I saved the hackberry to use in our fireplace in the basement. First I've had ready in quite a while. I never burn anything that hasn't been seasoned for at least 3 years. Have 5 or 6 pieces going as I write this. I think hack is underated. Right now it's burning with a more blue than orange flame and kicking out a fair amount of heat for an open fireplace. Or maybe it was just a 'special' tree. I think I'll find some more. And that's all I have to say about that.
Good to hear a positive review of it. My thoughts are there are plenty of people that burn it across a wide swath of the country, so if I ever have the chance to score some I won’t hesitate to try it out. I’ve only seen one in the wild here in CT though.
I have only seen a couple hackberry trees around here. None has ever been able to be turned into firewood by me, so I can't say how it burns, but I've burnt lower quality firewood, so I'd gladly take any I could get.
I burn a bit of hack and thinks it’s a fine heatin wood. I’m not picky though and seem to burn whatever I gots that’s dry.
It’s one of the 3 most available species to me. Can be stringy and difficult to split when green (not as bad as elm) but I think elm is better btu wise. I’m getting more of it into my stacks all the time. Dries pretty quick, but can go bad pretty quick also if left in the rounds too long. I seldom find any dead or dead and down that isn’t getting punky. This time next year I’ll be able to give a much better evaluation of it because I have a bunch that will get used in the coming heating season. I darn sure won’t pass on an easy hackberry score
I like Hackberry well enough, it cuts real easy. azz mentioned it's not the easiest to split and can be stringy, dries fast. The burn time is on the lower end, indeed its similar to Elm.
As previously stated it’s similar to American Elm as far as it’s stringyness especially when green. I have kept some rounds for 6 months or so before splitting it seemed to help somewhat with the strings. Definitely get it & keep it off the ground. I would give it 12 months to season, 18 would be better at least around here. It’s a middle of the road btu wood.
Thanks for the offer but I'm quickly running out of suitable planting space in my yard between the osage, black locust, oaks, walnuts and chestnuts I planted
I like the stuff and try to keep it in the stacks. Pretty much as the other guys have said is dead on.
Hackberry and black cherry are almost in same class regarding BTUs. If I saw a black cherry or a hackberry log lying next to one another and could only have 1. Its the hackberry. I too think it's overrated. Split and covered, it lasts. Unfortunately, I only have a little left in the stacks.
Pretty common around here so we get it on a regular basis. One downside is it seems to attract power post beetles. They leave lots of sawdust and that turns customers off as they think it's termites.
If I’m a little pizzed off and need a workout I’ll split some hackberry. If I’m really passed off and really need a workout I’ll “try” to split elm, then I’ll be more pizzed off and have a soar back!
I burned about a quarter cord of seasoned Hackberry this winter. It was really solid. No punk to it. I thought it burned great. It lit easily, burned hot and lasted longer than most of the wood I burn. No complaints. I’d take as much as I could get my hands on.
Like others have said. Get it off the ground, split and top covered and it will last. Powder post Beatles love it. If it wasn’t for the bugs it would replace ash pretty easy. The wind brings them down on a regular basis here.
I still have nearly 2 ricks of Hackberry stacked on the porch. I burnt it off and off, all winter. I cut it and stacked it on the porch, the winter before, thinking it would be seasoned by the coming fall, about 8 months, per the drying chart on this website. Most of the time I burnt Pin Oak, Red Oak, and some Locust, and a little Red Cedar. Anyway, getting to the subject at hand, I didn't really like Hackberry very much, when I tried to burn it last fall. I think maybe it wasn't seasoned enough. and think that the drying chart is wrong on that species. I think it should be more like 12 months. I finally burnt up all of the other wood I had on the porch and didn't want to move more wood, so I have been burning almost exclusively Hackberry for two or three weeks or more. It's worked OK for this late shoulder season burning. But during the winter, I burnt it in my shop, just to try to get rid of it, when I needed a little heat there on the coldest days. I though earlier in the year, that if conditions were right and I smelled the smoke if I was out in the yard, that maybe the Hackberry bothered my sinuses. And I still think it just might. Personally, I don't thing I am going to cut any more Hackberry for firewood. I would if I needed to, but I have a lifetime supply of standing dead Red Oak, I can burn, so there is just no need for me to use Hackberry. I would cut it before I would Elm for wood. Thankfully, I don't need to consider either. In the future, I am just sticking to the Oaks, and Black Locust, mostly, unless there's a problem tree, I need to remove on the farm, somewhere, and that does come up, fairly often, I am becoming more picky, nowdays. I have over four years of wood maybe more cut and stacked so I don't need to scrounge.
