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

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Jerico Springs, MO
    Posts
    47
    I know ppb's are worse in hackberry than walnut. My experience with walnut and the white oak family is that primarily the sapwood is vulnerable - hackberry is totally vulnerable. I don't have much experience with the others you mention. I can't say that hackberry is more easily infected, but once it happens your lumber will be riddled with holes and lots of powder. The logs should probably be quickly sawed into lumber, not kept for any length of time (that may have been my problem). After one disappointing experience, I have vowed to immediately kiln dry any future hackberry I saw.
    Last edited by Ed McEowen; 10-23-2016 at 8:04 PM.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Chappell Hill, Texas
    Posts
    4,741
    I can attest. The hackberry I cut almost 2 months ago has lots of ppb holes in it.

    I used one of the 2X's I cut as stakes for a building layout I am doing. Tough to rip on the tablesaw (harder than I expected) and pretty dense. It is working great for stakes. The stakes took quite a pounding to drive them into hard packed clay.

    Most of the ppb holes I am seeing are in more of the pieces that were closer to the bark. I will also disclose I did not properly stack the wood after cutting it, but I don't know if that was a factor or not with regard to the ppbs.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Houston Texas area
    Posts
    3

    Hackberry

    I have seen hackberrys with limbs down and wood exposed but I have never seen lumber taken from it. I was under the impression that it was pretty much solid white. Are the darker streaks spalting or is that the the natural coloring of the wood?



    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    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

  4. #19
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Mountain Home, AR
    Posts
    547
    I sawed a few hackberry logs this spring. There was no spalting then and the wood was very white, but I haven't been back to see what it looks like now. We cut it for construction lumber, but if it has any spalting I may have to make a new desk from it.

    Any idea if it is stable once dry?

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Brentwood, TN
    Posts
    684
    I, too, have turned a few bowls and urns from hackberry. It does spalt and mold rapidly if left green in a plastic bag with fresh turned shavings. So much so, that a fine bowl I made actually has green mold veins in it. The hackberry trees in middle TN get huge - 4'-6' diameter. And yes, they are susceptible to cracking in ice storms as well as falling over during heavy rains. I've witnessed both cases first hand. It is a pretty plain white wood until it spalts, then it gets crazy mapping. Really one of my personal favorites to turn,; right up there with Bradford Pear.
    Maker of Fine Kindling, and small metal chips on the floor.
    Embellishments to the Stars - or wannabees.

  6. #21
    I have a ton of hackberry on my place and the splitting in ice storms must be when the temps are cold enough for the tree to be brittle/frozen because we had a wicked ice storm here a while back and it laid the hackberry over like McDonalds arches but then never once snapped. The crowns and the bases of fairly large trees (10" and better) were both touching the ground. Many of them are still nearly in that position as they never stood back up after the ice and are still alive.

    Ive cut a bit of it on the mill and have to adjust my hook angle on the blades because its so soft and fibrous that the mill will actually catch and snap/shudder similar to a blade snap but its just grabbing wads of long fibers out of the tree.

    Its like a weed tree around here and have been told in was planted by the DOH along the highways and spread by birds. Not sure about the validity of that.

  7. #22
    I've gotten a couple sugarberry (southern hackberry) trees over the years, including one I just did recently. The most recent trees had both fallen over, roots and all. They were both on slopes, though, so it's hard to say whether it was their fault. The single most recent one had a lot of fungal stain at the base (though not a lot of severe rot) that probably contributed to it falling over.

    While the logs were in my trailer in my suburban driveway, a swarm of beetles landed on the end grain and bored into it, through the anchorseal, just like John described. They didn't bother any of the other wood that was around, though.

    My experience with the wood is that it stains from fungus very quickly and very deeply. The pieces I rough turned ended up covered in mold. None of them had interesting heartwood streaks like you sometimes see. But the blue stain fungus, when about half progressed, makes for interesting patterns. The wood is fairly hard, fairly heavy, and polishes nicely.

    The most recent ones got cut into 4/4 boards, but I haven't checked on them since they were cut, so I don't know how they're drying. I did spray them with fungicide to hopefully keep the mold off them.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Chappell Hill, Texas
    Posts
    4,741
    I picked up a couple sizable hackberry logs last week. Tree blew over back in May 2016 and died over the course of the summer. I'll slab both the trunk sections I got. The spalting looks to be good.

    The big one is 11.5' long and the smaller is 8.5' long.

    IMG_1141.JPG IMG_1143.JPG

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