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Thread: Mulberry lumber

  1. #1

    Mulberry lumber

    So I'm getting a mulberry tree taken down in my yard. I have a thought to save the trunk and have it milled into slabs. I know a sawyer who sawed a walnut tree for me last year for a very reasonable price. Anyone familiar with mulberry? Is it worth it? id probably spend about $200 and end up with more mulberry than id ever use (or have room for).

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Woodstock, VA
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    I would jump on that opportunity! I had a couple boards of mulberry mixed in with a load of Osage orange a couple years ago and I really liked it. It turns a deeper honey brown than Osage and is a darker orange initially.
    I look for mulberry at every small mill I visit!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
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    I had a different experience with mulberry than did Jeff, enough to wonder if there are different varieties of mulberry. I bought some kiln dried from an urban lumber dealer here in the Chicago area about 10-15 years ago. It was bright yellow when I cut into it, but did turn a medium brown within a short time. It might have gotten darker over more time; I gave the bench I made from it to a charity auction and did not see it again. The mulberry I had was fairly light in weight and not particularly strong. I had to remake a couple of parts and beef up a design I had previously made in oak to be confident it would survive. I won't look for mulberry again for my projects.

  4. #4
    Jon , there are two kinds. I remember that from grammar school. The early american silkworm industry failed because the worms needed the other one. Forgot which is tasty.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
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    WNY
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    Joe, you are describing red mulberry, which I've used for a couple of projects. Yellow when first milled but turns brownish in a few months. Rather coarse grained, too. The other variety I know of is white mulberry, but I've never used any of that variety. Anyway, red mulberry might be ok for furniture work if you have it QS, or if you like the coarse grain when it's flat sawn. I milled the logs I got into thick slabs and turned them into garden furniture mostly. Red mulberry is very rot resistant and works well in outdoor applications. The frame of this bench is red mulberry, unfinished, and already turning tan. Most of the seat is black walnut - I ran out of mulberry.




    John

  6. #6
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    Apr 2013
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    Kansas City
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    good wood for turning.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    Texas Hill Country
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    Nice bench John!

  8. #8
    Beautiful wood.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Mountain Home, AR
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    547
    I enjoy working with yellow mulberry, though mostly on the lathe. It's light weight betrays it's strength and excellent rot resistance. Not quite that of cedar, but very good. It is also fun to burn scraps in the fireplace. Gives quite a show!

    I haven't worked with red mulberry much, but it is excellent in the smoker.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Upstate NY
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    Jon , there are two kinds. I remember that from grammar school. The early american silkworm industry failed because the worms needed the other one. Forgot which is tasty.
    Red is tasty, but not at all sweet. White is sweet, but flavorless. Neither is worth eating.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Manning View Post
    Nice bench John!

    Agree...I need to build one like ti when i get a few more projects done.

  12. #12
    I don't know which kind it was but I saw a gunstock made of mulberry once and it looked very nice. I like using wood from the yard. I have a very small piece of oak somewhere. I just cut it out of a short piece of trunk with a chain saw. crotches are particularly nice looking.

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