How poroys hackberry should be

[capitainepatenaude]

Hello everybody!!

I went to cut some wood yesterday to get bow staves. I found some hackberry (celtis occidentalis) and decided to give it a try, knowing that it was a loved wood by some members of primitive archer forum. The wood splitted easily and cleanly. I was surprised to see how porous it was. And by porous, I mean outstandingly porous. The rings are completely covered with small pores and are tight ringed. Also, the wood is lighter than the american elm I use. I was just wondering if it was a common feature of hackberry and if it will make a bow. Maybe the pores will close when drying. I have 15 clean staves of hackberry and I would be very sad to turn it into toothpicks and firewood.

The soil on which the hackberry grows is wet. Also, tge climate is somewhat cold here. I live in Canada.

[Morgan]

I use a lot of hackberry and I am a big fan of it. Like on anything else, ring thickness can vary a great deal. Hackberry is light weight and makes a fine bow when the belly is toasted. The first hackberry bow I made has several thousand shots on it and shows no sign of giving up any time soon. While it is porous, I’ve never thought of the rings being incredibly porous.
I should have some end cuts in my shop, if not I’ll cut the glue off the end of some staves and take a pic of what I’m used to working with if you’d like.

[eastcreekarchery]

Post a pic of the endgrain so we can see!

[Allyn T]

Google search hackberry wood and click on the wood database. Has pictures at the bottom including endgrain

[capitainepatenaude]

Morgan, it would be fantastic if you could provide me some pictures.

Thank you everybody for your fast responses. Here's a picture. https://imgur.com/a/cYSpy1g

It's the best I can do with my cellphone tonight. I'll try to post an other one tomorow.

[dylanholderman]

i've only made one bow from a hackberry sapling but my end grain looked like yours and was also physically light weight

[Eric Garza]

I have never seen hackberry with such tight rings. That photo reminds me more of eastern hophornbeam.

[Allyn T]

[capitainepatenaude]

This hackberry is definetely less porous than mine. I still hope that I have some usable bow wood. I currently have 24 bow stave and it would be a shame to burn them.

[eastcreekarchery]

Make sure you toast the belly of your hackberry bow. Ive heard its necessary to make a snappy bow from hack

[Stixnstones]

I use hackberry all the time. Toasting the belly does help and dont be afraid to toast it a couple times if needed. Makes a lite weight snappy bow. Get that bark off and seal it now, it comes off way easier when green.

[Morgan]

I apologize, I cannot take better detailed pics with my phone. The pics I am showing are of different staves, from different trees. There is one with pretty tight small rings, but i don’t have any with a ton of early porous wood to reference though I have had in the past. One pic is of the rings on the fade of a finished bow, you can kind of make out the porosity on it.

[organic_archer]

Hackberry that looks like Morgan and Allyn’s photos will make fine bows. I’m a big fan of hackberry and have made many. It makes a durable bow that’s light and snappy. As others have said, give it a good heat treating to really bring it to life and get that bark off ASAP. Feels like running your draw knife through concrete if you let it dry on the stave.

Quality varies wildly and depends on growing conditions. I’ve seen them with dense 3/8” rings, some with 7-10 RPI, some that’s all spongy and porous and everywhere in between. The really spongy looking stuff seems to be pretty poor quality. If you have access to more hackberry, cut another and you’ll probably find a denser tree.