Hackberry

[Gregor1]

When I went to but my walnut the other day, the guy had some Hackberry on display. Very interesting looking wood. I almost bought some, but wanted to check it out first. Apparently it is not good for outdoor use. It's grain design pretty much dictates modern furniture to me, but I suppose it could be stained, and toned down a bit. Anyone do anything with Hackberry?

[iclark]

When I went to but my walnut the other day, the guy had some Hackberry on display. Very interesting looking wood. I almost bought some, but wanted to check it out first. Apparently it is not good for outdoor use. It's grain design pretty much dictates modern furniture to me, but I suppose it could be stained, and toned down a bit. Anyone do anything with Hackberry?

I have some turing pieces on hand but have not really played with it.

From the Got Wood? folks:

Kiln Dried Hackberry

Suitable for inexperienced turners. Wood is typically off white in color. This species is moderately hard. Grain can be straight or interlocked. Cutting requires sharp tools. Sands to a medium lustre, finishes easily, and is stable when dried.

Special Note:
These pieces may occasionally contain light mineral stain or trace amounts of black line spalting.

[EdL]

IMHO, its not an appealing wood. Lots of it on our property, falls into the firewood catagory. (Pun intended)

Ed

[AHill]

Spalted hackberry is a good alternative to spalted maple..

[AHill]

Spalted hackberry is a good alternative to spalted maple. Google hackberry furniture images and you can get some ideas of how it's been used. Table tops and bar tops are common.

[MarkWells]

When I went to but my walnut the other day, the guy had some Hackberry on display. Very interesting looking wood. I almost bought some, but wanted to check it out first. Apparently it is not good for outdoor use. It's grain design pretty much dictates modern furniture to me, but I suppose it could be stained, and toned down a bit. Anyone do anything with Hackberry?

I live in central Texas, where Hackberry is an invasive species.  Once I had a trunk and one large branch milled.  I air dried it outside under cover with stickers.

Things I learned with a sample size of one:

The wood is quite hard, but also very flexible, which is a strange combination.  It will dull handsaws faster than other woods I use.  I learned it's flexibility is sometimes used to make Shaker oval boxes.

If it gets wet and then air dries, it spalts very easily.  The colors I got from the splating were quite amazing.

I had it milled to 2" thick and then let it air dry under cover for several years.  I tried to glue it up to make a workbench top, but the glue joints opened up almost immediately.  Maybe it wasn't dry, maybe I got the branch wood, or maybe it had internal stress from incorrect drying.  I know now that branches don't make good lumber.

This small cabinet is unfinished hackberry:  https://www.mwells.org/woodworking/proje...h-cabinet/

The legs of this workbench are unfinished hackberry:  https://www.mwells.org/woodworking/handt...bench-3-0/  The top is yellow pine.  In the picture the leg vise is also 8/4 hackberry.  The wood was so flexible the vise wouldn't hold.  I replaced it with soft maple.

Mark

[Gregor1]

The pieces I saw were 10' long, 8" wide, pretty white, with vivid black lines running the length.