Eric. Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 Anyone ever heard of such a thing? I was cutting up this tree today, and spotted some inkiness in the end grain. So I slabbed off the side of a log, and voila! I'm quite certain it is in fact hackberry, and I'm absolutely positive it is NOT maple. So is this actually spalt, and has anyone ever seen it in a wood other than maple? I thought it was just a maple thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 According to Wikipedia, spalting is a fungus thing, not necessarily a maple thing. So if hackberry is otherwise useful for woodworking, it looks like you've got some nice material there. -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted December 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Thanks Russ. Yeah, I googled it right after I posted the question...suppose I coulda researched first. Apparently it's pretty common in most pale hardwoods. Might be good for some small projects...guess I'll seal the ends, stick it in the shed and let it dry for a few years. Why not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 not just white woods it can happen to any woods it just looks more spectacular on pale woods. and if do some more research you can make you own spalting. http://www.finewoodw...e.aspx?id=32484 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim_WoodWarden Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Yes Hackberry can be spalted. I was given some logs from a buddy of mine from a hackberry tree that had been cut down in his yard and had sat outside for a while. When I cut the logs open on the band saw I found lots of spalting. Here is a link to the donation box Marc featured on his site I built out of some of the best pieces I still had left in my lumber rack. I am about out of what is left I only had 2 or 3 about 14" diameter logs about 16 to 20" long. http://thewoodwhisperer.com/jims-donation-box/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted December 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Cool Jim! Definitely worth holding onto then. Did your finish have any color in it or is that the color of the wood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 just picked up some spalted wood that im afraid to use.......dont want to waste it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoboMonk Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 Yes, hackberry does develop spalt. We have a lot of hackberry on our land in Kentucky, which runs along the Licking River. However, the bark in your pictures doesn't look like hackberry, as far as I can see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimV Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Isn't hackberry a subgenius of maple? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger T Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Tim, Hackberry is Celtis Occidentalis, The maples are in the genus Acer. You may be thinking of Box Elder, Acer Negundo. Hackberry is really a pretty plain wood in its normal state. Spalting on the other hand, brings some color and visual appeal to an otherwise drab wood. Turners value this wood when it is spalted. It turns very nicely though. I do not know its working properties in lumber form. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted December 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 I did a little digging on the use of hackberry in woodworking. Apparently it's not the most desirable wood because of its lack of toughness and its lack of character. I think I remember the words "cheap furniture" mentioned in a list of its uses. I'll keep it around and I'm sure it'll come in handy for something someday, but it probably won't end up in any of my more "important" projects. Might make a cool accent wood for a small project or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mds2 Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 I was given a hackberry board by a miller near me a couple weeks ago. He said he had been milling logs for 40 years and never milled one before but did one just for the hell of it. The color in mine is like a weird pale blue. I suck at taking pictures but I'm not sure if it is spalting or just the color of the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21meyer Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Anyone ever heard of such a thing? I was cutting up this tree today, and spotted some inkiness in the end grain. So I slabbed off the side of a log, and voila! I'm quite certain it is in fact hackberry, and I'm absolutely positive it is NOT maple. So is this actually spalt, and has anyone ever seen it in a wood other than maple? I thought it was just a maple thing? I know this thread is really old but it came up in my search. Eric, I was hoping you could tell me how your hackberry experiment turned out. Have you used the lumber that you were drying? The pictures that Eric posted are no longer visible so I am not able to see the spalting. We have a few of them that need to be cut down because of wind damage. I have a small chainsaw mill and was curious if it was worth it to mill it up or if it's better off as firewood. I'm guessing they could yield 200-300 board feet if I wanted to mill that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted July 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Yeah, I did confirm that it was hackberry...and spalting. The pictures are no longer available because imageshack decided they wanted money to use their site, and the hackberry is no longer available because I burned it all in a big riverside bonfire. I can't tell you if it's worth milling or not...I'm assuming it would look much like spalted maple. But it's probably only worth your time if it's at that perfect point where it's nice and inky but not yet falling apart and worthless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21meyer Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Yeah, I did confirm that it was hackberry...and spalting. The pictures are no longer available because imageshack decided they wanted money to use their site, and the hackberry is no longer available because I burned it all in a big riverside bonfire. I can't tell you if it's worth milling or not...I'm assuming it would look much like spalted maple. But it's probably only worth your time if it's at that perfect point where it's nice and inky but not yet falling apart and worthless. Ok, thanks. I was just curious if you had used it in a project or burned it. I hadn't read very many positive uses for it just surfing the web but your threads sparked my interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 mds2, that's either blue stain or mineral stain. I haven't seen either one much in hackberry before but they're both pretty common in a lot of woods. I'd guess what you've got is blue stain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 I milled a piece of hackberry that had some pinkish and light blueish and purple streaks Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 I milled a piece of hackberry that had some pinkish and light blueish and purple streaks Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk Can you post pics? "Purple streaks" Doesn't sound like blue stain. Maybe you've got the kind of mineral stain that causes rainbow poplar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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