Hackberry for a log home?

[VictorH]

So, my wife and I would love to build a log home for ourselves.  I have a tree line that I have been given to clear and it has a bunch of hackberry.  I am thinking of a D style profile.  Not concerned with the typical graying that goes with drying hackberry as I plan on staining the whole thing.  Can any-one tell me why I should not do this.  Thanks

[LOGDOG]

Victor,

   Hackberry is not the wood you'd want to use for a log home. Check out this site which goes over the properties of Hackberry:
http://www.connectedlines.com/wood/wood29.htm

   Log homes have enough issues on their own even if you use the best of woods. Hackberry isn't very rot resistant nor strong. It's application seem to lean towards furniture and turning / lathe work.

   Here in LA  hackberry is pretty much worthless. That guy "gave" you the tree line to clear for that reason I suspect. I doubt if it had been nice mature pine or oak that he'd be so eager to give it away.  ;) I'd pass on that.

Best,

LOGDOG

[VictorH]

Nice site logdog.  I knew that there was not a lot of high value in the tree line.  I only have to take what I want.  They will doze and burn the rest.  Here we have some old log structures made from cottonwood and I was just hit with the idea that hackberry might work.  The site you gave gives the two woods about equal qualities.  Thanks

[Bro. Noble]

When we first started selling ties,  I asked the buyer what species they bought.  His reply was just about anything but hackberry.  Here in the Ozarks,  the heartwood of hackberry is usually pretty punky by the time the tree is big enough to make a tie sized log.

[LOGDOG]

Yep Bro. Noble, here you can't hardly give the stuff away. Although I have seen Hackberry used in a decorative way where it was attractive. You know Victor, if you have the ability to stand there with a chainsaw while they know the trees over with a dozer or trackhoe and they'd let you lop off the best part of the log - you may want to scalp some of the prime logs just to have some around for variety. Maybe use the knot free stuff somewhere in your house project. It's kind of fun to take people through your house and have them say "oh wow, what kind of wood is that" etc, etc.  Maybe you can find a nice farmer with soom good spuce or pine that wants to take them down.  ;) Then you'd have the makings for some cabin logs.

LOGDOG

[Reddog]

Hackberry isn't very rot resistant,
nor strong.

I am not following your thought process here.

You need to treat any log home to resist rot.
And as for strength, Hackberry is nearly twice as strong as most of the conventional soft woods use in log construction.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch04.pdf

That said the only concern I would have using hackberry is how stable the logs would be. It seems to have a lot of internal stresses with it twisting/interlocking grain.

[LOGDOG]

Reddog,

   First let me tell you (while I have your ears/eyes) that I dig your avatar picture of you and your dog. We've got two 100 lb +/- lap dogs and I have to grin when I see that picture of you and your lab.

   On the hackberry ... hey if a guy wants to try building a log home with hackberry go for it. I think if it were the optimum material to work with we'd see more guys using it not just for log homes but for other things as well and if they did it would have a substantially higher commercial value than it does. A client of mine has about 6500 acres and it's loaded with hackberry. They'd love to cut the stuff and get rid of it - if they could get much of anything for it monetarily. I totally passed. Bro.Noble was right, most of the time the centers are bad.

   You raised a good point on stability. I've heard and read more concerns about lack of stability with hackberry than most any other woods with the exception of elm - it's pretty squirrelly too. Not saying there aren't others that are more or less stable. Just saying that those two have come up in conversation more than others it seems.

Here are some comments made by the website above that I pasted:

Hackberry Size of Pores
Large Pores - Open grain
(There's a discussion going currently about red oak as a siding where one of our members opted to use hemlock to side his barn and that worked out but accidentally had a red oak batten slip in and it rotted in no time. I believe a comment was made about oak having large open pores ...etc, etc contributing to the rate of decay. [as best I can remember without looking back at the thread as I'm typing this.])

Hackberry Kiln-dried Shrinkage
High

Shrinkage is definitely a factor you need to consider when building a log home.

Hackberry Movement after drying
Moderate

Hackberry Wood Defects
Stain, warp

We covered that with stability.


Hackberry Use for Heavy Construction
no

Would a log home be classified as "heavy construction" - I'm thinking yes.  ???

There's no mention of hackberry's R-value either in any of my log home reference books. That's a key factor to consider.

So just a couple of reasons I'd take a pass on it. But hey, my grandpa built a log cabin up in Northern WI over 60 years ago out of popple (white poplar) and managed to have it last long enough to raise his children in it without the advantage of todays modern chemicals etc. It did rot though and was eventually burned down about 25 years ago by my uncle who bought the old homestead. It served it's purpose which was to raise a family in during hard times, wood cookstove, outhouse and all. Building a log home is a lot of work - I've done it, and today there's more of a focus on longevity of a home and "bank-ability". It would seem to me that if a guy was going to go through the whole process you'd want to use the best materials available to you.

Just my two cents ...

LOGDOG

[ARKANSAWYER]

  I like hackberry.  Do not get enough of it.  It spalts very easy and saws and drys well when spalted.  Sells well when made into a product.  I would not build a log home from it but in Neb they have a pretty dry climate.  I think the best use would be for flooring and paneling and if the logs are free then they may be good logs. ( I know, no log is really free)  It is just that I have never seen enough hackberry trees that would produce good stems for a log home. 

[LOGDOG]

I saw some hackberry stair treads once that were really pretty.

LOGDOG

[WDH]

I only ever cut but one big hackberry tree and it was the most unstable wood that I have ever sawn.  Maybe it was just that one bad tree.  It is in the elm family and has spiral interlocked grain like elm.  Pretty but wiggly in my limited experience.