Yesterday I dropped 25 plus trees to build a food plot. Eight of them are Hackberry in the 14 - 20 inch range. What are your thoughts/advice on milling or firewood please?
Never heard of anyone milling hackberry but after a google search, I think I might do it if I were in need of the lumber. Taken from anther site: "Perhaps the greatest detriment to using hackberry is that it stains (fungal stains and chemical enzymatic oxidation gray stains) very quickly. Logs that have been held in warm weather or lumber that has not been promptly stacked and dried aggressively right after sawing will almost have high staining risk. Careless lumber producers will produce mostly “paint grade” hackberry because of the stain. However, with reasonable care, hackberry is a beautiful wood, worth of the high prices paid for the better grades or ash and elm."
Never have scrounged any. I guess if not furniture grade lumber, maybe utility wood? Firewood some and mill some. Worst case scenario is you burn the milled boards. Be sure to post pics of either.
I burn quite a bit of hackberry. It’s one of the most common “good for firewood” trees around here. It’s ok and if it’s available I’ll take it. Got quite a bit in my stacks now. I don’t own a sawmill but know 2 people that do. It can make some beautiful boards, I think the trick is to let it spalt some, but not too much or it will start getting soft. I have no idea how they gauge the time, but I have seen some really good looking boards out of hackberry.
Try milling a couple , if that doesn't look promising then plan B = firewood. Curious what you find inside.
An online search will find the special handling hackberry requires to prevent milled wood from turning gray.
I’d use it with no issues for milled lumber wood shelters etc. too many people out esthetics to high above usefulness it seems.
Hackberry will stain quite badly if handled incorrectly or left on the ground too long. It mills fairly well. I have some in my barn construction and it did ok.
