Density and appearance make hickory hardwood one of the most sought-after species for flooring. The hardwood is characterized by reddish heartwood and white to cream-colored sapwood and has a Janka scale rating of 1820. As a result, hickory is versatile and ideal for high-trafficked floors.

On the other hand, hickory flooring poses a few issues in installation. For unfinished flooring, hickory is difficult to machine, sand, and stain. While a belt sander can be used to smooth the surface of the hardwood, finishing needs to be preceded by sealing the grain with wood conditioner or opening it by water popping. Unfinished hickory flooring, as a result, will have less blotching when a finish is applied.

A third option for installing and finishing hickory is hand-scraped flooring. With a distressed, rustic appearance, unfinished hand-scraped hickory flooring hides blotches and other "flaws" better. Available for solid and engineered hardwoods, unfinished hand-scraped hickory is scraped, brushed, finished, or aged through the following techniques:

• Time Worn Aged distresses the hickory hardwood through age. The worn appearance is emphasized through a darker stain, contouring, or highlighting the grain.

• Wire Brushed accents the grain and also removes the sapwood.

• Antique is another approach used for aging hickory hardwood, only a lower grade of flooring is used.

• Hand Sculpted creates a distressed yet smooth look for your floor.

• French Bleed is the term used to describe deeper beveled edges for distressed floors. The joints of the floor are further highlighted with darker stain.

• Pegged is a decorative type of hand-scraped hickory but should not be installed directly onto a subfloor.

• Hand Hewn and Rough Sawn create the roughest appearance for hand-scraped hardwoods.

• Custom Unfinished involves installing unfinished hickory hardwood and having a professional distress it through bleaching, beating with chains, pickeling, or fastening with antique nails. A finish is then applied after.