Mulberry wood- lots!

[Lynn Kasdorf]

I had our 200 year old mulberry "bush" pruned and re-guyed today. It a huge, glorious old tree that was apparently planted when our house was built.

I had them leave the cuttings rather than chip them, as I think the wood may be very nice for various projects.

It is extremely hard and dense. I was told by an arborist that is nearly as hard as Osage Orange.

I figure this stuff should make some nice mallets, handles and bowls. It would also be good for rustic furniture, I suspect. I also have another pretty good sized mulberry that is, alas mostly dead and needs to come down. This will yield a log about 12" diameter that I look forward to milling up on my sawmill. Don't know what I'd do with this lumber, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Anybody ever worked with Mulberry? It has a very yellowish look to it, a lot like black locust. I was told that it turns reddish with air exposure.

[Todd Burch]

Where I used to live, my neighbor cut his down 30 years after he planted it. It never developed to the size and shape in Houston as the one he had in San Antonio. I got the bole.

I have not used it yet, but it's ready to use. It's in the attic above the shop. It is quite yellow when first cut, and turn a beautiful reddish/orange with time, even in very little light. It (the color) reminds me of pear, but a little more colorful.

I'll probably turn some from the larger pieces I cut. I cut a lot of thin slices, 1/4" to 1/2" thick, and they moved/twisted/warped a lot. (I did not band them - just let them do their thing while drying.)

For finishing, I think I would just BLO it and let it patina the rest of the way in its own time.

The grain reminds me of elm or hackberry - no big deal - kind of a sawtooth pattern along the earlywood/latewood lines.

[Wolf Kiessling]

I had our 200 year old mulberry "bush" pruned and re-guyed today. It a huge, glorious old tree that was apparently planted when our house was built.

I had them leave the cuttings rather than chip them, as I think the wood may be very nice for various projects.

It is extremely hard and dense. I was told by an arborist that is nearly as hard as Osage Orange.

I figure this stuff should make some nice mallets, handles and bowls. It would also be good for rustic furniture, I suspect. I also have another pretty good sized mulberry that is, alas mostly dead and needs to come down. This will yield a log about 12" diameter that I look forward to milling up on my sawmill. Don't know what I'd do with this lumber, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Anybody ever worked with Mulberry? It has a very yellowish look to it, a lot like black locust. I was told that it turns reddish with air exposure.

I think mulberry generally turns very well. I have turned several pieces of it. In my experience, with time it turns a golden brown more so than reddish. Here are a couple of pix of mulberry pots and one of osage orange for comparison. It is actually quite easy to confuse both woods if you see them in the form of planks, particularly in their bright yellow state. The mulberry rings seem to be further apart than in the hedge.

Wolf

[Steve Jenkins]

I took down a mulberry tree some time back and Phil Joines came by and cut out most of the stump. At my BBQ last month he gave me a bowl he had turned from it. Beautiful. Quite a bit of red in it. Steve

[harry strasil]

I used it too inlay the largest of my toolbox lids, I lucked out when cutting it as it ended up showing quilting, The quilting is beautiful, I tried sealing it as soon as possible , but even tho it is in the dark 99% of the time and sealed it still turned dark, In its yellow state it was magnificient