I have done a little Hickory and have seen lots of Hickory floors. I've never seen one with acclimation issues. If it's dried and acclimated properly I see no reason why you should have stability issues with it but it seems like a lot of trouble to use it instead of Red Oak. Red Oak is more consistent than White Oak or Hickory and could easily be stained to a medium dark brown with a slight reddish tone. To get it dark without being overly grainy you might have to water-pop it before staining. You would need three coats of poly to get a nice smooth finish after water popping but the first two coats can be tinted with stain to richen or fine tune the color. White Oak and Hickory both have lots of color variation and are more of a nutty brown or taupe tone. Walnut is not only soft but is generally fairly expensive. If you're going dark enough you could use Santos Mahogany. It stains well. Clear grade Santos is reasonably uniform, has a red tone, is hard and has interesting grain.

Hickory has very white sapwood, and greyish-tan heartwood. White oak is tannish-grey all the way through, so without any effort, it will look something like heart of hickory. But the grain itself will obviously not be the same. You will never be able to simulate hickory's white sapwood in any fashion. Casey

White oak is a MUCH better option if you want gray. The other option (for those with very healthy budgets) is European Oak. European Oak is a soft silvery colour. It is beautiful. It is expensive...it can give you the soft white/gray colour without adding a stain. Your budget will dictate your options. Red Oak is cheap and easy to source. It is everywhere in every width and thickness. It is the 'builder's choice' for wood flooring because it is so each to find and so cheap to source. White Oak is an upgrade that not all homeowners can afford...which means they are stuck with red oak if they want hardwood floors. Then there is European Oak. It is an import (obviously...the name gives it away). It is an upgrade on your upgrade. It is stunning. It takes a serious investment to get it in your home. Most builders won't even know where to source this...let alone how to price it. Check your flooring budget. You might be able to get a low-grade white oak in place...or you could have enough budget to get the European Oak.

Neutral = gold(ish). Golden oak = yellow. Both of those colours are SUPER WARM. If you want COOL you need to get RID of yellow, orange and red. duraseal-quick-coat-stain-chart.jpg (1510×1762) (netdna-ssl.com) Have a look at the chart. Can you see green in any colours? Think 'celery' rather than emerald. Each colour has been applied to Red and White Oak (they sit side-by-each). Chestnut has green in it. Provincial also has some green but it turns warm on Red Oak (snick more gold tones). Coffee Brown Dark Walnut Antique Brown These all have green in them. Be VERY careful with Jacobean if you are looking for a 'soft' brown. Jacobean is FANTASTIC at turning the mineral streaks (the grain) DARK BROWN/Black. If you want a soft brown, the Jacobean is probably not what you want.