Hickory you either love it or loathe it
I have always thought of hickory as the cilantro of our hardwood flooring world. People fall neatly into two categories here, they are all in or want not a thing to do with it. For those of you that are in the former category this blog is for you.
1820. That is the number hickory receives on the janka hardness scale and it is the highest rating for any flooring we sell. This floor is rock hard but if you are a fan of this look that hardly matters compared to the stunning color variations inherent in this wood. Hickory gets its color from the drastic color difference between the sap wood or new growth and the heartwood old growth. The sap stands in stark contrast as the image above shows. New hickory or newly sawn hickory will show the color difference most strongly.
Let's take a look at antique or reclaimed hickory.
Same species same floor but from a tree that was most likely around 100-150 years old and was cut in the late 19th century. As you can see the color variance is much more subdued. You still have the same heartwood/sapwood occuring but now the sun and exposure has tamed the color. Hickory is hard but reclaimed hickory is even harder. The reason for that is over time wood loses its hydroscopic qualities or in other words its ability to gain and lose moisture. This results in an overall more dense floor.
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An important thing to note about hickory either newly sawn or reclaimed is that it does not take stains well. We have found the best option is to use a pure, pigment free finish such as the organic oil finish pictured above. This is newly sawn hickory but an oil based finish deepens the color just the right amount resulting in a rich tonal coloration.
This photo perfectly shows how different reclaimed hickory looks when the finish has not been applied. The wood looks almost white in the lower half of the photo contrasted by the top section where finish has been applied. You can see how the oil deepens the colors and brings up that super unique color that you can only get with reclaimed wood. As with most of our reclaimed floors we recommend a matte sheen. There is something just not right about an antique floor that has even a low satin sheen that just does not look right.
Beautiful! Freshly finished with organic oil. For more information on our favorite organic oil go here.
Follow the links for more information on all things hickory!
Hickory and its good buddy Pecan
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