Questions on mulberry design and backing.

[Fred Arnold]

Cut and split 2 yrs ago and this stave cured quite crooked, back looked like this ), some reflex, and was thinner than the others.

I haven't heated it yet but did leave it outdoors overnight ( very humid 85%), then in the morning clamped it to a form covered with black plastic and left in the sun (95 degrees yesterday afternoon) until evening when I brought it back indoors. It did straighten out quite well and saved me some future heat treating.

I wont have any problems straightening or getting even reflex with heat but because of some dry/bad,knotty wood on the belly I had to remove more wood than I wanted to.

It has been worked down to 2 growth rings of sapwood on the back and because of multiple pin knots I thought I might back it with rawhide.

After getting it cleaned and squared up the minimum dimensions I have to work with are 76" L x 1 1/4" W x 3/4" D.

#1 I was wondering if mulberry was a good candidate for an ELB?

#2 Also because I just finished chasing rings and plan on backing it would it be wise to size the back with Titebond III since that is what I was intending for applying the rawhide at a later time? I also have hide glue, TB II, and Urac if any of those would work better.

#3 Since it is being backed do I have to worry about leaving the pin knots proud on the back?

I'll get some more pics taken and posted as I go forward.

[Pat B]

Fred, mulberry makes a very good bow. I make them about 10% bigger than osage but other than that I treat it like osage. If the sapwood is clean around the pins, no backing is needed. Mulberry has pretty good compression but don't overstress it and it should make a good ELB.

[swamp monkey]

Pat nailed it.  Mulberry is Osage "lite"  just make things wider than you would for Osage and it makes a great long bow.  No backing needed so long as you chased the ring well.

Have fun.

[koan]

Since were talkin mullberry, ima hijack your thread for a second Fred .. I cut a huge mullberry late spring this year. I quartered it imediately and its outa the weather in my dryin shed. There are atleast 3 good staves within the quarters... How long should i wait before i get the belly splits and such? Also, im geussin from the above post that the sapwood is dependable enuff to leave on for the back???.... Brian

[wood_bandit99]

If u read the witch wry of archery they use mulberry a ton and it is all elb

[Pat B]

Brian, you can split them out now but be sure to seal any exposed back. I've made bows from all sapwood, 50/50, a few sapwood rings on the back and all heartwood, all made good bows but the more sapwood you use the thicker the bow will be.

[Fred Arnold]

I have to admit I've never attempted an ELB before so I'm doing some searching for proper dimensions for mulberry but then again if I don't feel comfortable with it I may make a 68" longbow of which I've made a few.

Pat, the pins are clean but a the are 9 spots and some of them are clusters of 2/3 together and a 3 are close to the edge. Looks like 2 on the edge can be elimintated by thinning to 1 1/16" or slightly less. I guess my question was is that wide enough?

The ring was chased clean although it took quite a bit of time. I took breaks whenever I started feeling too aggressive with the knife and switched to fine file and scraper.

Doing the research I found numerous mentions where 1 to 2 rings of sapwood could work just fine.
This one had 4 so I carefully took it down to 2.

Added some more pics. You can see the knots on the belly. The camera wouldn't focus on the light sapwood on the back on some of the pictures so I'm only showing a couple.

[koan]

Thanks Pat.. I tried doin a belly split when we first fell and split the tree... it didnt respond well, lol, so i figured i would let it dry for awhile. Its still purty wet right now... Brian

[koan]

Sorry Fred, im done hijacking now, thanks... Brian

[Pat B]

I like rawhide backings and use them when necessary. If you feel more comfortable using a rawhide backing, go for it. It will look good with the sapwood on the back of the bow.
  Making an ELB can be difficult because being narrow you have to watch out for latteral bending as you stress the bow.

[Fred Arnold]

Pat, I'm going to take it as it goes . Thanks for the input!!!

Koan, no problem. I'm trying to learn here and the more questions that are asked and answered the more I can learn. Feel more than free to jump in anytime. There are questions I may not ask because I didn't even think of them. I know some of the questions and very few of the answers!!!!

[Josh B]

Fred was this a male or female mulberry?  The males don't bear fruit.  The reason I ask is that where I live (90 miles so of York NE) the male trees get considerably bigger, but the wood is very light compared to the female trees.  If your tree was female you can use the overbuild dimensions that Pat gave you.  If it was the lighter male tree, best figure on about 30 percent overbuild in comparison with Osage.  Josh

[Fred Arnold]

Thanks Josh!!! That's another thing that's good to know. This was a male tree, 10-12" diameter, fairly straight and tall. I have an old fruit bearing tree I've been thinking of taking down. It doesn't produce as much fruit as the others on the property. It's snarly looking and except for a couple of branch staves it would only produce billets but I'm getting pretty good at splicing. I've pieced together 4 in the last 3 months and 8 in the last year and that's a learning experience.

[Josh B]

Anytime!  I'm glad to help if I can. Josh