Mulberry advice

[Mark Anderson]

I cut a six inch dia. branch of a red mulberry this past July and sealed the ends and left it in the rafters of my shed 'till this week. With all the snow and ice I had some time to get into it. After examining it awhile (and for the past seven months) I finally figured where i could try to get it to split. I got this stave pictured and possibly two more.
Chased a  few rings and decided to leave one ring of sapwood on the back.

Question; I've never worked with mulberry before so I need some advice on dimensions. I have it worked down to 1 3/4" at the fades and a gradual taper to 3/4" tips, maybe around a half inch thick through most of the limbs. It had about five inches of backset which increased to seven in two days sitting under my couch where a furnace vent is (my wife saw me do it and approved).
I now have it clamped to a board to try to keep it around five inches or so.
It is 66" t to t. Still cant even begin to bend it.
I've also never worked with osage yet so using it to compare with wont work for me.
Here are some pictures, so what would you guys do with it from here?
Thanks
Mark

[bubby]

I haven't used it but saw a post a while back and I think  the consenses was make it just a little wider than Osage, you can prolly find the post, think it was in the last week or so

[Hrothgar]

Mark, I cut a mulberry stave in September which has a similiar set. I haven't started working on it, but know it is going to be a challenge. 10 years ago I made a nice longbow out of red mulberry, if I remember it was 70" long and 1 2/8 or 1 3/8 wide at the fades, and 50lbs at 28". I think you could narrow the limb width down at least a quarter of an inch from 1.75. The big problem is going to be the back set. I've been thinking that when I do de-bark and start on my stave that I might try to gradually "pull" the limbs back some and let it dry out more--kind of the reverse idea from how the Modoc flexed their bows while applying sinew.
Good Luck

[George Tsoukalas]

What is your draw length? Jawge

[denny]

I have used mulberry . Got a beautiful bow from one. The bow was 68 inches and 66 nock to nock . Width was 1 1/2 at the fades and narrows to 1/2 inch at the tips. It is a light wood and somewhat fragile. Some compare to osage, But not even close except the color. I might compare to black cherry or sassafras .Its strength is in the thickness.I like to use some pulpwood for a pretty bow. Good luck Denny

[Mark Anderson]

Jawge; my draw length is a full 30". 

Denny; this piece sure doesn't seem fragile at all, but who knows I'll see when I get into her a bit more.

Bubby; I'll look for that post. Havnt been on here to much lately so it might have slipped by without me seeing it.

Hrothgar; I'll work the width down a bit. I always give myself some room when bandsawing these out just for that reason.

Thanks guys
Mark

[Pat B]

A pretty good rule of thumb for mulberry is to make it 10% bigger(length and width) than you would the same weight osage bow.
  Also, I don't like working staves with that much reflex. For me, by the time I have it tillered to a flat profile it has already been stresses almost to much. I would opt for removing about 1/2 of the reflex before tillering. At least that is what I would do.
  ...and a stave with that much reflex is unstable to work with. If something slips and the stave turns while drawing it during the tillering process disaster is possible for the bow and the bowyer.

[Mark Anderson]

Pat,  have it clamped down to reduce the reflex a bit, I will try to get it to around 3" or so. It is a lot greener than I thought it was to begin with so we'll see how long it takes to dry before I work on it any more.
I'll post some pictures of where she comes out at. I might try to get a hot box rigged up and get her to dry a little faster. Never used one before but I am running out of bow wood that is ready so I need to get something going.
Also even though I live in a good area for osage, I have never made a yella' bow so when it comes to "making it a bit wider than osage" I am still lost, maybe if someone could compare it to elm, ash, walnut or hickory I might be able to work from there. Just a thought .
Mark

[George Tsoukalas]

It's short for your draw and it is reflexed too? Jawge

[gstoneberg]

I've made several mulberry bows and they look like big brothers to my osage bow.  For a given draw weight they're slightly wider and thicker.  I can measure the two I still have when I get home if you like.  I'd guess they're both between 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" wide at the widest tapering to 1/2  to 3/4 inch tips. I would recommend you plan to back the bow and keep the tips narrow to avoid hand shock.  It's easy to get set coming off the fades with mulberry (at least it's been easy for me ).  I agree with the draw length concerns.  If you sinew back I think it would be OK.  It'd take a clear stave, careful tillering and some luck to get 30" unbacked.  I've never tried a bend through the handle mulberry bow, maybe that might work unbacked?  That amount of reflex would concern me alot.  I think you're doing the right thing reducing it.

Good luck,
George

[Mark Anderson]

I have been thinking of sinew, never have done it yet so I need to start. I believe I have enough for maybe two courses. Also I will probably make it bend slightly through the handle. It's down to about 3" of reflex now. Still not completely dry, so it'll be a while 'till I get to it.
Does mulberry respond to heat in any way similar to what osage does?
Mark

[gstoneberg]

I'll have to defer on this.  I didn't bend bow wood with heat back when I was using mulberry.  There was so much of it available I just passed any crooked wood at the time.  Hopefully the other guys can help you.  I confess, once I used osage the first time I stopped using mulberry, though osage was harder to get.  I'm a boring bowyer.

George

[gmc]

Ah yes, Red Mulberry. I really like this wood, actually one of my favorites. It will make a fine bow, you'll see. Keep it a little wider as compared to Osage and you won't be disappointed.