You may be familiar with hickory as a food additive or as a fuel for a barbecue. We all enjoy steak or ribs barbecued with a good hickory sauce. Not only that, since hickory tends to burn very slowly, barbecue chefs favor it for the slow smoking of meat. However, hickory has uses beyond smoking meat and barbecuing. It lends itself well to any number of woodwork projects. Woodworkers find that hickory is ideal for some patterns for wood. It is not recommended for beginners, however. Hickory wood is derived from approximately seventeen to nineteen tree species. Each species is somewhat different from the next in terms of how it performs in a woodwork shop. There is no good way to tell which species you are using, so experience and skill play a big role in the final outcome. Hickory is not an easy wood to work with. It is extremely hard and requires a very sharp cutting blade. A high speed cutting tool with a heat reflective coating is the best choice. Hickory is fine for woodwork projects such as wood flooring and tool handles or for any item where an extremely hard wood is desired. Moreover, because hickory is a food safe wood, you can use it for tools used in food preparation. Think hickory if you're planning to make cutting boards, wooden spoons, ladles or bowls. In appearance, hickory resembles hard maple, but oiling brings out the grain so you readily tell that it is a different wood.
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