Hackberry

[Knute]

First, I have to tell you I really enjoy this forum. I have learned so much in a short time. Now my question. Has anyone milled and dried hackberry? We have several trees which are straight and knot free, but I don't know if they are worth sawing for lumber.

[tyb525]

I've heard it's similar to elm, and I have a few good hackberry trees also, but that's about as much as I can tell you. I have a bowl blank I cut from a fallen tree, I am anxious to see what it looks like.

Oh, and Welcome to the Forum, Knute! I remember when I first joined, I couldn't stop reading. Still can't ;) :D.

[campy]

Fungi attack it extremely quickly if it gets wet.
It warps a lot when it dries so consider cutting thicker boards.
It is suppose to be great for bending.

I made some 6x6 beams out of it for my barn this year.

That is all I know about that.

[WDH]

I found it hard to deal with because it has interlocked/spiral grain like elm.  I sawed one big, clean, and straight log, and the lumber looked great.  However, a good bit of it twisted and warped, especially the 8/4.  If you can get it to dry straight (stack it on the bottom of the stickered pile and then add stickered layers of other species on top), and if you get it dry to the in-use mositure content, it can make some pretty projects.  I use it as a secondary wood for drawer backs and such, and it has a really nice grain.  I would hesitate to use it in wide panels or tabletops unless the wood is perfectly dry before flattening and planing.  It would make very nice T&G paneling where each board is free to move on its own.

It is also very susceptible to gray stain, like you see in maple, where a chemical enzymatic reaction stains the wood in a blotchy blue/gray color.  Like maple, it cannot tolerate much hot and humid conditions without the gray stain forming.  It can happen in just a couple of days of hot humid weather with little air flow.  Therefore, you would have better luck cutting the boards and getting them quickly in a kiln to preserve the nice light color.   Here are a couple of pics.  The first shows the color and grain.  The second shows the issue with spiral grain and drying defect.

[Kansas]

We cut a fair amount of hackberry. There used to be a good market for it over in the middle east. They wanted the white wood. That market is gone now.  We take a different direction. We deliberately let the logs lay long enough to get what I would call a smoky appearance. Spalting is a bit different-there's a fine line between that and rot.We do attempt that from time to time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I put hackberry in the bedroom of my house for the walls and ceiling. To me, it has the most character of any of the woods I used. Just gorgeous. We only cut the very best and straightest logs for the kiln, the rest goes to pallet. We don't have a lot of trouble with it drying straight.

[WDH]

I need a kiln  .

[Knute]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it is worth a try.

[pineywoods]

I need a kiln  .

Modify the chicken coop  ;D

[ljmathias]

No chicken coop; think the kids would mind if I used their spare bedroom.... Gotta get that solar kiln built! >:(

Lj

[Kansas]

A couple of pictures of hackberry

[Kansas]

Well, I got them as far as my album, they are under new album.

[tyb525]

From what I can tell from my bowl blank, the grain looks pretty! It's also slightly spalted  8)

And as several have expressed, gotta get my solar kiln built! Got all the lumber...just need the roofing and the time!

[Slingshot]

Well, I got them as far as my album, they are under new album.

Kansas;
            If you tried to add the pictures to your post and they didn't go it might be that
    you logged in to your gallery before you started posting. They won't link up unless you
    log into your gallery after you start your post.
            That is what I was doing at first and the photo didn't transfer.
       
         The instructions for posting don't stress that you need to be totally logged out of the
    picture gallery before starting your post (or if you are logged in you have to re-log in after starting ).
Start your post and when you are ready for a picture, then log into the gallery,
    enlarge the picture you want, and click on the green line that says "click here to........" And then
   you can go back and forth for as many pictures as you want.
Under that it gives instructions to copy and paste for non-compliant brousers.


_______________________
charles
   
   

[WDH]

 




Here is one of your pics, Kansas.

Your hackberry has much more grain and figure than what I have expeerienced.  That is a beautiful wall.

[Kansas]

Thanks for posting that. That is what we are trying to achieve, the dark lines and figure. Not the conventional use for hackberry, but we have built up a pretty good market for it.
Logger friend of mine that ships a lot of veneer is helping me try to find a veneer mill that we could test slice a few logs. Might work, might not. But that would make great paneling.

[WDH]

I think that what you did with the wall is one of the best uses for hackberry because the boards are not glued together in a wide panel, thereby lessening the spiral grain impact overall. 

[rph816]

I like hackberry mainly because the commercial mills don't see much value (Theres a lot of hackberry trees here in the midwest).  We've cut up quite a lot of it, just got done with a flooring project.  Yes it does move some, so we cut it 5/4 and stack it at the bottom.  Some of my logs were getting "smoky" as Kansas said, other spalted and some just got stained.  The trick is to get it cut and drying quickly.

I think this is a link to pics of my floor.
http://www.woodmagazine.com/photos/project-gallery/office-den-living-furniture/1808800045/?photoId=1805700164

Ryan

[Kansas]

That is a beautiful floor rph. As I found out building this house, the flaws and imperfections are the greatest assets. And around here, hackberry is now considered strictly pallet wood. Back in the 70's, logger got 45 or 50 cents a board foot delivered to the mill for good butt cut logs.  Now, its 20 cents. Breaks my heart to see prime logs cut into pallet.

[WDH]

It is only used for pallet wood down here as well.

[campy]

I loved the floor and the ceiling/walls done in Hackberry.
It is so great to understand how Hackberry really can be put to use and to see the great examples, via pictures, that have been posted here.

I have been rejecting free Hackberry logs offered to me.
Now I may  think twice about that.

[OneWithWood]

There is no ugly wood  ;)