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Thread: David Starks Hackberry

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    sLower Delaware
    Posts
    5,464

    David Starks Hackberry

    Back in January, David Starks sent me this neat piece of Hackberry that had started to spalt. Seen here. He asked if I would post a picture when I had done something with it.
    Since I had been roughing out a lot of beech at the time, I decided to leave it sealed up and placed it in a south facing bedroom. My hope was that it would spalt a little more since the bedroom stays pretty warm.
    I had some free time this morning and was curious about what the inside of the box now looked like.
    2012-03-26_13-14-45_132.jpg
    Scraped and rinsed off the outside then stuck it between centers.
    2012-03-26_14-29-47_706.jpg2012-03-26_14-32-18_821.jpg
    I should have left it a couple more months but curiosity got the best of me. Not wanting to lose something I had never turned played a part too! I will leave the cored center solid and let it spalt through the summer. With a glueblock, I should be able to get a small hollowform out of it. Thats it for now David. Thanks for the good looking wood!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Fredericksburg, TX
    Posts
    2,576
    Baxter,

    If you would put some of the wet shavings and the rough turn in a plastic bag, seal it, and then turn the bag inside out every couple of days, you will get additional spalting. You can tell when the majority of moisture is out (bag gets pretty wet in process) or you want to stop spalting, and then just leave to dry in paper bag without shavings. I have about a half dozen working at present that have anchorseal applied even and they will spalt, and a dozen that I did last summer ready to finish turn. I just did a couple natural edge turned thin that I know I will have to hand finish after warping during drying. I am not coring so end up with a lot of shavings, and the bark shavings have a lot of spores to help the spalting process.

  3. #3
    +1 on letting the spalting continue. I too have had good luck with spalting under anchorseal. Hackberry is tricky to spalt whole, it will spalt easily but it is difficult to know when to cut and the whole piece can turn to mush if you wait too long. Roughing out the bowl and sealing with anchor seal will usually allow the spalting to continue but the wood dries (and the spalting stops) before it gets too soft.
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    sLower Delaware
    Posts
    5,464
    Thomas and Dennis, many thanks for the voice of experience! It seems almost all the hackberry I have seen posted here has been spectacular. Although this is pretty, I didn't think this was quite there yet. I anchorsealed the roughout yesterday, hoping it would spalt a little more. Even contemplated putting it into a paper bag as well to allow more time. I keep roughouts on the concrete floor on the northside of my polebarn where it is relatively cool. Not so good for spalting for the next couple of months though. I may just put it back into a garbage bag in the warm bedroom for the next couple months before shifting to the paperbag and then letting it dry like the rest of mine.

    Do you think it would be better to try and roughturn a small hollow form from the cored center before trying to let the spalting continue? Thanks again for the advice!

  5. #5
    I recently turned some hackberry that had spalted. I got the hackberry from my brother-in-law's farm as short logs and sealed the ends with anchorseal. I stuck the logs in the garage and forgot them for a year and half. Recently, while trying to make room for my car(!), I pulled them out. The ends were badly cracked, so I was going to toss them, but decided to cut the ends off. Found that they were nicely spalted throughout, but not too punky. Turned nicely, though I don't think my approach to spalting is advisable.

  6. #6
    Personally, I've had the most controllable and quickest results for spalting by placing the wood in earth, and adding any kind of fungus I can find in the woods. There are a couple different types, but I find most readily something that looks like 'turkey tail'. I've spalted maple this way, and it happens quickly. I've never had much luck spalting blanks without assistance. The wood tends to degrade (checks,mold,punkiness) without much nifty spalting. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

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