Mulberry bow wood question?

[lauderw55]

Hello I am fairly new to primitive archery and most the bows I have made have been from whitewoods such as hickory, oak etc. there isn't slot of Osage growing where I live and where I have found it I don't have permission to cut. But I have noticed there is quite a bit of mulberry around I not sure which species (any help on that would be appreciated). So what I was wondering is to get some opinions on if any of you guys have used this wood before and have any tips on working it? Like is it best to follow a heartwood growth ring or can you take bark off like hickory and that work ect.? My favorite design is a bendy handle bow like Cherokee flat d bow. Any help would be appreciated

[Hrothgar]

Mulberry will make a good bow and its easy to work. There's not supposed to be any difference in quality between red or white mulberry. Yes you can just remove the bark and cambium and use the first growth ring for the bow's back. Mulberry has nice thick growth rings which tend to drop off pretty quickly when you taper the limbs. Leave it slightly wider than osage.

[crooketarrow]

 Mulberrys a cousin to o'sage. That tells you all right there about mulberry as a bow wood.

[Limbit]

Mulberry is a great wood. If you read up on it, the bow design is typically a little overbuilt as compared to an Osage bow (the stuff I read said 15% added to the dimensions). It heat treats well also...at least the stuff I use does. 

[lauderw55]

Ok thanks guys for replying. That does make sense. So in your opinion the usual dimensions I make my bows with Osage is about 60-65 inch long and 1-1/2 wide at handle for about a 4 inch handle then tapering down to 1/2 inch tips (this a bend through the handle design btw). So what some of the rough dimension I should be looking at with this mulberry wood? Also just to get some opinions the bow wood I have access to are hickory which I have worked with, mulberry and locust. What wood if any do you think are better?

[George Tsoukalas]

I made one mulberry bow. I chased to a heartwood ring because I thought I was supposed to.
Jawge

[Pappy]

I would take the Mullberry , but like the other 2 just fine also. The dimensions you gave is about what I have built a few of mine except no bendy handle at about 64 inches n-n  50@26 inch draw. I like Jawges chase the heart wood ring. It makes a snappy light physical weight bow.
 Pappy

[Pat B]

I've made mulberry bows from all sapwood, 50/50 sap/heartwood, a few sapwood rings on the back and all heartwood, all made good bows. The more sapwood in a mulberry bow the thicker the limbs will be.

[lauderw55]

Ok thanks you guys for all the help!

[Snake River Stickbow]

I have made a bunch of bows from Mulberry. But mine have all been non-bendy-handle (technical term) bows. If you are interested, here are the most common dimensions I use: 4" handle, 2" fades, 18" working/parallel limb, then taper to narrow tips for an OAL of 64". I chase a heartwood ring for the back. My limbs are 2.00" wide at the fades and parallel for 18". 50-55# @ 26" with very little string follow or nice and straight. Half of the bows I've made have been Mollegabet style, and the mulberry has performed very well. No problems heat bending/reflexing or straightening with the ole heat gun. My bows have all slowly darkened in color, like Osage does, as they age. Oh, and these were all Red Mulberry.

[lauderw55]

I have never tried a parallel limb bow design like that. I may try that out

[Onebowonder]

Sap wood on a Mulberry bow is not any better than sap wood on an Osage bow.  It's not bad, ...but it ain't the best either.

OneBow