• Congratulations to Alex Bradley winner of the December 2024 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Conversations are now Direct Messages (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Gabriel Hoff for "Spalted Beech Round Bottom Box" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 6, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

hackberry question

  • Thread starter Thread starter mkart
  • Start date Start date
M

mkart

Guest
Recently I acquired as much hackberry as I wanted. Today when turning the crotch wood into lidded boxes I found it difficult to turn. Usually I would hollow the box with a scraper but that did not work well at all. Is hackberry usually difficult to turn?
Thanks
Matt
 
Hackberry Turning

I've turned some Hackberry and found it Ok to turn.

Our Turning Club has had a lot of Hackberry come through the wood distributions. Most of the members seem to like turning it.

John 🙂
 
Matt,

You said you were turning a crotch. Crotch pieces often have grain going in all different directions. My guess is that any turning difficulty is more related to the grain direction than the Hackberry.

Grain running in different directions is what makes the crotchwood so pretty.
It also means that is doesn't warp uniformly so it can present some extra problems especially in boxes where the lids may not fit well even when dry if the ambient moisture cahnges.

Happy Turning,
Al
 
Matt - you didn't specify which type of problem you encountered. Hackberry can often be very soft - leading to tearout. If you get tearout near the last 1/4" of cutting depth you can harden the fibers with sanding sealer or diluted lacquer. Anything that can soak in and dry hard. Also very sharp tools will help.

If you have spalted hackberry (or any spalted) wood, you might consider dust extraction to reduce the amount of fungi inhaled.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top