(request) Qualities of Mulberry?

[Kitsu]

As i was wandering my woodlot i hit an area full of annoying/useless trees (Box Alders mostly) so i hacked majority of them down, when i found my way through, i saw a few Mulberries, big ones too, im a bit skeptic, since they were in/near floodland, that they may not be of good quality.

Well, enough with the story, i marked a few that i plan on cutting, but i would much rather read up and get some knowledge on what i am working with, before i start chopping. If anything, i am going to read up alot this winter, or cut maybe one or two trees and get some good staves to season.

I have found White mulberry, which i am more than likely going to remove, due to its status as an invasive species. and i would like tips, if possible, on how good this works as a bow wood, compared to  Red mulberry, which i also have access too. i could try both myself, but i would rather get opinions and compare my results later on.

Thanks in advance for the help,
 JB

[gstoneberg]

I've made several mulberry bows, but all were red mulberry.  I had a white mulberry tree, but never cut it to make bows, as it shaded a trailer house.  Mulberry looks a little like osage, has heartwood and sapwood like osage and works like osage with the draw knife.  Normally it has thicker growth rings and is not as dense.  The sapwood was quite thick on some trees, but I always made my bows of heartwood. I had to make bows a bit wider to get the same draw weight (as compared to osage).  I had some trouble with hand shock, though I was making my limb tips much too wide at that point.  It sometimes has clusters of pin knots which are annoying, but never cost me a bow.  My mulberry bows took a bit more set than my osage bows, but again it was early in my bow building career.  I built at least 1 mulberry bow that had such wide growth rings that virtually the entire working part of the limb was a single ring.  It is a great wood to learn to follow a ring on.  My sinew backed mulberry bows were much snappier than unbacked ones.  My most spectacular bow blow-up was an unbacked mulberry bow with several large knots in the limbs.   I was shooting it indoors with some kids doing their JOAD training.  When the bottom limb blew at full draw pieces of it stuck in the ceiling.  The kids loved it.  I think my best shooting self bow ever was a 68" sinew backed mulberry bow pulling about 50lbs.  I killed a nice doe with it and then gave it away, not my best move.

Give it a try.  I would think the growth rings of a mulberry tree with good moisture would be nice and thick.  If I lived where there was mulberry and no osage I would certainly be making bows with it.

George

[Kitsu]

I've made several mulberry bows, but all were red mulberry.  I had a white mulberry tree, but never cut it to make bows, as it shaded a trailer house.  Mulberry looks a little like osage, has heartwood and sapwood like osage and works like osage with the draw knife.  Normally it has thicker growth rings and is not as dense.  The sapwood was quite thick on some trees, but I always made my bows of heartwood. I had to make bows a bit wider to get the same draw weight (as compared to osage).  I had some trouble with hand shock, though I was making my limb tips much too wide at that point.  It sometimes has clusters of pin knots which are annoying, but never cost me a bow.  My mulberry bows took a bit more set than my osage bows, but again it was early in my bow building career.  I built at least 1 mulberry bow that had such wide growth rings that virtually the entire working part of the limb was a single ring.  It is a great wood to learn to follow a ring on.  My sinew backed mulberry bows were much snappier than unbacked ones.  My most spectacular bow blow-up was an unbacked mulberry bow with several large knots in the limbs.   I was shooting it indoors with some kids doing their JOAD training.  When the bottom limb blew at full draw pieces of it stuck in the ceiling.  The kids loved it.  I think my best shooting self bow ever was a 68" sinew backed mulberry bow pulling about 50lbs.  I killed a nice doe with it and then gave it away, not my best move.

Give it a try.  I would think the growth rings of a mulberry tree with good moisture would be nice and thick.  If I lived where there was mulberry and no osage I would certainly be making bows with it.

George

Also, how thick of a tree should i take down, i mean, how thick should the tree be overall, so that there is enough heartwood to work with.

[gmc]

Qualities? I think of Red Mulberry as a fast compact sports car. It doesn't need the higher density of most other woods to get the job done. The Red Mulberry in my area has a density of .66 and handles itself quite well with its elastic and low set properties. Just go a little wider than Osage and you'll be a happy camper. A few notes from my experience: checks something fierce, splits well but not straight. Leave the bark on until your ready. Removing the sapwood is personal preference, about the same density but risky with regards to checking not visable on the surface.  

I know nothing about White Mulberry, it seems to be reported often in having a lower density than Red.

Red Mulberry has the capability of taking your bow building experience to the next level, JMHO.

[Kitsu]

Qualities? I think of Red Mulberry as a fast compact sports car. It doesn't need the higher density of most other woods to get the job done. The Red Mulberry in my area has a density of .66 and handles itself quite well with its elastic and low set properties. Just go a little wider than Osage and you'll be a happy camper. A few notes from my experience: checks something fierce, splits well but not straight. Leave the bark on until your ready. Removing the sapwood is personal preference, about the same density but risky with regards to checking not visable on the surface.  

I know nothing about White Mulberry, it seems to be reported often in having a lower density than Red.

