Interesting on the hackberry.  I need to trim mine this winter and now have a secondary motive to do it more wisely.  There are some varietal variations but they are a nice yard tree up my way--VERY wind tolerant and not touched by the -20f winters we have sometimes.  They seem slow to establish but once they get over the hump, grow pretty quickly.

I was thinking about adding a couple of more to the back fence-line and now have a good excuse to legitimize the choice.

I have been using honey locust from when the groundskeeper at work trims the trees. I was originally thinking to carve it for spoons, but it was so tough and stringy I figured it would make a good handle. I've used it for one handle with good success, and have some rough blanks drying for a few months.

Locust is also good, once you get past the thorns.  Black locust too; I just happen to have some of that curing by Frosty's boil method.  

BoiI method? I'm intrigued.

We have the thornless variety. When researching toxicity, I found this variety is nontoxic, and almost weed like in its overuse in urban areas. Now that I am paying attention, I see it all over.