Hickory congas?

[blosh]

To any ones knowledge, has someone ever used Hickory as conga wood? If no, why not?

[Chupacabra]

"Ain't nothing like a nice piece of hickory"

Clint Eastwood as "The Preacher" in the movie "Pale Rider" after he mowed down a group of village goons with a hickory pick axe handle.

Hickory wood has amazing strength and toughness when it comes to impact and wear resistance. You would normally use this for tool handles, hardwood flooring and other industrial applications. Oh, and it is the wood of choice to make charcoal for barbequing and smoking meat. I can speak from experience in saying that working with this wood is hard on the cutting edges of tools. It has a very dense grain and is difficult to find decent sized lengths without loose knots and other defects. The lengths that you do get would be very straight grained. I've heard that it also warps quite a bit and tends to crack if not sealed properly.

I don't have any science to back this statement up, but my instincts tell me that this wood would produce a tinny, dry sounding drum. Again, that's just my opinion.

As exotic woods become more and more difficult and expensive for the average woodworker to be able to afford, we will have to rely more and more on domestic species to meet our demands for things like musical instruments, cabinetry and pretty much everything. Sooner the better I say! We have some amazing wood here in Canada, USA and Mexico! If only we could just manage the harvesting better!

[blosh]

Chupacabra,
Thank you for your answear. You may well be right about hickory, I just questioned it because it is a hardwood that is available in my area, and has become quite the disirable cabinet wood.