mulberry back options

[son of massey]

So I have never worked with Mulberry before but we have a number on the property and I just broke down and cut a few staves today to give it a go. One of them split out a touch thin, probably not too bad, but not quite so beefy as to leave me a lot of room to chase a ring and feel overly confident about final thickness being adequate. Also there are a handful of pin knots that will/may make chasing a ring a little daunting for a whitewood guy. And truth be told, that is almost beside the point. The bark peeled so easily and so smoothly that I am second guessing thoughts of chasing even a sapwood ring for the back. I know people have used mulberry sapwood, and Pat often says he has done every variation with/without sap and it works, but is there any reason to not use the outermost sapwood ring? At this point in the year the growth has to be about at its end, so this years ring is about as good as it is going to get-we are forcasted to be around 10 degrees above freezing already tonight, so the trees are going to be setting up for hibernation here soon.

So, thoughts? Should I break through the pristine ring I have now to see what happens or is it likely good to go (as I am apparently trying to convince myself)?

Thanks, SOM

[Josh B]

I would use the ring you have.  Like Pat, I've made em in about every conceivable combination and have complete trust in mulberry sapwood.  The only times that  I chase mulberry rings is if I haven't stored the stave properly and suspect that fungus has compromised the sapwood or if the sapwood is to thick to allow heartwood on the belly.  All sapwood is fine, but I love the contrast of sapwood/heartwood in a bow.  Josh

[son of massey]

Great thanks. I was just hoping someone would 'second the motion' before any real motion was attempted. If anyone has any other insights please let me know, otherwise I will start to reduce it to dry as is in the next few days...or weeks...or who knows but hopefully soonish.
SOM