Mulberry Sapwood

[bowandarrow473]

I was just up in SC hunting and am going up again next weekend. While I was there I saw a few pipe straight mulberry trees and wasn't able to cut them due to the car already being loaded down with dogwood staves and arrow shafts. I have never worked mulberry before, my experience has mainly been with elm, hickory, and dogwood. I was wondering, as mulberry is a cousin of osage, should I chase a ring down to heartwood or is the sapwood plenty strong.


Thanks for any replies,
Hugh.

[Pat B]

The heartwood is the best but I have built bows from all heartwood, 50/50 heart/sapwood, heartwood with a few rings of sapwood and all sapwood, all with good results. The more sapwood the thicker the bow will be. I usually make mulberry bows about 10% bigger than a similar osage.

[bowandarrow473]

Thanks Pat. So I'll just let the sapwood be unless it is extremely thick. I have two more questions though. How is mulberry in regards to checking, twisting, decaying? Does it split like elm or can I just hammer a wedge here and there and end up with a perfectly split log?

[Pat B]

Its very similar to osage but softer. Treat it like you would osage. It will check if not handled properly. Mulberry is somewhat rot resistant.  It makes a great bow. I've made flat bows and recurves and Steve Parker(Hillbilly) made a beautiful ELB with a thin layer of sapwood on the back and a heartwood belly.

[Ryan C]

I might be interested in a mulberry stave if you plan on trading any.

[bowandarrow473]

Thanks again Pat. I'll be set on bowwood for awhile after I'm through scouring the hunting grounds of all the dogwood, mulberry, hickory, and elm.
Ryan, I'm sure you have some mulberry in Missouri, and I seem to remember you posting a picture of what looked to be a red mulberry leaf just the other day.