Mulberry blowdown

[Sidewinder]

My paleo buddy Jimmy Egger and I were fortunate to find a large mulberry tree blown down earlier this spring. Yesterday we harvested about 8 real straight staves from it. It had some rotted pith in the middle when I split it out and it looks like it may have some checking going on.The area we got it frm is from some land Jimmy's family owns along the Arkansas river not too far from my home. We sectioned it with the chain saw and more or less quarter split it with sledge and wedge. Then we had to haul it out by hand 100yds up hill through the woods and I'm not kidding the slope of the hill is somewhere in the 35-40 degree range. Real steep with 75lb splits on our shoulders. Pant...pant.. but we got it done. I'm 44yrs old and I was humping that hill like a youth. It is amazing what you can do when you are motivated. Anyway, I shared all that to give a little back ground on a question...

What does everyone think of Mulberry and what are some recomendations in terms of how long to cure it and can you build bows with sapwood on them  or must it all be removed. I processed mine when I got home last night and basically treated it like osage, debarked and sealed back and ends with shellac. It was wet and had some rot in the center which I removed but it is straight grained and there is some good wood in there. I realize its lighter than osage and the sg is around 65 if I remember right so it should make good bows if I build em wider (2"?) at the fades.  How bout some feedback for this novice bowyer. I won't do anything with it probabley until this winter but I thought it might be a good idea to begin to gather ideas. Thanks in advance.   Danny

[Dano]

The bow I just sent Pat B was mulberry, I treated it just like osage, chased a good ring, and made a bow like I would if it was osage.  I would make the limbs a tad wider maybe 1 1/2" but not 2". I think the limbs on Pat's bow were about 1 1/4. Mulberry makes a pretty good bow wood.

[Sidewinder]

Thats encouraging Dano. Thanks. What do you think about the sap wood? Danny

[Dano]

Don't know Danny, I know guys that have made osage bows with sap wood backs, I don't see why mulberry would be any different. You got the wood to try it on, ya just gotta wait till it dries tho huh.

[Hillbilly]

Sidewinder, I've made a couple of mulberry bows with a couple rings of sapwood on the back, and it worked fine. But......if it's been blown down and dead since springtime, I would definitely take the sapwood off. Mulberry heartwood is decay-resistant, but the sapwood isn't. Mulberry is really good wood. I'm with Dano, 2" wide is probably overkill for mulberry. About 1 5/8" is plenty wide enough for a flatbow. Mulberry makes a good narrow, stacked ELB, too.

[Sidewinder]

Hillbilly,
 What is your experience with checking? Seems like it had some checking already going on in the inside where the hollow of the trunk was.  The sap wood looked great as well as about 1.5-2" of the heartwood.

ELB huh? I've been wanting some wood that would make a good ELB. Just might have to make one or two of them with it and see what happens.  What is your expeince with cure time compared to osage?

Danny

[Justin Snyder]

We are all assuming you are talking about red mulberry. If it is white or paper it isn't nearly as good.  In fact you could say it is trash. The good news is that red is the most common.  Sometimes it does rot in the middle and gets large cracks comming out from the rot.  Almost like wind check.  Try to save the heartwood.  Split out the heartwood into staves and seal the back or it will keep checking as it dries.  It will take around the same time to dry as osage. Treat it just like osage except a tiny bit wider in bow dimensions. Justin

[Pat B]

What everyone else said. I have made quite a few mulberry bows...some all heartwood, some with a ring or 2 of sapwood and some half and half. The more sapwood you leave on the bow the thicker it will be when done.  BUT!!! if it has been sitting for that long, I would get rid of the sapwood like Hillbilly said.      Pat

[shamus]

Mulberry is good. My experience is with red mulberry. Makes a good flatbow. I have a very nice stave of red mulberry, and some unknown mulberry staves (white or red??), drying right now.

I like the sapwood off. Growth rings are usually so thick that following a ring is very easy..idiot proof really.

Treat like Osage, but design it about 15-20% wider.Osage flatbow dimensions are on my site, if you're looking for ideas (http://analogperiphery.blogspot.com/2008/05/osage-flat-bow-dimensions.html) Take those measurements, but make it 1.75" or so at the flares and gradually taper from there.

I'm currently working on a post about drying wood. That should be in a few days. But for now, I'd seal the ends of the staves, store them indoors or in shelter with 50-60 average RH. In such conditions, wood dries at about 1" of thickness per year. Full sized staves take a few years.

You can work a stave down to a bow blank and clamp it to a 4X6. Let it dry that way and it should be ready in a few months (4-6). You can speed things up a little but if your do some floor tillering before clamping it to a 4X6..that should get you dried in about a month or two. Any faster and you'll have to use a hotbox of some sort…I'd don't care for those…to easy to bugger it up and overdry it.

Above all, though: seal those ends of the stave or roughed out bows. Whether the back is sapwood or heartwood, seal the backs if the bark comes off.

[Papa Matt]

Sidewinder~


If it's still not clear yet--just take the sapwood off. Better chance of LESS problems with the wood and will make a prettier bow in most people's opinion. I would always take it off, just like I would on osage.

~~Papa Matt

[JackCrafty]

I made a few bows with mulberry tree trimmings...small diameter limbs, mostly sapwood (I think it was white mulberry). I've also made a couple from red mulberry heartwood.  I can't add too much to what has been said except that the white mulberry seems to have more of an insect issue than the red mulberry.  I just threw a way a batch of staves that developed many new insect holes even thought the staves were debarked.

White mulberry seems a lot less springy than red mulberry but both steam/heat bend well.

Another thing I've noticed with mulberry is that the finished bow needs to be "warmed up" before shooting.  Mulberry seems to lose a lot of it's initial draw weight after a few shots.  I think I would rate mulberry closer to a lighter weight hickory in performance (and characteristics) than to osage.  Just my humble opinion.