Mulberry for turning?

Lots of fun. If you do any grilling, save your shavings for flavor and tinder. Starts out a golden color and turns brown and cream over time. Seal it ASAP, BS it into blanks and reseal them. Turn it green and finish it as soon as it comes off the lathe. Free wood is good wood. Follow my sig link to the AAw site and then to the local chapter. Join both, you'll find lots of help. Where are you, there's a good chance that someone is near you.

Dave in Fairfax

I got a lot of green stuff, and it turned well. Made a vase, a bowl and a really oversized candle pedestal to accomodate 3" candles.

The wood was creamy colored, turned yellow (like pee) and stayed that way. It has been that color for 6 years now.

The bowl split to pieces, even after all manner of good drying protocols were followed.

Robert

I have tried to turn bowls out of Mulberry several times over the past few years. It is fun to turn BUT I have never been able to stop if from cracking. It either cracks before I can get it on the lathe or it cracks while it is on the lathe or it cracks after its off the lathe.

Ted

Repeat, LDD, finish immediately after turning. Dave in Fairfax

Hi Phil

I have turned quite a bit of mulberry, it's a nice wood to turn and no problems turning it, it's a golden yellow with a very light sap wood when just turned, it will turn darker in time and the sap wood stays lighter, I got a small bowl sitting here beside me on the desk and when I pick it up I still see that golden shimmer in there, (it's 4 years old). The only problem you will run into is drying it, the sap wood shrinks a lot more than the heart wood and likes to (will) split if you don't slow down the drying, ( really slow it down the initial few weeks, by bagging it in a paper bag and keep it out of the draft and heat ) don't keep a heavy foot or tenon on when roughed out, cutting off the sap wood helps to, but I like to keep the sap wood on my turnings, I like the combination. I have no special problems with storing the mulberry, I keep the logs as long as I can handle, seal the ends and cut off what I need when I need. Last tree that I got is still partially waiting in my shop, and I split some of the 6 to 8 inch thick branch wood into 2X2s or what ever I could get out of them, to use for some small spindle turnings whenever (if ever).

I have a few pic's in my albums of mulberry I think, have a look if you like.

C> A friend has had a large, 30+ year old mulberry tree fall down during a

Hello,

I have turned quite a bit of Mulberry and like it... It looses its yellow colour over time and turns a golden/brownish colour. It is well behaved in my experience (I prefer to boil it when roughing it out) with few challenges. One of the things that rears its head comes when sanding... The summer and spring wood densities feature a large disparity and thus, can create sanding difficulties if proper protocols are not observed.

If you're careful when power and hand sanding by using a firmer foam backing pad, you should be ok. Less dense pads can create a washboard effect on the surface, not entirely undesirable if you're trying for an artistic piece, but a nightmare if you're not after this effect. Another challenge can manifest itself with wild grain areas like crotch feather... It can be a wee bit ill-behaved when working these areas with a gouge, so you must endeavour to keep a freshly sharpened gouge and use light cuts to obtain the proper cut.

All in all, a magnificent timber when you sum it all up. Although others report drying difficulties with this species, I find none when it is boiled according to my standard boiling protocols. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Take care and all the best to you and yours!