# The Beast! Thats Hollow



## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

Can someone tell me what this is? the main trunk is hollow but the upper pieces are good. I'm kind of being paid to deal with it. I'm keeping some to saw regardless of what it is and had planned on the big trunk also but sense its hollow I guess not.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Hackberry....and beautiful spalted also!!!! Hollow??? How much???? How thick are the walls??? I've sawn hollows by just getting a few slabs off each wall/plane.....if wall is thick enough (8+") you can get several qtr sawn boards. I don't see a lot of furniture made with it but it's a finer grain like but not as hard as maple. I've got some ADing now.... here's a link to my spalted hackberry... http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/standing-dead-spalted-hackberry-52297/ A big differ in color after standing dead and spalting.


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## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

more pics


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

Looks like beech, but the bark is kind of rough. The only hackberry I saw has VERY rough bark and didn't grow hollow, but I do know beech grows hollow.. If it is beech hang on to it..


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Was there any leaves you could post a picture? Sometimes you need both the leaves and the bark to tell for sure what kind of tree it is.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

It's a hackberry. Sometimes the bark is rougher and sometimes smoother.....but the pics are of hackberry.

Any tree can be hollow due to disease or injury....yes beech seems more subjectable to being hollow as sassafras when they get that much size to them. Beech bark has a lot of simularities and could be easily mistaken. Beech bark will look a little more stretched/smoother.

The growth or tops there also have hackberry type leaves...from the pics it's hard to tell if it's root sprouts from being down or top that has leaved OR none of the above.

MidGa....I like that long bar...is it a 36"....is it your csm saw??


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## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

Tennessee Tim said:


> It's a hackberry. Sometimes the bark is rougher and sometimes smoother.....but the pics are of hackberry.
> 
> Any tree can be hollow due to disease or injury....yes beech seems more subjectable to being hollow as sassafras when they get that much size to them. Beech bark has a lot of simularities and could be easily mistaken. Beech bark will look a little more stretched/smoother.
> 
> ...



went down in May/June. stump has some hold in the cround and has sprouts coming off it. was uprooted in tornado


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## m.n.j.chell (May 12, 2016)

Those are some "envy-worthy" chunks of wood you're cutting off. 
I've seen some beautiful stuff built from pieces of hollow trunk, so even that seems usable.

It'll be interesting to see the progression this wood takes if you mill it or turn it.


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

Tennessee Tim said:


> Hackberry....and beautiful spalted also!!!! Hollow??? How much???? How thick are the walls??? I've sawn hollows by just getting a few slabs off each wall/plane.....if wall is thick enough (8+") you can get several qtr sawn boards. I don't see a lot of furniture made with it but it's a finer grain like but not as hard as maple. I've got some ADing now.... here's a link to my spalted hackberry... http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/standing-dead-spalted-hackberry-52297/ A big differ in color after standing dead and spalting.


Yes, Hackberry. Pretty much junk trees.


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## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

Tennessee Tim said:


> MidGa....I like that long bar...is it a 36"....is it your csm saw??


Yes and yes. Its a Stihl MS661 Magnum. 36" bar. pondering a 42. I have a pine I need a 42 to slab out because of the chainsaw mill taking up so much of the bar. Sometimes I wish I had gotten the next size larger saw and a 48 and 60 inch bar just to be safe. I've often wondered if I could upgrade oiler, sprocket, and put a big bore kit in it to make it the next size up.


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