hackberry and scyamore

[byron constantine]

These two trees are somewhat plentiful around here and what i would like
to know are they any good for turning? A friend had a big hackberry blown
down and cut it up and the wood is light colored and somewhat tight
grained. Anyone used these wood types?
Thanks, Byron

[Dennis Peacock]

You betcha.!!!!!! Hackberry turns and finishes very nicely and if it's left outside for a several weeks? It'll get some color to it, maybe some spalting. I enjoy turning hackberry. Sycamore is another good one to turn as well as Persimmon. Get ya some and have fun!:D

[Mike Ramsey]

The Sycamore will be the better of the 2, the hackberry is pretty
uninteresting unless it's got some spalting in it.On the other hand
it's great for practice when it's green.

[Joe Fisher]

I do love sycamore. Turns really nicely and can have some cool grain patterns. Here's a couple of sycamore pieces. A box I posted before:

38652

And some bodhran beaters:

38799

And here's a spalted hackberry. I've only turned the one piece, but it turned well. There was a lot of tearout, but I attribute that to the spalting.

38800

Either way, if there's a tree down, take it and turn it!

-Joe

[Corey Hallagan]

I have seen lots of spalted hackberry pens. The spalted wood looks great in my opinion.

Corey

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

I've done a little (12 bowls/ boxes) with Hackberry. Normally it is not to interesting, UNLESS you cut it on the bias. Then you get a look to the finish the reminds you of fabric. It's a crosshatch and is VERY nice. The Spalting can be dramatic, especially when it's green! Sycamore can be more interesting.

The Hackberry, when wet, turns like butter, but when dry, is one of the hardest woods and will dull your tools quickly.

Bruce

[Mark Cothren]

I've only roughed out one Sycamore bowl - haven't gotten around to finishing it yet. So can't comment on it.

I've done several turnings from Hackberry. Most of the wood I had/have was from two different trees and had quite a bit of color in it. Here are a few shots that show some of that color:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/markfromark/HackberryPlate01.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/markfromark/Jan14Hackberry01.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/markfromark/25OCT_hackberry02.jpg

[Frank Fusco]

I have turned duck calls from Hackberry a/k/a Sugarberry. It finishes beautifully and often will give a lustrous chatoyance.