Mystery wood identified !

Mike-in-WV · #1 02-01-2005, 03:08 PM

Well it's now official, The wood that I have been carving my spirits in has finally been idetified by the US Forest service as "HACKBERRY". It took a while but they let me know what it is today. They also said it's common in most of the US and it only likes low spots like flood plains but will tollert just about any soil.
It's a great carving wood but not hard enough to be used for much of anything else. The Berries taste like prunes but you have to watch the pit because it can break a tooth.
The wings on the branches are from an insect and are also common of this tree.
Well. Now we know. Believe me if you ever want a great carving wood this is it. Thanks for all the guesses but it looks like we were all wrong, Lol. Mike
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...lr%3D%26sa%3DN

squbrigg · #2 02-01-2005, 07:14 PM

Thanks Mike for letting us know. You learn something new everyday.....Hackberry, I've never heard of it. It was a good puzzle for everyone. So we now have a new carving wood to look forward to.

Bob

jamesfa · #3 02-01-2005, 07:23 PM

Mike- well the mystery is solved glad you were so persistant. thats' another type of wood to add to my "got to get me some " list.

i think someone mentioned that we have a type of hackberry around hear

Frank

rgbonehead · #4 02-01-2005, 07:28 PM

I would have never guessed that as hack berry.
But it's been a long time since I have seen a hackberry tree.
We had one in our yard when I was growing up. It was about
12'in diam.and about 100' tall. The only thing my mom and
dad used it for was a switch.When we kids needed it LOL
Have carved mulberry very hard stuff but very pretty.
Ron

Mike-in-WV · #5 02-01-2005, 07:51 PM

This wood is without any doubt the best stuff I have ever carved green. It's also a pure white color , takes stain and paint real well . The guy from the Forest service said these trees get really large and I have seen some on the internet that looked to be about 8' around. They also get over 60' tall.

I cut 8 more today and a guy told me where there is more. Mike
PS Forgot to tell you that I took some pics of the trees today and I'll post them here in the morning in case anyone wants to see what they look like close up.The branches are a real givaway.

Kenny_S · #6 02-01-2005, 08:25 PM

That is a different type of Hackberry than we have in this part of the country but then different names of wood are call in different parts of the country also.

I agree with Ron, sure didn't look like what we call Hackberry. Similar to our Blackjacks which grows in abundance and usually the farmers sray them to kill them and new growth take years to start.

Good job Mike on getting it identified.

Nice to have a little treasure of wood eh?

Ky_Whittler · #7 02-01-2005, 10:55 PM

I only have one hackberry on the place that I know of. I guess I'll have to look around see if the birds added to the inventory anywhere. Evidently there is a lot of diference in the smaller trees than the mature ones. I guess it's like yellow poplar, lot of diference in the bark of a young tree and a mature one. Except it starts out backwards LOL. Whittler

Mike-in-WV · #8 02-02-2005, 07:30 AM

Whittler, From what they told me there are different Hackberry trees depending on where you are from in the country. I would think that there is allot of them in your area because he said that we have more in the western section of WV than we do here in the south central . Mike

Mike-in-WV · #9 02-02-2005, 09:20 AM

Here are the pics I took yesterday. Notice the strang formation on the limbs. This is caused by some kind of insect but doesn't seen to hurt the trees. The nick name for the Hawkberry branches is " Witches Broom". These trees are about 8" at the bottom and they are around 12' high. When they get that big I use the tops for walking staffs and the bottoms for wood spirit candle holders and fun things like that.

After trimming the tree for walking staffs I end up with a stick that is about 2-2.5" at the top including the bark and it's about 1" on the bottom and around 5' tall. After sealing both ends with Elmers I stand them in a corner of my shop for about a week to stabilize a little. My shop is around 65 degrees and that's just the way I like it . Then I carve the spirit in the green wood and seal the carved area with stain and or water based Poly. In between carving times I always wrap the carving in Saran wrap and place a rubber band on it no matter how long it's going to sit, like when i get a cup of coffee or let it sit over night. After the staff drys for a few months I like to seal the bark with two coats of Poly and then in another month or so it's ready to sell. Mike

Cut_Fingers · #10 02-02-2005, 09:25 AM

Thanks Mike for following up on the wood type. I really liked the color of the wood & it's ability to hold detail & the fact that it can be carved when green. I've just got to see if we have any of those growing in Mississippi.

Thanks for the Info! You did a great job on your spirits!

Jim