Question about making a project out of green lumber (hackberry)

[Jay Michaels]

I've been planning to build a toboggan for my daughters this fall and for quite some time, I planned to purchase some white oak from a sawmill and steam bend it for this purpose. (For instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_uTPrPwcKM)

However, since my original planning, we have moved to a new home surrounded by woods. Among the trees are dozens of relatively young but tall hackberry trees -- most just 4-6" in diameter.

Because I have read that hackberry is especially good for bending, I have reconsidered my original plan of oak.

I'm now considering felling one or two of the small hackberry trees and milling the lumber from that for this toboggan. I would mill it into 1/4" or 3/8" thick boards that would each be ~2" or so wide. I have a jig all built for bending (much like the one in the video above -- I used it previously to bend some tambourines).

I plan to mill the hackberry when it is relatively green -- within days of felling the tree(s)
From what I gather, it seems bending would be easiest to do while the lumber is still green

So the question is this:
Once bent, I'll obviously need to allow it to dry. Will it warp and twist out of alignment if I take the green bent pieces off of the bending form before they're completely DRY?
If so, that's problematic. I don't have 8 or 10 jigs to use simultaneously so I can leave the bent pieces in the form for months to dry...

Thanks for all input!

[John K Jordan]

Would a toboggan be subject to forces? (weight, landing hard over a bump?) Hackberrry is quitre weak compared to the oaks. I'd wonder if 1/4" slats would break.

What about hickory? Hickory is a lot stronger than oak even and good for steam bending. A friend steam bends both oak and hickory.

If you lived near I could cut either white oak or hickory boards on my sawmill - I have both in my log piles, just casual use for them (a few steps, tool handles, farm things, firewood, turning stock), and WAY more than I need.

JKJ

[Steve Demuth]

If you're shooting for a final dimension of 1/4" to 3/8" you can mill it (hopefully with a bandsaw, given how much of your material anything else would waste) to 1/2" rough dimension, and it'll dry down to something close to equilibrium in a few weeks. Everything you read will say 1 year per 1" of thicknesses, but 1/2" cuts equilibriate very quickly. I cut some 1/2" blanks of Box Elder 3 weeks ago that came out of the log 1/2 hour after I cut down the green tree. Started at circa 35% moisture, and was under 20 within a week. It's within 2 or 3% of equilibrium now. If you quarter saw your hackberry into 1/2" "boards" with a bandsaw, you'll get 4 "boards" of 2 1/2" + width out of each 6" tree, and probably 4 more that will mill up to at least 1.5" Quarter sawn hackberry in 1/2" rough dimensions should be quite workable (and bendable) in a few weeks, and probably won't be too twisty if properly handled in drying.

If they are not big enough to quarter saw, I wouldn't bother with them. Flat sawn thin lumber from a tree less than 6" in diameter is going to get you cupped and twisted junk, in all probability.

[russell lusthaus]

green hackberry steams easily and well. I would up your dimensions as hackberry is not oak, and you will be able to steam bend 3/4 inch hackberry, no problem. Over bend a little, as you will get springback.

If you have extra, put some aside to season for a year or three - hackberry makes a nice recurve or long bow.

Russ