Late harvest hackberry

[Iukee]

Cut some hackberry and the sap is down. The bark didn't just pop off for me. I tried to use the drawknife on one piece, the bark was so tough that when my dull drawknife went thru I think I violated the ring below. The stringy parts in the picture is what I am concerned about never dealt with hackberry before would like your opinion. Sorry about the poor picture quality.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[oldhippy]

I have never dealt with hackberry before but I have cut hickory when the sap was down and run into the same problem. What I did was shave the bark as close as I could get it to the wood and then put  a wet towel on it and let it sit for about an hour then use a scraper to take the excess off. Most of the hickory bows that I have built still have a little of the Cambrian in the deep grooves. Kind of like a little camouflage with white wood. hope this helps. Steve

[sulphur]

i have chased a ring on hackberry before.  its not too difficult.  it is mildy ring pourous wood so its just like osage or ash when following a ring. if it has thick rings you could probably sand down the violation.  i would wait till the wood is a little drier before i chase a ring on it.

[Iukee]

oldhippy- I've read about using a wet rag, however, some of strings pulled up into splinters not deep ones,but, about 1/16"thick.

sulphur- I only took the bark off one of the pieces, would it work to let the slit dry somemore with bark on? I think that is what I will try is chasing a ring after it dries some.

Next time I'm cutting it in the summer for sure. Thanks guys

[shamus]

Did you violate the ring of just cut into in the inner barck? Also, where on the stave is the violation?

The bark will stick tight to the wood  during the fall/winter.  In that case, you can remove the bark *carefully* but stop short of the inner bark layer. You can leave the inner bark on or scrap it off *carefully* with a scraper.

Drawknife used bevel-side down will give you more precise depth control.

I've heard you can also give the stave a steam bath in the shower and that can loosen the bark a bit. If you;re married, clean the shower AND the bathroom afterward in order to maintain marital harmony.

But right now, I'd see where exactly that ring violation is on the stave and where that violation may be on the bow. You may be able to avoid it on layout, or it may be on a part of the bow that won't hurt it (on the handle area).

[Iukee]

 I'm not sure I'm thru the inner bark. The bark was stuck so tight. I kept  scraping on one end and was going thru layers that were paper thin. So then I cut the end off the stave to look at the end grain and the top ring is at least 1/4 inch deep.

[Hrothgar]

Ron I've cut and split several hackberry staves. Even cut in the winter they seemed to retain a lot of moisture and consequently the straight log became a couple twisted staves as they dried. The stringy inner bark is normal. I would just go down another ring, and try not to decap the knots. Are you going to seal the back while it dries?

[Iukee]

Hrothgar- yes, I'll seal the back with glue on the one I took the bark off of, but. Can I just leave the bark on the others until the dry some?

[Hrothgar]

Leaving the bark on shouldn't be a problem, be sure to seal the ends.

[radius]

why not cut a scrap piece and experiment with that?

[dismount]

Iukee, I've made a few bows from Hack and I've decrowned them. going down three or four rings and All are still working bows. One bow is 56'' long and a guy I sold it to has a 29'' draw and its good to go. I know the same variety of woods and different in other parts of the country, but thats how it works for me. Hackberry is great bow wood.  Dismount

[Iukee]

Thanks to all that replied one thing is for sure I'm going to let it dry a lot more before I do anything else. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Dean Marlow]

I  have debarked a-lot of Hackberry and it is not hard to do. Nothing like Hickory. Just let it dry with the bark on then debark it this winter. I usually just use a dull drawknife or turn your sharp one around and it will come right off.  Dean

[Iukee]

Thanks Dean, am I going too deep if I get those white strings?

[Dean Marlow]

No you haven't went to far if you are just to the stringy stuff. Your Ellms have that stringy stuff also. But you are getting real close. So take your time . Dean