A few Hackberry questions

[GlisGlis]

with hackberry you just take bark off and use that as back? or you decrown and back with something?
I've got a big stave drying but rings are not really evident. chasing one looks a little difficult
forgive me danzB. didnt mean to hack (berry  ) your post

[jimmy]

I made a real good hackberry bow a few years back.  It might still be in my archived posts.  I don't know anything about trapping or recurving, but hackberry does need to be a little overbuilt compared to osage.  I used a 3-3.5 inch dia. tree, so the back has a decent crown.  It only took on about an inch of set, and is only 62" ttt, I believe.  1.5" width is good.  Heat treat the crap out of it, or it's worthless in my opinion.  My hackberry is among my best shooters.  Good luck and post pics of the progress.

[Badger]

  As far as trapping goes I see very little use for it, if a stave has the slightest crown at all it is allready trapped. 1/16 of an inch difference in thickness from the edges to the crown is a lot of wood.

[smoke]

Took a nice little 4x4 whitetail with my hackberry bow on Monday.  If the growth rings are thick, you can probably go a fair bit shorter - my little bow is 56" tip to tip and draws mid-50s @ 28.

[Danzn Bar]

Finally finished my first hackberry a few weeks ago.................
In general I really like the wood it takes heat like you wouldn't believe, at least this stave did.  Got it to floor tiller and heat treated it and it was like starting all over again.  It picked up a lot of weight.
Ended up just flipping the tips a bit, due to the overall width and trapped the back.

Here's the specs
66" ntn
56# @ 28"
1 1/2" wide @ fades across the back it's 1"
Tapers to 10" short of the tips and is 1" wide and across the back it's 1/2"
Tips tapers quickly to 5/16" @ the nocks.

Not my best tiller job, after all this time I still see the top limb is a bit stiff.  It pulls good and shoots fine though.
Here's a few pictures, thanks for looking.
Till next time,
DBar

[Danzn Bar]

And a few more

[Knoll]

Finish looks intriguing. How'd ya do that?

[Danzn Bar]

Mike,
I just dyed the complete bow with an alcohol dye, then used a black paint on the back and faded it out towards the tips. highlited the back edge with a gold paint pen....  then four coats of tung oil.... thats it.....
Sorry my picture taking sucks......
DBar

[JW_Halverson]

Gotta say, this one was worth waiting for!  Tiller is close enough to perfect for me!

[osage outlaw]

Wow Bill!  That is one awesome looking Hackberry bow.  I can't wait to see that one in person in a couple of weeks.

[rps3]

" heat treated it and it was like starting all over again.  It picked up a lot of weight."
Describes my experience with it too. Looks like a great bow.

[Danzn Bar]

Thanks JW....
Clint....it will be at Moontree. again thanks for the stave.
Yep rps3, it really likes heat.  I would love to see what it would do as a static.  I got another stave that is much wider that I'm thinking about.
Thanks again guys!
DBar

[bubby]

That looks great dbar, nice effect on the finish too.

[paulsemp]

Man that's a looker! Nice finish bill as always

[Badly Bent]

Looks great Bill, holding a nice profile from the side view, tiller looks darn good to me, and that finish is cool looking too. I'd say it's a big success on your first hackberry, I look forward to checking it out up close in a couple months.