Mulberry

[dringge]

I have a couple of mulberry trees that I think are going to need to go. Any good for making a bow?

[Pat B]

Depending on the type, Red mulberry makes a very good bow. Design it about 10% bigger than osage.

[Jack Skinner]

I received a mulberry stave from a friend in OK. I did as Pat suggested made it slightly wider than osage and it has made a great bow, even with a little dip in grain on one limb.

[dringge]

Im trying to figure out which variety of mulberry it is. It sounds like red mulberry is what I want? When I do cut it down how long should I be cutting the pieces? I know nothing about doing this.

[Bowjunkie]

Cut the cleanest straightest section of trunk you can, 6' long, and seal the ends asap with two coats of shellac. If you end up with a section that is 40" long or so, it can be split into billets which can be finger jointed at the handles later to make full length staves.

Once home, you need to split them into pieces 3-4 inches across the bark and store them somewhere out of the sun, wind, heat, etc. so that they can begin losing excess moisture. Then straight away, you can begin removing the bark and sapwood with a drawknife, bringing them to a single heartwood growth ring in the process.... and sealing that growth ring (the bow's back) with shellac when exposed.

[takefive]

X 2 what Jeff said.  Just from the little bit of experience I have working with fresh cut wood, I think cutting one at least a few inches longer than you think you'll need is a good idea.  Sometimes you wind up with drying checks on the ends that you can remove by cutting off the last inch or so.

[dringge]

Originally posted by Bowjunkie:
Cut the cleanest straightest section of trunk you can, 6' long, and seal the ends asap with two coats of shellac. If you end up with a section that is 40" long or so, it can be split into billets which can be finger jointed at the handles later to make full length staves.

Once home, you need to split them into pieces 3-4 inches across the bark and store them somewhere out of the sun, wind, heat, etc. so that they can begin losing excess moisture. Then straight away, you can begin removing the bark and sapwood with a drawknife, bringing them to a single heartwood growth ring in the process.... and sealing that growth ring (the bow's back) with shellac when exposed.

Wow. Thanks for the great information.

[Jack Skinner]

dringge here are some pictures of the mulberry bow I built. The PBR stickers were a joke but the PBR cozy really made a nice handle wrap "Who Knew". It is 1 3/4 for 3/4 the limb length then tapers to 1/2 inch at string gooves. There was a dip to the side in the grain of upper limb but it still is a great shooting bow. I will say that it is slightly over built and you could narrow the width and still get a great bow, or maybe wide to half the length of limb and then taper.
 
Its diffently a killer if I do my part. Antleope doe last fall
 
rabbits in Feb bad picture from phone