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Thread: Hackberry - just became one of my OK species to cut

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Hackberry - just became one of my OK species to cut

    I cut two hackberry logs over the last week or so. Both turned out nice. Good cutting, not much movement. I did some "internet research" and it seems hackberry is one of the more under utilized trees. It's a lookalike for ash and has some of the characteristics of elm, in regards to interlocking grain. Also seems to be one of the best bending woods too. Who would have thunk?

    I cut a 7X7 beam from one smaller log and took several 1" boards from another.

    There sure is a lot of it available around here too. Pretty much every fence line! I probably have several dozen here on my 6 acres.

    image1.JPG image2.JPG

    Note how the log, which was cut down for over a month before I cut it, had sprouted a new branch! That's some will to live!

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Burch View Post
    I cut two hackberry logs over the last week or so. Both turned out nice. Good cutting, not much movement. I did some "internet research" and it seems hackberry is one of the more under utilized trees. It's a lookalike for ash and has some of the characteristics of elm, in regards to interlocking grain.
    You've got that right! I've always heard from the "old timers" that hackberry was worthless, no good for lumber or firewood. I got some one day and sawed some boards. Then I cut some up and turned it on the lathe.

    The guy I got this tree from told me it was elm so I've been thinking that until the other John Jordan (the famous woodturner) told me it was hackberry. I still have some chunks I'm saving for the right project. This figure was at the center of a very large tree.







    I don't cut trees on our farm but have a bunch of hackberry, some over 30" in diameter. I'll certainly saw them if they come down some day.

    JKJ

  3. #3
    I have always heard it referred to as a 'weed' tree. Fast growing (even faster if 'you' plant it next to your foundation or sidewalk), bad branching angles, heart rots out of the old ones, and brittle as glass in ice storms. And just to cap it off, it seems a perfect host for mistletoe. All-in-all it makes for a lousy tree. But, I too have seen positive references to the lumber.

    It grows in all the fence lines because the birds eat the fruit and crap the seeds sitting on the fence wire! (Yeah, yeah, I know - - TMI)

  4. #4
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    The 3 logs I got were all blown over or broken up high from a wind storm. They seem to barber-chair when they break pretty bad too. One of the logs I cut had splits down it a considerable length from when it broke - made the yield not so great.

    Nice turnings John! (Nice photography too!)

  5. #5
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    Mar 2015
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    cleveland,tn.
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    well who would have thought , I have been using it for firewood when one breaks off( I thought it burned well also) but it is best to have a gas splitter to split this stuff, like said it is x grained.

  6. #6
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    I have some air-dried Hackberry that I sawed and some that is pretty nicely spalted. I also have some logs that have been "cooking" for over a year and that are probably close to either ultimate spalting or burn pile material.
    It's not one of my preferred woods but it is plentiful. It's not one of my favorite trees, either. A Hackberry is just looking for a reason to blow down.
    Cody


    Logmaster LM-1 sawmill, 30 hp Kioti tractor w/ FEL, Stihl 290 chainsaw, 300 bf cap. Solar Kiln

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cody Colston View Post
    ... A Hackberry is just looking for a reason to blow down.
    Yikes, my experience has been different. Over the years I have had a lot of trees come down from a storm but never a hackberry.

    If one comes down do the roots pull out of the ground or does the trunk break? If the roots come up your soil must be different than here.

    Twice I have dug up a hackberry stumps and they took a huge amount of work. The first one I eventually got up with the backhoe after digging a 20' dia hole. The second one took days of work with the backhoe and bobcat before I got it to break loose. (Clearing for my shop a few years ago) If I hadn't been able to get underneath it might still be there!

    big_stump_2012-08-03_10-55-.jpg

    JKJ

  8. #8
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    Around here, the trunks usually break. Otherwise, they rot out at the stump and fall over.

  9. #9
    Interesting. I always thought of it as a trash tree but ditto John Jordan's comments: Never seen one come down from a storm. In our neighborhood, it's always the elms that come down. My complaint with hackberry has always been its invasiveness but who would have thunk it could make nice lumber? Thanks for sharing.

    Erik
    Ex-SCM and Felder rep

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Burch View Post
    Around here, the trunks usually break. Otherwise, they rot out at the stump and fall over.
    Same thing here. I've had two large ones fall in the past three years. The first one took out the neighbors barb wire fence. I was standing on the shop porch during a thunderstorm and actually watched it fall. It was rotted at ground level. The second one broke off.
    Cody


    Logmaster LM-1 sawmill, 30 hp Kioti tractor w/ FEL, Stihl 290 chainsaw, 300 bf cap. Solar Kiln

  11. #11
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    I don't have pics but I have turned some beautiful bowls from spalted hackberry. I really like working it on the lathe.

  12. #12
    I have a good bit of experience with it. It has spiral grain, and is tough to dry straight and flat without twist and warp. I am sure that it turns fine, but cut into boards, it is best quartersawn. I have some now that I sawed a few years ago, and there are some potato chips shaped boards that can only be used in 18" to 24" lengths because of twist, bow, and warp. As it dries, it kinks at the knots. It is best to only saw the big ones that are growing straight with no sweep. I think that it is very beautiful lumber for small projects. I sent some quartersawn hackberry with a high % of heartwood to a luthier in Australia to make a guitar.
    Last edited by Chris Padilla; 09-06-2016 at 2:12 PM.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cody Colston View Post
    Same thing here. I've had two large ones fall in the past three years. The first one took out the neighbors barb wire fence. I was standing on the shop porch during a thunderstorm and actually watched it fall. It was rotted at ground level. The second one broke off.

    That is incredible to me! I wonder what causes the rot. Maybe a difference in soil condition?, climate?, different insects?, lightning damage?, a local fungus in the ground?, a species variation?, a different species locally called by a different name?, something else?

    I think I mentioned we have many hackberry trees here, established trees from under a foot in diameter to huge. Never had a one come down. I've had huge oaks, maples, tulip poplar and others break off at the trunk, some at the base, a few high above the ground. Pines and cedars either broken off or pulled out by the roots. But never a hackberry. Curious.

    This was my favorite oak tree incident. It required care to remove and flattened the fence. From the rings it was well over a century old. It made a lot of firewood.

    tree_down_P5092412.jpg

    JKJ

  14. #14
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    PPB's and Hackberry

    Keep an eye out for powder post beetles with hackberry.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ed McEowen View Post
    Keep an eye out for powder post beetles with hackberry.
    And with maple, and poplar, and walnut, and persimmon, and... Have you seen evidence that hackberry is more susceptible to PPBs than other species?

    Once when I was chainsawing and waxing maple chunks just inside my open garage door I witnessed a "flock" of what appeared to be PPBs land and immediately start boring into the end grain, some right through the anchorseal! They were all flying in from the same direction, from some woods near the house. I assume they were hanging out in the woods and were suddenly attracted by the smell of the maple.

    It was amazing how fast they could chew into the wood. I squished them at first then sprayed the chunks with some insect killer and they quit landing although they kept coming. I closed the garage door...

    JKJ

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