Question on Mulberry wood

[Gaitanson]

This has probably been asked before so forgive me for any repetition. After being a gun hunter for 50+ years I've grown bored and decided to go totally primitive. We've got red mulberry and Texas mulberry in my area and I've heard that mulberry makes good bow wood. I know it is of the Morus family and so is related to Osage Orange which apparently has reached sacrosanct levels with archers. My question is as follows: Does one only use the heart wood of mulberry to make a bow or can the sap wood of a limb also be used? I really don't like the idea of cutting down trees. In my part of the USA there has already been too much tree clearing and I want to protect what's left. Can anyone provide me with some information on mulberry?

[FlintWalker]

Gaitanson, it is my understanding that mulberry should be used like osage or locust.  Meaning that you would use the heartwood.  I suppose it's possible to use a limb, providing it was big enough to yield enough heartwood for a bow, but it would have to be pretty big for that.  Some of the guys on here have made osage bows with a thin layer of sapwood on the back. But I don't know how well it would work with mulberry.

[Pat B]

I've made mulberry bows with sapwood rings left on the back. It will work fine as long as you take care of the sapwood after harvest and cure the stave properly. A bow made with some sapwood will take a bit more set but it will work. Make the bow about 10% longer and wider than a similar bow of osage.     Pat

[Coo-wah-chobee]

               Well hate ta be contrary but in my experience mulberry sapwood is better than heartwood. Have made quite a few sapwood bows and was very pleased with all of em. Make it a bit wider than hedge and try ta keep the ring of sapwood on back continious fer the entire length of bow. Maybe bendy handle. I havent had sapwood bows take more set than heartwood. Interestin' wasnt as pleased with heartwood bows I have made. At any rate start scrapin'! ..bob

[Badger]

   I have had the same experience as Bob, none of my heartwood bows ever came out like I would like however have made several all sapwood bows that came out great. I prefer the sapwood to the heartwood with mulberry. Steve

[mullet]

  Like I said before Bob,I don't think the Mulberry we are using is the same as what Pat and Hillbilly has.Steve gave me some billets and it is no where as dense and heavy as the yellow staves in my shop.

[Coo-wah-chobee]

 Yup agree Eddie. Dont really know about the differences in mulberry from texas an other places BUT still have made better sapwood bows from our stuff than heartwood bows....bob

[Gaitanson]

Thanks a lot everyone for the excellent advice and information. Primitive archers are a great community.

Gaitanson

[koan]

The red mullberry we have here in Mo. dont have enuff sapwood to make a bow in most cases, least not the ones we cut. ....Brian

[Justin Snyder]

Dang it......   I cut some mulberry last year and burned the sapwood.  Some of it must have been at least 2" thick.  Justin

[Hillbilly]

I've had a lot better results with the heartwood myself. I made an ELB from mulberry that had three rings of sapwood on the back, and it worked fine, just seems to take more sapwood to make a bow thickness-wise.

[lowell]

The question of some sapwood on mulberry just came to me and I did a search and found this thread....

  Seems like it would be at least the look of yew?      Poor mans yew???

  I got some that is aged and might give it a try!!

[Pat B]

Lowell, I've made mulberry bows from all sapwood, all heartwood, 50/50 heart/sap and a thin layer of sapwood on the back. All worked well. The only difference it the more sapwood you have the thicker the limbs will be.
  You do have to be sure the sapwood is sound. If not properly cared for it will deteriorate  where the heartwood is somewhat rot resistant almost like osage and locust.

[gmc]

Red Mulberry makes a fine bow. The only wood that I know that doesn't discriminate between the heartwood and sapwood, either way or a mixture of the two offers great results. The density of both sapwood and heartwood are very close on this wood. The bend properties I can't vouch for other than both seem about equal to me. I agree with the comments on sapwood integrity through the drying process, be careful how you dry it.

I just posted a mulberry bow not long ago, there are some tips and comments on drying that you may want to consider (I think, if that's the one). Actually you can look back through my posts and see examples of a few bows built of heartwood and sapwood for poor examples.   

I call Mulberry my little sports car wood. Its low density and high elastic properties will perform with the best of them.

One of my favorite woods by far.