Tell me about Hickory

Hi guys, I have an idea. They use hickory for handles for hammers and its pretty hard and dense wood. I was wondering if anyone thought it could be suitable to make lures with.

I have a handle /shaft that I cut down and used for parts of a handle on a knife I made and it seems very durable. With some old fashioned elbow grease I reckon you could make a decent heavy, fast sinking stick bait. I haven't checked to see if it floats well but it could be a solid popper that would fly miles of it did. Does anyone here think it could work?

It's a member of the Pecan family, and like you say, hard, heavy and tough. Personally, I prefer less dense woods for poppers. This gives me the opportunity to add lead where I specifically want weight... in the tail for flight, and in the belly for "right side up".

I started out making my poppers with Yugoslav Beech but found it to be too dense. Nowdays, I use kiaat, Okume, Cedar... and any mid density hardwood that has a moderate to fine grain (hickory is quite a coarse grain).

But give it a go and let us know how the build goes.

For what it's worth, as far as wooden handle hammers go, only really high end hammers come with Hickory these days. The rest come out of China with reasonable to really crap wood for handles. If you want a cheap hammer, rather buy a resin handle. But if you specifically want a wooden handle, make sure it's hickory and be prepared to pay a bit more.

Thanks for your input. I though of poppers as it seemed like a fairy easy option where i could make use of most of the existing shape of the shaft. Basically taper one end a bit, cup the other end and drill for wire and weight. I like the idea of a stick bait but carving this stuff is a serious mission by hand.

I could mark it and go at it with an angle grinder and a flap wheel to get a slimmer profile. The mission would then be to split it in half accurately.

As a matter of interest, which do you think would make a better lure - split construction or through wire?

I also have some Balau off-cuts somewhere but its serious hard stuff too, and oily. Might not take paint well without good sealer or primer.

I generally drill end to end and thru wire, but I guess it's much of a muchness. I have an incredibly well kitted out workshop so I can do almost any technique.

Reason I drill is so that I can do the lathe work without wire getting in the way. You could split the body after turning but that in itself is challenging. I drill the blank first, then do the turning.

Carving hickory would be a serious mission, as would balau. There's not a lot wrong with meranti, if you could get hold of an old damaged door frame or something. It's fairly light in weight (species depending) and reasonably easy to work.

Yeah I wish I had a lathe still. Gave my old one away years ago to an uncle who was into making furniture. I use mostly my drill, dremel, grinder and chisels, rasps & knives.

Also had an idea for a "spoon" of sorts with a flat hardwood or aluminium core and resin or some other layers either side of it adding some weight and a bit of width to the profile. May not need to bother with wire if its strong enough.

I think I may also have another smaller diameter hammer handle somewhere that might be easier for a stickbait but I'll check for some Meranti in my pile too. Just need to get to the fencing store now and get some 316 stainless wire.

Will see if i can get started tomorrow after work or Saturday if I dont go throw spoons.


::tight: