Hickory Backing ?

[tenbrook]

I went to a specialty lumber yard yesterday to try and find some hickory to use as backing.

They had a ton of the stuff but after looking for a board with nice straight grain for a 1/2 an hour I gave up.

My question is how straight does the grain on a hickory board have to be to be used for backing?

What is considered acceptable?

Thanks

Tenbrook

[Pat B]

Ideally the straighter the better but I have used hickory backing strips with terrible violations and never had a back failure.

[Osagetree]

Here's a hickory backing with multiple run outs (10) and it is still shooting years later.

   

Just be sure and round over the edges and burnish them real good. I used a socket to burnish. Add some pressure and just rub the heck out of the edges. It makes them a little harder by compressing the fibers.

   

   
   

[Pat B]

Be sure of the source of your wood also. As long as it was handled properly off the stump you should be OK with some runoffs. The stuff I had looked like what Joe was using.
  Being a whitewood it doesn't take hickory long to deteriorate...only a few days on the ground will make it useless for backings and selfbows.