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Anyone sawn a fruitless mulbery?

Started by Left Coast Chris, November 28, 2006, 10:46:48 PM

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Left Coast Chris

I just took down a fruitless mulbery for a neighbor and it had mostly heart wood that looked nice and dark with little sap wood.   The butt log is about 40" dia and about four feet before it branches.   We did note significant amounts of sticky white sap that ozzed out of the cambium in large amounts.  They are fast growers so the growth rings are about 3/4" thick.

Has anyone tried to saw fruitless mulbery and would it make decent hobby wood for furnature or bowls? ???
Home built cantilever head, 24 HP honda mill, Case 580D, MF 135 and one Squirel Dog Jack Russel Mix -- Crickett

Tom

Mulberry is a good turning wood.  It is touted as wood that is used to make Bows.

Black, Red, and white cover a lot of the USA and all have the trait of being Male or female.  The book says that the male tree, which has no fruit, can become a female tree, and visa versa.  It is suggested that the tree requires about 10 years to produce seed while optimum seed bearing is from 30 to over 100 years.

The wood is used for posts (the heart is supposed to be quite durable) and for caskets, etc.

The flow of the milky white sap is normal.  I've had it and the blue/red stain of the fruit from one end of me to the other, as a kid, and given the opportunity would be stained all over again, even now.   Mulberries are good.  8)


logwalker

I only ate mulberries one time and remember quite well the red stain all over my hands and face. They were some of the best tree fruit I have ever partook. :)
Let's all be careful out there tomorrow. Lt40hd, 22' Kenworth Flatbed rollback dump, MM45B Mitsubishi trackhoe, Clark5000lb Forklift, Kubota L2850 tractor

Left Coast Chris

Thanks Tom..... I guess I will go ahead and saw it.  It has real good color.  Hope it does not shrink a huge amount for drying.  ::)  

It could not be any worse than a big apricot I made some bowls out of.  I lost about 25% of the bowls due to large cracking even after putting waded paper in the center then putting into a paper bag for six months.   I even waxed some that had heart center and lost all that had heart center.  Good lesson learned.   The fruit woods seem to be the most difficult to dry.  Hoping the mulbery will be better. :P

And yea.......my wife grew up with mulberys in her front yard and always ate them.  Anytime we are out walking we have to stop if a mulbery is droping the berrys.   :)
Home built cantilever head, 24 HP honda mill, Case 580D, MF 135 and one Squirel Dog Jack Russel Mix -- Crickett

solodan

I really don't know anything about mulberry, Just about anything you can think of will grow in some part of California,  8) so I try to concentrate on the native stuff. The one thing I do know about mulberry is that quite a few cultivars have been produced and some have originated in California. One in particular, originated in your neck of the woods, and that is the Tehama mulberry, named after Tehama county. I would guess that is what you have, but maybe not. I don't think that this information will help you in any way at all :D, but I though you would like to know about this little known fact. :) and of course you know we want to see pictures.

Fla._Deadheader


Ever have nice red-purple "Bird-Squirts" on yer car or fresh washed bedsheets on the line ???  That's Mulberry.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Larry

Yes, until a Cat D6 corrected the problem. :o
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Fla._Deadheader

All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

TexasTimbers

I was told by the homeowner that this was Mulberry. that's all I have to go on. She was pretty senior and said it with authority, but I cant swear to it.




The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Part_Timer

Yes I have and it is worth the time to do.  I sold it to a friend who is going to make a couple of end tables out of it. 

I didn't have enough air flow through the stack and lost quite a bit to mold stain.   >:(

Saws nice, didn't have much tension, dried nice and flat.  I was however hard on my band blades.  if I remenber right I had to use two of them to saw the log but I can't remember for sure.
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

WDH

Mulberry was a preferred wood for airplane propellers in World War I.  I have not sawn any, but one of our family traditions in May of each year is to go to our favorite red mulberry tree and pick the berries for making jelly.  Makes great jelly. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

beenthere

MDH
That is interesting, and would you have a resource for that information about the WWI props?  Thanks
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

jrokusek

I used some firewood and a shop bandsaw to make a few picture frames from mulberry.  Beautiful stuff.  Af hard as red oak but with a yellowish/brownish look to it.

fencerowphil (Phil L.)

I have sawn a couple of good size Mulberry, but not as
big as yours.   Sticker on close centers and use some
weight or pressure.  Heartwood is very rot resistant.  Sapwood
molds like crazy, if you let it.

I have some 2"by10" short stock banded and wedged
now.   I just tied doubled cords of poly baling twine.  The
wedges let me re-tighten the bundles as the wood shrinks.

Slabs do fair, but will definitely crack near the heart and
maybe a place or two in addition to that.   Sunlight will turn
the yellowish green color to a deep chocolate brown.  Even
in a half day a dried piece will make a distinct change. (No,
don't let your green wood lie in the sun.)  A passer-by paid
me $40 for a small slab on the spot when he saw it.  Too cheap?

Phil  L
Bi-VacAtional:  Piano tuner and sawyer.  (Use one to take a vacation from the other.) Have two Stihl 090s, one Stihl 075, Echo CS8000, Echo 346,  two Homely-ite 27AVs, Peterson 10" Swingblade Winch Production Frame, 36" and 54"Alaskan mills, and a sore back.

WDH

beenthere,

Walnut and mulberry were both airplane propeller woods.  There is a reference on walnut as a propeller wood in "Guide to Southern Trees" by Ellwood S. Harrar and J. George Harrar in the second edition.  I read the reference to mulberry in one of my dendrology texts decades ago when I was in Forestry School, but I cannot remember which one..............
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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