Hackberry Galore...

[Wood Doctor]

I just collected my second full truckload of hackberry, all solid to the core. White as can be, this spoecies seems dense, and I recall burning it five years ago. I never had any problems with it then, and generally it was easy to split. Yes, the bark is as rough as any tree bark created by God, but that's about my only complaint. The deer love that and clean their antlers with it. And the bark that falls away makes good kindling.

So what are the goods and bads of hackberry? Any comments?

 

[songofthewood]

It's ok. Burns good when seasoned. The only down side I see is not a lot of coals just burns down to a fine powder. Case in point...I have a cord of it still to split next to my wood pile.

 

[crowbuster]

Not to bad. Very stringy to split around these parts

 

[diezelsmoke]

Stinks when it burns, like solvent smell. Need to stack off ground and cover, will start rotting after a couple years, if not kept dry. Burn a lot of it, hard as hell to chainsaw splits easy and decent btu's.

 

[JeffHK454]

I've always had good luck with Hack...just stringy as heck when splitting.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Stinks when it burns, like solvent smell. Need to stack off ground and cover, will start rotting after a couple years, if not kept dry. Burn a lot of it, hard as hell to chainsaw splits easy and decent btu's.

Five years ago I noticed the odor only when burned slightly green and only then from the outdoor smoke from the chimney. But when it's dry, it burns with no odor at all and doesn't throw any sparks. When green, it's heavy with moisture to such an extent that you'd think it was white oak or locust -- kind of like mulberry. But, when it loses that moisture, it's about the same density as hard maple.

Anyway, I've got a bunch that's solid to the core, but dang, that bark is rough on gloves. No wonder the deer love the hackberry tree for a scratching post. And, when it does dry after awhile, it splits cleanly. I just wait for the rounds to start to check up. Songofthewood should like that advice.

 

[Ikeholt]

Hackberry is good stuff. It's related to Elm. If Hackberry leaves weren't so ugly and covered with galls it would be a great street tree.

 

[unclemoustache]

Not bad at all. No complaints here.

 

[Jakers]

Finally burned my first few pieces this season and I guess its a good wood here too. Everyone around here is all "Oak is the only wood to burn" and "I don't waste my time on any wood other than Oak". The few people I've actually gotten an opinion on Hackberry from say its a soft wood comparable to Boxelder or Silver Maple. I find it to be more comparable to American Elm or maybe even fast growing Ash or Red Oak. Seemed to burn clean and no more ashes than any other harder woods. I like it and will be bringing more home in the future

 

[Wood Doctor]

Silver maple is a lot softer than hackberry in my book and dry rots much faster. I'm still amazed at how white it is, so white that it makes maple and ash look almost beige. The batch I cut was green, so I won't burn it until fall, but I can split it without stringiness in a month or so. I read somewhere that when you cut wood in late fall, some of the moisture content has receded. Both mulberry and hackberry trees drink like fish in the spring.

 

[Jakers]

Just brought home about a cord of it today from two trees we had to take down. I'll maybe split some up this winter to burn next year but most of it will be burned two years from now.

Also came home with about a cord of really gnarly Spruce. Can't hardly give the stuff away but i have a stove full of it now and I like it

 

[Wood Doctor]

Just brought home about a cord of it today from two trees we had to take down. I'll maybe split some up this winter to burn next year but most of it will be burned two years from now.

Also came home with about a cord of really gnarly Spruce. Can't hardly give the stuff away but i have a stove full of it now and I like it

I doubt you will have to wait two years on that hackberry. Split it in a couple of months after the rounds check up and burn it early next winter. Good Show!

 

[Jakers]

It's not that I have to, I have other wood that's been sitting around longer that should get worked up and burnt first. Owning a tree service has it's advantages. I have log piles all over the place. Biggest trouble I run into is having the time to make firewood out of them. If it's above zero I'm usually taking down trees for pay, working on equipment, or out doing estimates

 

[olyman]

as ed said. hackberry drys really fast...tho after I cut a huge one down,,and split it all,,and burnt it,,,never again!!! that stuff dried lighter than cottonwood...and burnt up just as fast!!

 

[Wood Doctor]

as ed said. hackberry drys really fast...tho after I cut a huge one down,,and split it all,,and burnt it,,,never again!!! that stuff dried lighter than cottonwood...and burnt up just as fast!!

Are you sure it was hackberry? Sounds like willow or linden to me. Here's some dry wood data:
Cottonwood -- 2,108 lb/cord, 14.5 MBTU/cord
Hackberry -- 3,250 lb/cord, 22.9 MBTU/cord
Elm -- 3,052 lb/cord, 21.5 MBTU/cord
White Ash -- 3,689 lb/cord, 25.9 MBTU/cord

I've seen red elm rated higher than this, so many of these tables depend on where the tree grew and who collected the data. Anyway, about 140 lb of any species of dry wood releases a million BTUs.

LOML just asked if I had any cottonwood lying around the woodpile. She's tired of loading heavy splits of ash and locust into the wood stove. Some ladies are hard to please.

 

[JeffHK454]

as ed said. hackberry drys really fast...tho after I cut a huge one down,,and split it all,,and burnt it,,,never again!!! that stuff dried lighter than cottonwood...and burnt up just as fast!!

You didn't have Hackberry then...that stuff is very much like Ash in that is seems to have very little water weight. It seasons damn near as fast as Ash also.

 

[olyman]

You didn't have Hackberry then...that stuff is very much like Ash in that is seems to have very little water weight. It seasons damn near as fast as Ash also.

whatever you say,,ive only been burning for 40 yrs,,,

 

[JeffHK454]

whatever you say,,ive only been burning for 40 yrs,,,

That fact that you described it as being lighter than Cottonwood when seasoned lets me or anybody who's ever burnt Hackberry know you were off base.

 

[olyman]

That fact that you described it as being lighter than Cottonwood when seasoned lets me or anybody who's ever burnt Hackberry know you were off base.

you know everything,,i don't...pfffft

 

[LogSawyer74]

Love me some Hackberry! But haven't had any to burn in about 4 years. The one thing that sticks in my mind about hackberry was how fast it dried out. I cut some in the summer before my first year burning in our new house. By December, it was completely dry-seasoned. The Post Oak I cut that same summer took about 2 years to completely dry out enough to burn.