Hackberry Questions

bowhntineverythingnh03743 · October 13, 2011, 11:26:00 AM

I have a hackberry stave that I am looking to start on tonight. I already laid the bow out and started to reduce the side profile. It is a 64 inches tip to tip.

My question is about the wood itself. This is only the second bow that I am starting out and haven't used it before. the stave is already debarked but has a differnet back that has some darker spots on it. Is this ok to have as my backing because I like the look of this or is this the sap wood that needs to be removed. I am looking to end up with a bow around 45-50 lbs for this coming spring turkey season.

You can see the hackberry is the lighter staves in the bunch... Any advise would be super helpful! Thanks guys!!!

PEARL DRUMS · October 13, 2011, 11:38:00 AM

Thats cambium and it wont hurt a thing. Hackberry always has a cool cambium pattern left behind. I love the wood myself.

coaster500 · October 13, 2011, 07:39:00 PM

I'll be watching... I've got a Hackberry stave that I'll be on shortly. It will be my first white wood bow... It has the same marks on it. It should look great on a finished back.....

Your spec's are almost exactly what mine will be. What are your planned dimensions, if you don't mind me asking?

burnt · October 13, 2011, 08:13:00 PM

Hackberry is an easy wood to work so take your time. you can bend and tweak hack with grease and a heatgun. I usually use crisco. hackberry has a nice nutty smell when heat bending. What type or style of bow are you building?

SportHunter · October 13, 2011, 09:42:00 PM

I've got one sketched out on a hack stave as well. Waiting on it to dry more before I start.

Ranger B · October 13, 2011, 09:47:00 PM

I've made several hackberry bows. They are really light and shoot great but they will take set. It's a light wood so it's not very dense. Also, keep it dry. Like most white woods it will suck up moisture.

bowhntineverythingnh03743 · October 13, 2011, 11:33:00 PM

I noticed that the cambium layer has a bunch of divots in it so I thought of scraping it off and reducing it to a different ring... it is hard a hell though to tell the difference between them... I am going slow but any advice would be appreciated

scrub-buster · October 14, 2011, 02:00:00 AM

My hackberry turned a dark camo.

Renacs · October 14, 2011, 08:18:00 PM

I love working with hackberry, but i to have a problem with set. The last one was 64" 2" wide at the fade basically paramid to 1/2 tip. after shooting it takes about a 2 1/2" set. sometimes more. but after overnight it set in to about a inch to inch and a quarter. Besides than i love working with it. I have a four inch reflexed stave with a bit of sinew drying now.. hoping to get my own hackberry hammer with that.

PEARL DRUMS · October 17, 2011, 09:37:00 AM

A good, deep heat treating will help with the inevitable set.

Stiks-n-Strings · October 17, 2011, 10:26:00 AM

Pearly is right, that hackberry does well with heat. I built a molle out of hackberry and it was a fantastic little shooter. Sinew backed it and it really had some snap.

burnt · October 19, 2011, 10:58:00 PM

the little islands of cambium layer on the back is normal and adds to the camo pattern once stained. i would suggest not to chase a ring on hackberry.