But that's also taking the integrity out of the wood, which gives you the durability factor. According to Alan, the color of hickory reflects its positive attributes. That's partly a result of the region that it was grown in. In some areas of Tennessee and Kentucky there is a lot of lime in the soil, which creates a good, white hickory stick. We are using mainly shag bark and shell bark hickory as a species because it's been found that those are true hickory species.
Wood has to be dried at a very slow rate and at a low temperature.
We have several suppliers, four of which are exclusive to us. Initially these guys were very qualified working with hickory, though not specifically with drumstick material. So I worked in conjunction with them, and we taught them how to dry wood properly. Obviously, how the wood is cut at the factory is as important a factor in the final product's quality as the wood's natural strength. Vater uses back-knife lathes, which they say requires a lot more handwork because the tip and the butt must be processed after the cut.