I had a look at the staves when you posted pics and was going to tell you that I thought they looked like they had a twist to them. You have to examine HHB very carefully and sometimes even if the bark looks like it is going straight, up the tree, you can find it has some twist after debarking. A bit of twist won't bother HHB though, even a lot won't but if you get one that is like a corkscrew then you may have to consider not using it.