Yep, hickory is not easy to find for bow wood around here. I learned a good bit with those Lowes boards so no regrets. The first successful one I made was hickory backed red oak with qs oak belly lams, its still doing fine. 68 inches #42 I expect it will last a long while. The other red oak bow I made shoots ok, but something has changed and I expect it to blow any day. The hickory board bow and the stave haven't changed in any way and shoot great. Don't believe ill use any more from lowes unless I happen to have some left over and want to experiment.