Sawing Mulberry

[Larry]

One of my log fairies visited last week while I was in Arkansas and dropped off maybe 1,000 bf of mulberry.  This particular fairy left a note saying saw it all 4/4 and iffen I wanted some saw it my way.

So is there a market or use for mulberry?  Somebody once told me turners like it...but I don't know this for fact.

[beenthere]

Is dat yer fairy log mother?  ;D

[Larry]

I dunno...maybe. :D ;D :D 

All jokin aside I get logs all the time that were rescued right before they get pushed into a burn pile.  That's the deal on the mulberry...in the way of a new waterway and my log fairy thought the butt logs would be more useful as lumber. 8) 8)

[Robert Long]

Larry :-\

I believe mulberry is great for exterior use.

Robert

[WDH]

I think that mulberry is a great wood, and the heartwood has pretty good weather resistance.  I wish I had some.  It has a striking grain, a little like honeylocust, and it would be great for any number of furniture projects or paneling.  I don't run across many mulberry that have more than a butt log in them, and even then, they run on the small side.  They tend to be a shade tolerant understory tree.  Our favorite tree here on the home place is a mulberry growing under a big southern red oak.  Every May, we have a mulberry picking  :D.

Be sure and post some pics of the lumber.  I am sure the bowl turners would be spinning if they could get some.........Not sure if there is a commercial market for it, but the woodworkers and bowl turners might desire it.  I love mulberry  .

[Gipper]

Sawed a mulberry log last month that was mixed in with a load a customer brought - he said he nearly decided to not bring it, but had never seen any sawed.  It is beautiful wood!  I would love to have a full load of it for my own use.  It hard, but not like hickory and maybe a little less than white oak.  Close grained.  I'm sure turners would like it.  They had left a pretty large limb on the end that we had to cut off to get the log on the mill.  I took a small chunk of the limb to the lathe, and though a beginner at turning, I enjoyed it.  I'm sure the accomplished turners would really enjoy it!  The customer gave my wife a couple of boards for a small project.

As far as I know, around here, past use of it has mostly been for post and around barns and outbuildings, etc.  Very weather resistant.  Not many in this area that I know of.  The berries are good eating, but the squirrels and birds seem to know the day they get ripe and within a short time after daylight arrives, the ripe ones are all gone. >:(  Like someone else said, it's hard to find a tree with more than one good log in it. 

[Daren]

I like it, to me the mulberry around here looks like dark cherry lumber. I didn't know it was good for exterior use, but it makes sense if I am not mistaken it is related to osage orange (hedge, bodark). It's too pretty to use for fence posts though.
If you cook with wood or know anybody that does, save the mill slabs. Mulberry is the best BBQ wood there is, smells like a cake baking when it burns. I don't saw tons of it (for no other reason than I don't get much) but I save the stuff I buck off and the slabs, a feller drives 70 miles and pays $75 for all he can shove in the back of a small Blazer. I sort my slab, softwood gets hauled off-hardwood I use/sell for firewood...and stuff like cherry, apple, mulberry I have a waiting list for. BBQ people want me to call them when I have a decent load, and they are right down to buy it. Mulberry being their favorite.

[LeeB]

Mulberry is indeed related to horse apple. Wood has the same yelow color when fresh sawn and darkens to a rich tan brown when exposed to light. Not quite as hard as horse apple but pretty stuff. LeeB

[Daren]

I just happened to have a couple pictures of mulberry I have sawn in my gallery.





This was some nasty stuff that came out of the fencerow, but I have sawed plenty of clear lumber that looks really nice...just don't have a picture of it here I guess. But you can still see the color in the pics.

[WDH]

Very nice pics, Daren. 

[johnjbc]

Here are some pictures of a mulberry I cut about 4 years ago.
HELP   
These pictures were up loaded before our new gallery was added. Need some help with the HTML TO MAKE THEM DISPLAY.               

[Kelvin]

Wow, i would've bet a million bucks that photo of mulberry was cherry.  We don't get any very well sized.  They are all fence row scrubs.  I just got a big sassafrass that i've never seen this big, so i guess they are out there.

[Jeff]

John, you cant use html on forums. Use these tags instead.  I will reverse them so they dont act as code. For the closing tag use [/img]  and for the opeing tag use [/code]

I fixed the first one, you can go back and fix the others. ;)

[johnjbc]

Thanks Jeff it workes.
Still puzzled. I did a view source on the code and this is what I got.

>

<img

What I had done was just change the link. but if I paste the same back in it don't work. ??? ??? Is my browser changing what is there or is it like that on the server?

[Jeff]

You are viewing the page source, the way your browser interprets the code output. What you get on your end.  Way different then what needs to occur on the input side. Bulletin board code is used rather then HTML on forums for security reasons.  I could bring a forum to its knees real quick if allowed to use HTML in posts. ;D

[johnjbc]

Jeff
I maintain a WEB Server at work that runs ISS and I have done the cut and paste from view source and it works ok 8). I that environment only an admin or author can introduce code where on a forum I guess everyone it doing it. Never worked Forums so thanks for the education :P.

[Robert Long]

Hopefully :-\ :-\Here is a photo of a mulberry log I cut 3 years ago and have stickered in a corner of the barn waiting for an interested byer.

