Wormy Hickory

[wildcat hunter]

A friend just brought a Hickory stave to me, he wants me to make him a bow. The bark is off and I see a lot of small worm holes in it, maybe 2 per square inch. Will it hold alright as is or should I try to follow a grain or make it as is and back it. Its 2" wide 2 1/4" deep and 72" long. Lots to play with.

[Pat B]

Probably powder post beetles. It might be firewood!

[Kyle Patterson]

I just lost a wormy hickory stave, busted at 20". Tiller was great.

[Art B]

Cut you off a slice and do a bend/break test. Good hickory will take a great bend before folding. Bad stuff will just snap into........Art

[wildcat hunter]

WOW, dosn't look good so far. I will "test" a piece and see what happens. Do the powder beetles dig deep into the wood or just 1/4" or so?

[Pat B]

They will turn it to Swiss cheese.

[gringol]

I've heard hickory is particularly susceptible to beetles.  I know I've lost more than a few hickory staves to beetles....I don't know about powder beetles, but some beetles can go quite deep >1"...What's really fun is carving out the hole and finding the little guy in there knawing away.

[Eric Krewson]

Wormy hickory.....BAD.

I tried one bow out a piece that had a couple of worm holes like you described, BOOM!