Red Mulberry has the capability of taking your bow building experience to the next level, JMHO.

After hearing both comments i am psyched to get one down and get something out of it,  though, i am going to have to make a pulley for the tillering stage,  After hearing George's experience with it, I dont want to take any chances, if pieces can lodge themselves in the ceiling, I certainly wouldn't want to be around if it decides to go,

Hope to come back with the results sooner or later,



... still looking for more info on white mulberry, but i am very glad i got the info on red, and i hope to get one or two down tomorrow, (maybe more, depends on how well it goes, i gotta haul logs up a 90 degree hill, so... its a challenge in itself lol, people call me crazy, but my craft is my life)

[sailordad]

josh, sounds like you go thru alot for bow wood
but 90* is not a hill,thats a sheer cliff

hope this wood works for ya,never tried mulberry yet
i have a stave ive been sitting on for two years now,just never got around to cutting into it yet
so post pics and inspire me please 

[gstoneberg]

Don't make too much of my bow's failure.  I had no business building a bow with that many knots and leaving it unbacked.  But, I wanted to see if I could do it, and did get a few shots out of it.  Mulberry is a very well behaved wood, similar in most ways to osage.  And be prepared for some weight on that log, mulberry trees can be pretty good sized and weigh a lot, especially green.  I took one down about 24" in diameter and had to split it in 6ths before I could load it in the pickup.  And he's right, it likes to check so seal the ends immediately.  Like osage, it can look pretty straight and then go crooked as you split it.  I've never tried to bend mulberry with heat but I'll bet it would work.  I had so much mulberry that if a stave wasn't straight I cut it into firewood and used one that was.   We treated it like a weed.  The chickens sure did eat those mulberries up though.

Good luck,
George

[Kitsu]

josh, sounds like you go thru alot for bow wood
but 90* is not a hill,thats a sheer cliff

hope this wood works for ya,never tried mulberry yet
i have a stave ive been sitting on for two years now,just never got around to cutting into it yet
so post pics and inspire me please 

one of the nice things about living on this "cliff" is the fact, i clear a path at the bottom for when the creek is not up high, and when a tree finally falls down from erosion, i take advantage of it, no matter the size, shape, quality, everything has its perks, i am gonna link a pic i took a pic that is uploaded here already somewhere
its old, and it reveals what i deal with, most of the time, my friends say i am fun to watch, how i can take a full size tree up the hill like i can, no rope, no nothing,

here



if you look, you can see what i go through to get down, sadly, thats the easy way down, the harder way curves in, and the ground is unsafe to walk on,  but once i am down, i have a good amount of woods, that grow right on the hills,

[Kitsu]

Don't make too much of my bow's failure.  I had no business building a bow with that many knots and leaving it unbacked.  But, I wanted to see if I could do it, and did get a few shots out of it.  Mulberry is a very well behaved wood, similar in most ways to osage.  And be prepared for some weight on that log, mulberry trees can be pretty good sized and weigh a lot, especially green.  I took one down about 24" in diameter and had to split it in 6ths before I could load it in the pickup.  And he's right, it likes to check so seal the ends immediately.  Like osage, it can look pretty straight and then go crooked as you split it.  I've never tried to bend mulberry with heat but I'll bet it would work.  I had so much mulberry that if a stave wasn't straight I cut it into firewood and used one that was.   We treated it like a weed.  The chickens sure did eat those mulberries up though.

Good luck,
George

you are pretty lucky to have so much around, i may have access to other woods such as hickory, oak, maple ,etc, but this is the first time i saw Mulberry at a usable size,  hope the one i take works out, would be a fun little test, after all, i haven't used it before

i might take it down the instant i get home from school, it is, after all, getting dark sooner and sooner, the quicker i get it the better, i will cut it down with my axe (usually quicker than sawing, in my own personal experience,,, with my axe at least,) then saw /even the stump to make it ground level so i don't break my neck walking around there.... then i pull it uphill  the "clean cut" end will be raised, the rough, "ugly" end drags into the mud. once i get it up, i saw it clean, split and glue the ends up nice, usually add an extra bit of glue too, covering about 1 inch or so in, not just the ends, its not completely necessary but it makes me feel secure.

my method isn't the best but its quicker, and since i cannot carry too much down there, i carry what i can,

[LEGIONNAIRE]

Hey hawkeeys all of my recent bows (3) have been made of mulberry, i beleive its red and it is a wonderful wood. my next bow is mulberry also. The apache's favorite bow wood was mulberry so dont rthink twice and go for it!. By the way my bows are from 3-4 inch braches.

[Kitsu]

Hey hawkeeys all of my recent bows (3) have been made of mulberry, i beleive its red and it is a wonderful wood. my next bow is mulberry also. The apache's favorite bow wood was mulberry so dont rthink twice and go for it!. By the way my bows are from 3-4 inch braches.

Thanks for that, if thats all i am going to need, i should be set for a while hehe, its late, im headin to bed for today, hope this topic stays active, i still want to learn a bit more