Mulberry good for anything?

[Brad_bb]

Is Mulberry wood good for anything?  I've been clearing it each winter as it's a nuissance.  There is a one though that has two trunks that are quite straight and relatively tall for a Mulberry.  Is it good for anything?  Is it considered hard or soft wood?

[Dave Shepard]

Is it red mulberry? I think it is supposed to be highly rot resistant. I have a TT load of it coming to the mill to saw at some point fairly soon, I don't know how it is to be cut yet, but I think it is for cabinet work. It must have some value, as it's being shipped from Long Island.


Dave

[Daren]

Mulberry for is good for several things. If you can get lumber from it, it is a hard wood, actually very hard. I will ask the same question, is it red mulberry ? http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=58 . It is a kin to osage orange (you probably call it hedge, since you are from Illinois like me) Like hedge it is hard to get a sawlog from, branches low and goes every which way. But I have sawed a few nice straight ones, the lumber could almost be mistaken for black cherry. It is pretty lumber and nice to work with, I will saw more as I get it for sure.
It's good hot firewood. It is also great for BBQ cooking. As a matter of fact I used to sell quite a bit of mill scrap/stuff I bucked to a feller up your way, he would come from the Peoria area and he and some of his local buddies would divide it up. $75 for what would fit in the back of his little Blazer (that's like $400 cord+) They used it to cook with. He must have found someone closer, I have not seen him for several months.

[jrokusek]

It's beautiful stuff!  To me it looks more like a yellowish version of red oak.  It's open grained like oak and ash.  As a matter of fact, this picture shows a piece of red oak and 3 pieces of mulberry.   When fresh the wood looks very yellow.  Over time it takes on more of a brownish hue, but still distinctly yellow.  Many times it has red or pink streaks in it.  As mentioned before, mulberry makes good BBQ.  Try it on pork or other light colored meats for best results.  Also try mixing mulberries with fresh whiiping cream......oh baby that's good stuff....

Oh yeah.  If you pick lots of mulberries and your hands turn purple, try rubbing torn up rhubarb leaves on your hands.  That's the only thing that will get the stain off your hands.

Yeah.....mulberry trees are good for lots of stuff!   ;)

[WDH]

I think it would make distinctive furniture.  However, there is no enough of it available to make a commercial market or I am confident it would be a popular wood.

Love them mulberries 8).

[Larry]

Love them mulberries 8).

So do birds...and I have a white truck. >:( >:( >:(

So...every mulberry within 200 yards of my truck has been sawn into pretty lumber. ;D

[Daren]

If you pick lots of mulberries and your hands turn purple, try rubbing torn up rhubarb leaves on your hands.  That's the only thing that will get the stain off your hands.

Learn something new every day ! Now I know rhubarb is good for something  :D.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Nope!  Not fit to saw.  They guys are just pulling your leg and sending you off on a snipe hunt with a tow sack.  Need to just let me come and help you get rid if that nasty tree and be done with it.  It is just that I am goodly person and try to help out my fellow brothers in their time of need.  ;)

[Dave Shepard]

If you pick lots of mulberries and your hands turn purple, try rubbing torn up rhubarb leaves on your hands. That's the only thing that will get the stain off your hands.

Learn something new every day ! Now I know rhubarb is good for something :D.

I didn't know it was good for anything other than eating. ;) Mmmm! Strawberry rhubarb pie, rhubarb sauce. Now I wish I wasn't on a diet.


Dave

[Robert Long]

My grandchildren love rhubarb raw and dipped in brown sugar ;) ;)

Robert

[jrokusek]

Rhubarb makes good wine too.  I made a small batch of rhubarb wine with concentrated white grape juice and fresh squeezed grapefruit.  Was some of the best fruit wine I've ever had.  Haven't ever been able to duplicate that one batch.  :(

Made some mulberry wine ONE time.  The stuff was so dry I think it would have worked for paint stripper or commercial grade degreaser.

[Dave Shepard]

I ate some hot sauce once that listed floor wax remover and degreaser as some of its other uses. Put a tablespoon of it on a hotdog and the owner of the sandwich place called 911. :D :D :D


Dave

[Brad_bb]

So it sounds like I should have it milled and figure out something to make from it.  Most times these mulberries are kind of irregular trunks, but this one in particular is two very straight trunks that are probably 12-16 feet (I didn't actually measure).  In the past I cut many down and just burned them.  Sound like I should have sold or given them away for BBQ wood.  There were two that I cut last winter that probably could have been milled too.  Oh well.  This coming winter I'm going to harvest the mulberry, and a honey locust that was damaged in the yard a few weeks ago.  I may also cut two Norway spruce and a black walnut.  I just have to figure how to use them in the timber frame I am designing...I now have to find someone with a band mill.  Not much timber in my area so It may be difficult to find someone close by(Joliet, IL).

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

Brad,

When you see how Mulberry reacts to light, you will
discover many uses for it.  When fresh sawn it is
as yellow as treated "Yellow Wood."   Light turns it the
richest red-brown you have ever seen.   It would be
great as pins and taper pins in timber framing, or as other visual
accents.   You can spot that color in a stack of lumber
from 50 yards away.

Sticker it on 16" centers.  It has a mind of its own.  Your logs
do sound nicer than most, but I would still go for the close stickers.

Phil L.