Darkening Hickory

R

RubberJohnny

Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
216
I have seen pictures of Gransfors axes that vary wildly in colour ie. some very dark and some much lighter. My question is does hickory darken with age and if so how long does it take?

P.S. If anyone has a good way to darken hickory other than letting it age I'd love to hear about it :)

Thanks!
 
Most woods darken with age because of the UV light. But they don't darken very much.You could stain it . The axes probably vary because some are from the darker heart wood and some from the lighter sap wood . The difference can be great, in some woods from a light tan to chocolate brown.
 
Agree with mete, hickory heartwood can be a dark reddish brown and the sap wood very light in color. Some of my relatives are custom furniture and cabinet makers and they often try to get individual pieces of hickory showing the full range of color .... they pretty much hate the idea of anyone staining hickory because it covers up the true color range of this wood, BTW
 
Actually, some people say that for hickory axe handles the lighter sapwood is preferable, because it is springier.

As for the GB axe handles, I think the main reason for the darker handles is that some handles are soaked more with the liquid (tung oil?, linseed oil?) they use to treat the handles.

I myself prefer the lighter color. YMMW
 
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