Mullberry ELB questions

[MikeButts]

I have 3 pretty decent Mullberry logs/staves ,do i split them now and paint the ends with paint or glue? i tried to get at least 72 in. out of them.

[Del the cat]

I split logs, de-bark and paint the ends with PVA as soon as I've cut 'em...mind I ponder where to split 'em for a while before starting.
Del

[George Tsoukalas]

You can seal the ends but if you remove the bark, chase to a heartwood ring and then seal the back with poly. Jawge

[Justin Snyder]

What George said. If you remove the bark, the sapwood needs to go too. 

[Hillbilly]

Not to buck the pack, but if you're going to make an ELB, you'll need some of that sapwood. Mulberry works good in an ELB style by leaving a couple rings of sapwood on the back, and after it ages a bit it's hard to tell that it's not yew just by looking at it. You definitely want to seal the back, though. I would split it and seal the ends, then debark and seal the back. Get one roughed out to near bow-size so it can be drying faster than it would if you leave it in a whole stave form.

[Pat B]

I saw Hillbilly's mulberry ELB with sapwood left on a few weeks ago and it is a beauty and shoots quite well. If the sapwood is sound, go for it.  I have made mulberry bows that were all heartwood, with a sapwood back and all sapwood and they all shot well. The more sapwood left on, the thicker the bow will be for the same weight.

[George Tsoukalas]

Just trying to clarify what has been said here. I've left sapwood on osage and black locust but only because I had to. Y'all are saying to go ahead and leave it on the mulberry elb because it will make the bow better and look better? Jawge

[Pat B]

George, I'm saying that sapwood isn't the evil step child that most perceive it to be. Sapwood from osage and mulberry(I've never used locust sapwood because I can hardly make a good bow with the heartwood ) can make a good bow if the sapwood is sound. IMO, the only way to know if the sapwood is sound is to cut it fresh and use care when seasoning it or to know that is how it was cared for.

[Hillbilly]

George, I've made a few mulberry bows with a couple rings of sapwood left on-sometimes from necessity, sometimes for cosmetic purposes. When I'm making a mulberry flatbow, I usually take it down to a heartwood ring like I would with osage or locust. A couple rings left on an ELB (leaving all the sapwood on would be too much sapwood) is probably mostly for looks, as it closely resembles the usual heartwood/sapwood yew longbow. The sapwood seems to be pretty strong in tension. As Pat said, the sapwood isn't as dense as the heartwood, so you'll wind up with a thicker bow if you use sapwood, not necessarily a bad thing with an ELB style. I'm sure it would work as well without the sapwood, just wouldn't look as ELB-ish.

[George Tsoukalas]

Thank you. Jawge