Got a mulberry that is going to have to come down, was wondering if it would make good bow wood?

Do not know this for a fact but the Thompsons (Witchery of Archery) claim it to be and I was told that it is related to Osage. Maybe some one will know for sure

Yes it is excellent bow wood. It's easy to work with and has large growth rings. Mulberry will make most bow designs and works similar to osage all though you will want to leave bow limbs about 1/8 inch wider than for osage. Enjoy it is nice wood. Dan

Almost as good as Osage.

make sure it is red mulberry, which is native.there is alot of white mulberry around which is an import from either china or japan.the bark on red resembles osage.I dont know anything about white mulberry for bow wood.

I was excited to build when mulberry was given to me. The wood seemed soft and light the shavings didn't seem to have much spring and broke easily. It tillered well and shot great 15-20 shots then broke from the back with a loud crack, like fir or pine. Probably was white mulberry.

Mulberry wood is bow wood. In Japan, we use white mulberry for making yumi. Its very good wood, though its density only .62 so it seem softer than osage wood. I don't know how red mulberry is, it does not grow in Asia. If you have enough heartwood, remove sapwood and chase heartwood ring, if its small tree, you can leave sapwood back.

John-Doc, I think what you used was paper mulberry, but Im not sure. Maybe its just bad piece....

Osage Orange is in the Mulberry family. Mulberry is very good bow wood. Save as much as you can, after you cut it down try and paint the ends with something to keep the ends from drying too fast and checking. Shellac, latex paint, wax, whatever you have. Here's a link to an article by Murray Gaskin about red Mulberry bows.

http://www.murraygaskins.com/mulberry.html

Yes I agree, I have made several Mulberry bows and they shoot well. I also built a mulberry recurve style bow that snapped in the handle, It may have been builder error???

The mulberry around has those black multi lobed berries that the bird love and the non fruiting mulberries have more of a catkin than a berry and the leave can get quit large and with up right little hair and the bark is more smooth with like a tiger strip pattern the trees will put out roots that come to the surface and make a new tree the big trees will have lots of young trees under and around it I never made bows from it though.The mulberry bows I have made were light and very fast was really getting to like my mulberry bows then pow the back let go, I had three more staves from the log and they all made bows that had heart wood one growth ring backs and after 2 or3 hundred arrows popped like a pretzel maybe 60+# was asking to much from the wood its just anything under 55# feels under powered to me. the wood is almost a lemon yellow what ever kind that is. and it's very light compared to Osage it don't make that sound like a osage stave when you bounce it on it's end on a concrete floor a lot less ping.

I have a few mulberry bows. Good wood. Less dense than osage. Use the same design parameters as osage but make 14% wider or so. Conversely, others have also made great, narrow, bend-thru-the-handle bows with mulberry.

osage bow design considerations.

hope it helps.

great bow wood...I'd make it a little wider also...

I like white mulberry alot and haven't used the red, but hear good reports. Many of my white mulberry bows I've made have had knobby humps and knots all along the back, but have held together as recurves and Holmies despite the extra strain. And it takes heat treating very well.

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