Note the figuring follows the shape of the log and note the shape.  Typical of mulberry, especially when it is found around a row line or property edge.

Robert

[Larry]

Hey Robert, I really like that board...I think I could make something quite attractive out of it.  Can you email it to me?  Check is in the mail. :D ;D :D

Never even thought of using mulberry for B-B-Q.  Gonna save every little scrap.

I have sawed quite a bit of mulberry over the years...sold some to the intarsia folks and made mallets out of some of it...maybe a total of 20 bf. :

A small white mulberry (from China) coming out as part of my TSI.



The logs I have now are all red mulberry...well white after the snow last night.  Couple of the butt logs are in the 24" range but they have punky hearts.  Seems like a lot of em get this...strange for a wood so resistant to rot.

[WDH]

Apparently, they are not long lived trees, so if they are big and old, they may be a little over-the-hill with heart rot.  Like you said in your post, Larry, white mulberry was brought over from China for the silk trade (the silk worms feed on the white mulberry leaves).

I have never seen white mulberry wood.  Is it the same as red mulberry wood?

[Robert Long]

Hey, Larry :D :D
It's too wide to send through our bell wire as it's about 24" wide and 6 Ft. long, maybe 6 3/4 ft. long if I can get that kink out of it using my wood strecher :D

but I could send it UPS .....I would have to send it width wise...to send it length wise would be too pricy :D

Oh yes....I have 6 of them so it would be cheeper by the 1/2 dozen. ;D :D

Robert

[jrokusek]

Here in South Dakota we have a bit of it.  Nice stuff.  Open grained like oak and ash, but a real pretty color.  As a matter of fact when Jeff B. was looking for people to send small wood samples to him, I sent him a piece of mulberry.  See the pic below from Jeff's gallery.  Top row, second from the right.  Has my name on it.  Has only a coat or two of super blonde shellac.

[Tom]

That's a pretty piece of wood.

I put my plaque up there too.  It's not in your picture.  It's in the corner with a piece of Masking tape on it.

[Larry]

Robert, in that case guess I'm just gonna have to find my own twisted curvie boards. :D ;D :D

WDH, I can't tell the difference tween white and red mulberry when its cut into boards.  Never have compared them side by side so there could be a slight difference.

[SPIKER]

I have a few on the property and last spring one split & dropped 1/2 rick of wood down onto my bridge.  I sawed it up for BBQ season :D  (it is very orange with yellow tints seemed a lot like osage orange in the looks dept. seemed to cut better though)   I only sawed it into fore wood none were split or flat sawn.

    I was told that it is one of the best smoking woods going, this was from a co-worked who had a smoke house bigger than most sheds!   his is built into side of a hill with some 100 foot+ of underground between the house & fire box/smoke pit.   He smoked 100's of lbs of meat a year and smoked all types of meat as well.  those summer sausages were aoohhhso good :D 8)   He preferred apple next but said that mulberry was better for burn smoke rate or some thing, (note I'm not into smoking stuff never done it but I cook all summer on open wood fire every chance I get. (3 times a month or more)   this year will be the first try for the mulberry but I usually use a combination of cherry, Maple and Oak with chunks of Hickory & Apple for flavor adding woods, added into fire when it is almost cooking ready.  (soak wood in water first to get SMOKE with less BURN)   ok now I done made myself hungry!   : :D

MarkM

[oakiemac]

I sawed a mulberry last year. Still have the wood-no one seems too interested in buying any of it. I cut most of it 4/4 with a little 8/4. It was hard, yellow and wasn't very clear. Maybe if you have a really good log then you can get some clear stuff.

[Tom]

Oakiemac,
The secret is to have it when no one else has it.  One day someone will beat your door down to get it.  Always mention it locally as one of the "prize" woods you have collected. ;D

[jrokusek]

Oh yeah...good for smoking too.  I don't know about in a cold smoker or how it would work in there, but I smoke ribs, brisket, etc.  It's best on pork and other lighter meats.  Very similar to apple and pear.  I like oak and hickory for beef.  Somehow half of the threads on this board turn to food after a spell.......

[Robert Long]

Hey, jrokusek

Can you e-mail me a slab of those ribs :D :D I've got some good Canadian beer to go with them

Robert

[ohsoloco]

I've done quite a bit of cold smoking with mulberry, and it does a fine job 

[jrokusek]

Hey, jrokusek

Can you e-mail me a slab of those ribs :D :D I've got some good Canadian beer to go with them.
Robert

Sorry, haven't smoked ribs for a while.  How about some brisket?   :D  :D  :D

[Robert Long]

jrokusek 8)

"Thanks for the brisket"  now to get some bread rolls, baked beans, and potatoe salad to go with the meat and beer :D :D

Robert

[WDH]

Get one of them fine tables from Trev, and we can go-to-town, so to speak  8).  However the shipping cost from down under might be a little steep.

[oakiemac]

You guys are making me hungry!!

[TexasTimbers]

This Mulberry laid around a year or so before I cut into it.

[Robert Long]

kevjay

Nice wood......I can see matching doors on a buffet hutch! 8)

Robert