Working with Hackberry?

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I just cut my first Hackberry and got some staves in process right now. I've got a bow blank roughed down, a stave smoothed down, and a pair of billets prepped. I have lots of questions about this stuff cause I've only ever worked with Osage and Bamboo. So I know very littlle about working with Hackberry.
I do know that it's a whole lot easier to prep the staves than Osage, this stuff doesn't work me near as hard.

Here's a few questions that I have that come to mind right at the moment.

Is it heat resistant? As in........can it be hot boxed without checking all to heck?

Does it need to be sealed just like any other piece of wood/stave?

Is it possible to chase a ring on this stuff once it dries, cause I gouged into the first ring and tried to peel down to the next one and the wood is too green to cooperate with me, so I just left it until it dries out some.

How strong is Hackberry as compared to Osage?

Is it fairly quick? As compared to what different woods should I expect out of it? Similar to Osage, Hickory, ect.??

And one more for now.........Does it make a good belly wood for Bamboo?

Thanks for any help, advice, suggestions, personal experiences working with Hackberry. All info and comments welcome!
Just throw em out there! 

~SEMO~

[toomanyknots]

"Is it heat resistant? As in........can it be hot boxed without checking all to heck"

It doesn't check near as bad as osage. I have had a back of a stave check with little vertical checks all down it though, but I still make a bow out of it and it still was fine.

"Does it need to be sealed just like any other piece of wood/stave?"

Yes. But I don't seal the back usually, it's fine most of the time if you season in doors.

"How strong is Hackberry as compared to Osage?"

It il make a way beefer bow, but it's strong stuff. You just have to make sure it's real dry, it gets real good and hard when it gets nice and dry. It's pretty light but also set resistant, so it can make a fast bow if ya do it right.

"And one more for now.........Does it make a good belly wood for Bamboo"

I would make it real flat bellyed if ya did. Stuff I cut here would work though.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Thanks for the reply TMK. Since it's kinda cool here in Mo. I put them in my hot box with only 2- 60w bulbs in it and the temp is a constant 80deg. I've got the billets sealed and the bow blank sealed, but the stave isn't. I strapped it to a 2x4 cause it had a bow in it that I thought would straighten out if strapped to a board and dried that way.
I guess it's an experiment to see if the sealed wood checks and the non sealed doesn't or vice versa?

Since I'm not really heating the wood, just creating a warm dry atmosphere like it would be in summer time here I'm hoping to dry it slowly until the outside temp reaches 80-90deg. then I'll take them out of the box and store in the rafters of my garage.

At least that's the plan for now. I really do like how easy it is to work with and the draw knife slides through it like butter. Plus you can practically pull the bark off with your hands, I'm not used to that after working with Osage for so long. LOL

[toomanyknots]

I don't usually seal the back, but I let it air dry slowly in a cool room for 3 or 4 months before roughing out a bow and then let that dry slowly. I don't use a heat box so I can't say if it will check or not, my guess would be yes if it was recently cut.

[sweeney3]

I have used quite a bit of hackberry and like it a lot.  It resembles elm.  I would say that if you seal the ends it should be fine.  It will take large set if it's still very wet when you start to tiller, so make sure it's good dry.  I know what you mean about gouging the back.  I did that on I think my second stave, and it lifted a splinter when I started shooting.  I wrapped it with 100 MPH tape (green duct tape, from the Army), kind of like redneck sinew and it's fine.  It responds very well to steam and heat.  You can just about tie it in knots if you want. I don't know how it would work as a belly wood as I have never made a laminated bow, but I suspect it would be less than ideal.  It's pretty light and can be compression weak, so I imagine boo might overpower it?  Again, haven't tried that, so it's just a guess.

Overall, I like hackberry.  It's not a bad bow wood and really easy to work with. 

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Thanks that's good info and I was hoping that it would bend easily since I want to put some R/D into it using my caul.
I've also heard that it likes to be toasted so I'll see how that goes. I'm hoping that the piece that's gouged I can actually clean the back up by chasing down to the next ring after it dries. Right now it's just too stringy to see what I'm doing.
I'm looking forward to using something other than osage and bamboo, especially since I've never worked with a white wood before, it should be interesting.

[tetaxidermy]

Hackberry does like to be heat treated IMO, seems to bring the speed up. nice stuff to work with one of my favorites. Got several in my hotbox right now.