The Amish use nothing but native hardwoods like hickory in their furniture creations to ensure quality and length of life. Hickory is known for its amazing strength and character and has survived in North America since the glaciers and is recognized as America’s oldest hardwood species. The word hickory is actually an English conversion of the Native American word “powcohicora”. Hickory was the wood that won the west, as pioneers crafted wagon wheels out the tree. The Wright Brothers own North Carolina had many trees to choose from yet they chose to whittle their flying machine from the humble hickory.

In North America about a dozen species of hickory trees exist under the genus “Carya”. Found in the eastern U.S., principally in Central and Southern states, the hickory can reach 60 to 120 feet and it is not unusual for it to take 200 years to mature. Botanically there are two groups: the true hickories and the fruit bearing pecan hickories, although the wood is almost identical. Because of its flavor it has long been preferred for meat smokers and barbeques but hickory is also a preferred wood for burning in stoves because of its high caloric rate.

Hickory is the heaviest and the hardest of all American woods and can be very difficult to work with, machine and glue. Although flexible the wood is often splintery; comparable to brown ash in workability. Hickory when cut with the grain will reveal the pores as long channels. The wood is tan to whitish traced with not immediately obvious thin brown lines and the heartwood is pale to red-brown. Hickory’s nature is that of a coarse-textured wood with a fine grain that is typically straight but can be wavy or irregular. This grain pattern receives a full range stains and finishes. Amish craftsmen offer customized medium to dark stains and always rely on RESISTOVAR as a finish as durable as hickory.

The Amish know that hickory is an excellent choice when a piece of furniture or an item needs to be cut thinly but still maintain its strength. Because of its strength it was used as back slats in chairs like the Windsor and occasionally found as the whole piece of furniture. Hickory is so hard it is highly prized for furniture, ladders, wagon wheel spokes, tool handles, drumsticks, sports equipment like lacrosse stick handles, ski bottoms and golf clubs, weaponry bows, and even canes. Because it is a durable and plentiful wood hickory is also used in cabinetry and flooring, adding its character to the room. Today the Amish have a wide range of furniture like cedar chests, tables, and even natural twig trim.

Tags: amish. hickory, Hickory Furniture, hickory tree, hickory wood

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 11:16 am and is filed under Amish Furniture Styles, Furniture Tips, Hickory Furniture, History of Furniture Making, Rustic Furniture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.