Best Hickory for Bow wood

[bigcountry]

I know there is like a bunch of different hickorys from Pecan to pignut to whatever.  What makes a better bowwood and why.

Thank,
Mark

[TRAP]

I think I read somewhere that Jay Massey's favorite was Pignut.  I've not experimented with Hickories much but respect his opinion.  Trap

[John Scifres]

I like shagbark because it is the easiest for me to ID.  Pignut is rumored to be the best though.  I've used both and they both are fine bow wood.

[Eric Krewson]

I have made a bunch of hickory bows and found hickory is hickory no matter which kind.

[Flinttim]

Up here in IN our shagbark tends to be cleaner while the pignut tends to have a lot of pins in it.

[laddy]

Pig nut is as good as anything if it is very dry.  Too wet it shoots slower, I prefer pignut.

[bigcountry]

Wow, a range of ideas.  Don't ya love trad archery.  Thanks for taking the time to answer.  I am not sure I could id pignut 100%  Rarely see shagbark here in MD. I have a nice hickory in my front yard, thinking of taking down.  Maybe I can take a picture and one of you can id it for me.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

this I got from Paleoplanet,

HICKORIES: shellbark .69; mocknut, shagbark .72; pignut .75. Due to their extreme strength in tension the hickories are about the hardest bows to break and, unless at least moderately violated, never need backing. Hickory is used for backing other bows

[bigcountry]

So what am I looking at here mystic?  Is the .69 number density or like a standard in tension with a weight?  

Thanks for posting.

[Lost Arra]

Mark: I've used a lot of different hickory/pecan. Don't over-think it. They are all good bow woods and they all work great as long as the wood is dry. It is doubtful anyone could tell a performance difference.