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Author Topic: Osage or Mulberry?  (Read 10906 times)

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Offline occupant

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Re: Osage or Mulberry?
« Reply #30 on: December 07, 2014, 11:59:05 pm »
Looks like hedge to me, also looking at the bark. Like others have already said, mulberry will be lighter. That said the 3 mulberry bows I've tried 2 broke during final tiller and 1 before I made arrows for it.
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Offline Springbuck

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Re: Osage or Mulberry?
« Reply #31 on: December 10, 2014, 05:53:31 pm »
Quote from: wapiti1997 on December 03, 2014, 06:21:19 am
It's osage, mulberry doesn't have bark like that.  Ring thickness has more to do with a tree having full sun and a big crown allowing it to grow fast.

And water.  Mulberry does ooze milky sap, though.  The wood does look very much like mulberry, but the bark doesn't at all.  Dry it, weigh a chunk compared to the osage, and treat it accordingly.

EDIT:  Whoops.   Brain fart! It very well might be WHITE mulberry, rather than red.  I just trimmed a tree, and the bark on the branches was smoother, but the trunk and secondaries had craggy bark like that.  If so, white mulberry is great bow wood, too.  I have made branch bows from the long suckers that pop out when people "top" their trees.  They make for tough, stringy lumpy staves that are hard to break, and you can either make a sapling-sized bow with a crown from a 4" dia sapling/branch, or chase a ring out and treat it like low end osage.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2014, 05:58:54 pm by Springbuck »
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Offline toomanyknots

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Re: Osage or Mulberry?
« Reply #32 on: December 10, 2014, 05:59:05 pm »
Yeah, mulberry is very light compared to osage. I think is has more sapwood sometimes too.
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"The way of heaven is like the bending of a bow-
 the upper part is pressed down,
 the lower part is raised up,
 the part that has too much is reduced,
 the part that has too little is increased."

- Tao Te Ching, 77, A new translation by Victor H. Mair

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Osage or Mulberry?
« Reply #33 on: December 10, 2014, 06:35:24 pm »
Its osage.  I soaked some shavings and it turned the water yellow
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I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline Joec123able

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Re: Osage or Mulberry?
« Reply #34 on: December 10, 2014, 08:26:06 pm »
From the mulberry I've worked, I know it's heartwood is a lot more pale than Osage. It's also super light but does resemble Osage.
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I like osage
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