Red Mulberry

[BowEd]

Has anyone noticed any draw weight increase heat treating red mulberry?

[SLIMBOB]

Yes. Small sample size, but the 2 I have done both picked up weight.

[gutpile]

wish I could help you Ed.. the only red mulberry I made was an all heartwood static recurve that ended up fretting, then breaking after about 300 shots.. problem was I didn't make it wide enough... it sure was a sweet shooter though.. very accurate bow.. gut

[BowEd]

Thanks fellas....I was just wondering because I'm about to make a bamboo backed one.I took 2 slat edge grain cores just a scooch under 1/2" thick and 1.5" wide.Top view profiled or cut it out.Pretapered them to a taper that should get it to an even brace.Z spliced them into a slight deflex of 5/8" in the handle.Now I want to induce an ever increasing reflex from just outside the fades out on my form heat treating it along the way.I'll glue my bamboo on which is 5/32" thick along it's length.It should give me 5/8" fade thickness.
After that I will glue a 10" handle with a 4" grip on the belly.Taper the fades into the belly and clean it up and brace it to tiller it.
A small sample size...Does that mean a couple few bows Slimbob?
I figure since I've seen poor quality osage gain a little weight from heat treating and red mulberry is in the same family as osage that it might be like poor quality osage and gain some draw weight from heat treating.
This red mulberry here is about as dense as the black locust here by me.Also I figure to give this bow a double whammie to hold reflex,The heat treated belly and the glue line from the bamboo.

[SLIMBOB]

Yeah Ed, just a couple with it. But I love the wood. Sap wood is a biatch, but the heartwood is sweet! 
Just a bit lighter than Osage, but works well under a drawknife. Heat bends easily and holds its shape well. Like it every bit as much as Osage.

[BowEd]

Yes it is  a light yellow.Works very good with hand tools.While doing a self bow with this bow I noticed it bent really easy too.Sapwood on it is usually a little thicker than osage.
I'll figure out how much weight gain it takes on from heat treating.
I think the reason why I hav'nt done very many bows from mulberry is because it grows rather shrubby in my area but there are a lot of them.The coons love the berries along with us but they transplant the trees....ha ha.Their berries are ripe right now.I have finally found some large straight trunked logs now though to get some more staves of it.

[burchett.donald]

  Hey Ed, I haven't used Mulberry but I average around a 5lb. gain with most session's on about any wood...A lot depends on the bow length also...Can't wait to see your creation my friend...
                                                                                                        Don

[gutpile]

are you sure that is red mulberry Ed ? my red was more like a peachy color no yellow.. that might be white or honey locust..gut

[BowEd]

I know hickory for me gains the most draw weight gain of any wood [up to 8#'s at times] from heat treating even though it is denser than this mulberry but I'm not expecting that from this mulberry.
This bamboo backed bow will be 65" long.Slight D/R  reflexed out from just outside the fades with close to parallel limbs to mid limb.Narrowed outer limbs of course.I'm working on a self bow of mulberry too.A naturally deflexed stave too.
I want to be sure that it is dry wood though before heat treating.It should'nt take too long only being a 1/2" thick.9% at least would be ok.
I'm positive it's red mulberry though.The berries prove it and I've seen red mulberry here my whole life really.A person could call this a peachy color too I suppose.I've never seen white mulberry before and I deal with honey locust all the time.It's heartwood is a salmon color.It has sapwood too not quite as thick as mulberry but close.
I hope to finish up on these 2 before Mo Jam.

I made one other bamboo backed mulberry earlier while zeroing in on the recipe for draw weight which I figure to donate to the club at Mo Jam.40#'s @ 28".The new owner can do a little finish work on it but it's a nice bow.I used Dean Torges design type form on this one.

[SLIMBOB]

Not only does your stave COLOR look like my last Red Mulberry, so does the shape of your bow. Looks like it will spit one out.

[Bob Barnes]

It looks great...as always... Ed.     Terry Hughes used lots of Mulberry when he started making his Arkansas Sticks back in the 80's.  It seems like great bow wood.  Looking forward to seeing the bows at MoJam.

[BowEd]

Do I know Terry Hughes?

[Bob Barnes]

Likely not Ed, but he is a living legend here in Arkansas, and a member of our local club.  He started out making selfbows, then added a line of glass backed bows called the "Arkansas Stick".  A clear glass backed all mulberry bow was a thing of beauty.  He sound the glass bow name to Roy Hall and they became Navajo bows.  Terry still makes old school selfbows using just a hand ax and a pocket knife.  I saw him make and shoot one in a couple of hours once. 

Back to your BBM bow... I really like that design and tend to still make mine very similar to that.  It's a great design for a hunting bow, as you well know. 

[BowEd]

Well so far fooling with red mulberry I see it is a very good core wood that's for sure.

[bjrogg]

Coming along nicely Ed. That profile is just like the bow I got from Paulsemp. Nice shooting profile for sure with good cast and speed.  Wish I could get to MOJAM and put a bid on it. I don’t think it’s going to work out though. Just to much going on.
Bjrogg