I just finished building four chairs for a covered outdoor area. I didn't have enough 8/4 stock in the same species for all four so I built each one out of a different wood. The second was from some air-dried Hickory and I think it is the most attractive of the four, with the contrast of the almost white sapwood and the brown heartwood. The informal look of Hickory combined with the refined design of the chair just looked wonderful. I call it "rustic elegance."
But...Hickory is a female dog to saw and it WILL move when drying. Getting the lumber to dry flat is a challenge and I'd recommend lots of weight placed on top of the stack. I spray my hardwood with Timbor when stickering and I haven't seen any indications of PPB's and that includes the Hickory and alo some Ash...both are very susceptible to PPB's.
Hickory is also the most difficult wood I've worked with it being so hard and dense. The chairs are "sculpted" and require a lot of sanding to remove the marks from the angle grinder used. Even sanding with 60 grit in the ROS, the wood would feel like it had been sanded to 320 grit or higher. The Klingspor sanding discs I was using were doing more burnishing than cutting.
That said, I am planning another table and set of four chairs entirely from Hickory just because it is such a great looking wood. It's hard to saw, hard to dry and hard as nails but the finished product makes it worth it.
