go to the smoker...

Chances are really good I will be smoking this weekend...