Hackberry discoloration.

[Morgan]

I have some hackberry that I cut last March that has some discoloration. I cut them, split them, and put them up to dry in my shop the same day. They have never been exposed to any moisture at all, and all were normal colored when they were split. A handful of the staves got a discoloration from end to end on the staves. I don’t believe this is fungal or anything like that. I’ve made two bows out of staves with this discoloration with no ill effect.
All that said, my trade bow stave has this and I was working on it today and got worried there may be something wrong with the wood. If that’s the case, I sure won’t be sending it off to anyone else. I have plenty of staves that don’t have the discoloration, but this is a pretty nice stave. Any opinions on this?

[Morgan]

Also, all the staves that have this were dried bark on.

[Swampman]

I would say that if you used a couple others before like that with no problems i would expect the same results on this one.  I would keep working on that one and just make sure it is well shot in.

[osage outlaw]

Hackberry can turn some funny colors.  I've had some turn green

[Hrothgar]

It happens sometimes but I don't think it will affect the performance of the bow. This phenomenon was a topic a couple years ago, can't remember what the conclusion was, maybe mineral deposits in the soil. Anyone remember?

[stickbowbeard]

I think it looks like some kind of a cool racing stripe or something, especially in the side profile.  I can't speak to the performance impact, but it looks cool.

Eric