question about mulberry

[alwayslookin]

I got some mulberry today and I have used it once before. The last stave I had I let it dry with the bark on and it was extremely hard to get off once it dried. The barks seems to want to come off very easily right now that it is freshly cut. So if remove it do I need to seal the whole stave? The ends are sealed but not sure if I should seal all the areas where I remove bark as well?

[Dances with squirrels]

Absolutely. Treat it just like osage. Remove the bark AND sapwood and seal the back... or else it will check.

[owlbait]

I did a recent search here on mulberry. Seems a few bowyers prefer the sapwood, or at least leave some on their bows. I sealed my entire stave when I debarked it. I plan to leave the sapwood on mine. With my luck, it will ends up as fire wood or walking sticks anyway Good luck with yours.

[alwayslookin]

OK cool I will do that. Ya I have only made one bow with mulberry so far and it was all sap wood and seemed like some good wood. This stuff I have is all sap wood anyways.

[gutpile]

remember to build bow wider than osage ...it will fret...I built a static recurve it shoots very good but has started to fret now.... built it as an osage bow design...kickin myself now but lesson learned...gut

[Pat B]

Mulberry should be about 10% bigger than osage.  Also you can build a mulberry bow with sapwood. I've built them with all sapwood, 50/50 sap/heard wood, a few rings of sapwood left on the back(nice contrast) or all heartwood. All worked well but the more sapwood you use the thicker the limbs will be.

[Buckeye Guy]

Mulberry should be about 10% bigger than osage.  Also you can build a mulberry bow with sapwood. I've built them with all sapwood, 50/50 sap/heard wood, a few rings of sapwood left on the back(nice contrast) or all heartwood. All worked well but the more sapwood you use the thicker the limbs will be.

Pat I sure wish I could get this Mulberry around here to work that well !
Sapwood shrinks so much it busts everything
I have to get it all off the same day I cut it or its crack city

[alwayslookin]

Gutpile  and pat thank you for the input. Buckeye guy explain what you said. Do you mean you are better off bringing it down to rough bow shape and then letting it dry? I was contemplating doing that today.

[gutpile]

if your in fla. and its fresh cut I would remove down to first ring if not too wavy and seal as long as you have a good ring below that only......that way it can dry and if checks you should be able to reduce further when ready... seal back and ends not belly...

[alwayslookin]

if your in fla. and its fresh cut I would remove down to first ring if not too wavy and seal as long as you have a good ring below that only......that way it can dry and if checks you should be able to reduce further when ready... seal back and ends not belly...

it's all sap wood wood so I'm just using below the bark as back

[Pat B]

What type of mulberry is it? The red mulberry I've used has a thick sapwood but also a definite heartwood. Generally the growth rings are quite thick also.

[gutpile]

must be a limb Pat is all I can figure either that or it isn't mulberry...

[alwayslookin]

I'm guessing it's a red mulberry had fruit on it when I cut it. It's definitely mulberry and that's the only kind I've seen around my neck of the woods. Most is about 3in wide shoots the tree doesn't have a main trunk. It's has multiple shoots coming out of the center. All the pieces I cut do not have heart wood except one of the largest might have a little bit of heart in the middle maybe the size of a quarter. I have made one previous bow   from the same tree and it's good stuff, not Osage but good.

[Buckeye Guy]

Mulberry  around here has about 3/4-1inch of sapwood that srinks to about 3/8 inch as it drys with that much srinkage it pulls cracks way down deep sometimes clear thru the heartwood
so I have to remove all the sapwood with the bark and seal to stop the cracks

[PatM]

Somebody probably cut the main trunk and the stump has suckered.