Hackberry logs

[pineywoods]

Friend brought me 2 loads of misc. logs today. Two nice logs were hackberry. Never sawed hackberry before. What's it good for ???

[beenthere]

Wood is similar to elm.

[WDH]

It is difficult.  Spiral grain and in the elm family.  Flat sawn boards tend to twist and warp, especially those near the outside of the tree.  A lot like sweetgum and blackgum in that respect.  It tends to side bend more than most woods that I have dealt with.  At least the southern hackberry seems to have a lot of stress.  I would quartersaw it as much as possible.  Very pretty grain and a nice creamy color.  I have used it as a secondary wood in furniture.  Most of it down here goes into pallet wood. 

[Larry]

My dad used quite a bit in furniture.  Always in contrast with another wood, usually walnut.

This time of year logs will grey stain in a week.  It's ugly.

[WDH]

Yes, it makes a perfect contrast with walnut, more of a yellowish creamy color rather than the white of maple.  Here it is used in a cutting board in contrast with cherry and bubinga.  The wavy band arrangement of the latewood pores makes for some very pretty flat sawn grain.  It has a small but visible ray fleck on the radial face, about like cherry and maple.



 

[mesquite buckeye]

The ones I cut from the woods are fine, much less prezely than the big elms. Open grown might be a different story. I like the wood.

[WDH]

From a Southern perspective, good luck with it.   

[ET]

Although i have hundreds of hackberry on my farm of various sizes i have not sawn any up yet. It is a heavy wood and makes great firewood, splits better than elm and makes alot of ash. I saw a TV special a few weeks ago about the hackberry tree being used years ago as flooring especially because of its interlocking fiber structure. It definitely stains and if i decide to saw some up i plan on doing it during cold temperatures and getting it in a kiln asap.  Let us know what you do with your logs. I would love to know.

[drobertson]

Piney, heavy trailer decking, it just has to be installed pretty quick, it is a very tough wood for heavy equipment, david

[curdog]

A guy I know makes wooden bowls and if the hackberry is spalted it makes a beautiful bowl and he sells them about as fast a he makes them. But besides that I'm not sure.