I just cut some mulberry down. Some of it is nearly 3 1/2" diameter while most of it is about 2 1/2" diameter. I was surprised at the amount of sapwood in all the stuff I cut. Most of it has at most only about 1 1/2" to maybe 1 3/4" heartwood. There's easily 1/2" of sapwood on pretty much all of what I cut. Can I leave some of that on? Say take it down and leave about 1/4" of sapwood maybe, or should I be going all the way down to the heartwood. If I have to go all the way down to the heartwood is it possible to even make bows from such a small core of heartwood? The maximum width of any bow I would make from the heartwood alone is probably going to be 1 1/2" or less. I don't shoot heavy bows - usually only up to about 40 -45# so maybe it's no problem. This is my first attempt using mulberry - any advice would be appreciated. Oh, by the way it's White Mulberry, not Red Mulberry. White being the species with the smoother reddish bark and heavily lobed leaves.
