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Offline rkeltner

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hackberry sapling
« on: February 13, 2009, 04:47:02 am »
i cut a hackberry sapling, about 2 1/2 inches at the thickest, last fall, and started to debark it in the past few days. ohmygawd!! i'd heard this stuff was stringy, but this is ridiculous! i can use one of my frestly sharpened saw blade scrapers, and after a couple of scrapes, i have to clean off the edge, because these 'strings' are clogging the scraping progress! wow! if this is any indication of this wood's ability to hold together, i could almost believe this and elm (which i understand is very similar) to be indestructable! :o
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Offline Pappy

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Re: hackberry sapling
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2009, 05:51:03 am »
I have worked quite a bit of Hackberry and I didn't find it stringy,are you sure that is what you
have ? Mine wasn't a sapling but full size trees. :)
     Pappy
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Offline TRACY

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Re: hackberry sapling
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2009, 09:05:35 am »
As I read it reminded me of American elm, even though they are both in the same family. Good luck
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It is what it is - make the most of it!    PN500956

Offline rkeltner

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Re: hackberry sapling
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2009, 12:32:30 pm »
most of the stringyness so far has been in the white sapwood, haven't done any scraping on heartwood yet, sooooo, that could disappear when i start on the tillering. right now i'm just getting bark off andmaking sure i'm on one ring!
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Offline Pat B

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Re: hackberry sapling
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2009, 12:59:36 pm »
You might be dealing with the cambium layer and not necessarily with the first sapwood ring. Im not familiar with the charactoristics of hackberry but the cambium of some woods are quite stringy. With hackberry, like other whitewoods, the wood just under the bark and cambium is what should be your bow's back.   Pat
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline rkeltner

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Re: hackberry sapling
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2009, 02:54:18 pm »
i've dealt with the underbark of hichory, and it is obviously not part of the sapwood, but to be honest, i had considered the possibility that this was the cambium that i was dealing with!
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: hackberry sapling
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2009, 07:18:51 pm »
Same experience here.  The bark comes off easy and when I start scraping cambium or whatever leftover underbark left behind it gums up something fierce.  I have two pieces setting aside drying further in hopes that it gets easier. 

Anyone ever make an English longbow from Hackberry?
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Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.
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