I’ve been offered a large mulberry log. Aparrently it is not our native m. rubra. A hundred years or so ago a Shenendoa lady tried to start a silk industry so I would guess that the log is m. alba. What would be the characteristics of this wood and would it have the rot resistance as m. rubra? I’d like to know if it is worth harvesting for outdoor furnature.
BJ
Gardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland
Replies
BJ, the heartwood of white mulberry tends to be more of a soft brown in color, as opposed to the bright yellow of our native red mulberry. Otherwise, they are anatomically similar. The ring-porous and rather loud figures of these two woods are pretty much the same.
White mulberry tends to be a much smaller tree, so it's wood is seldom seen on the commercial market...I can't find any published data on its decay resistance. It's just a guess, but its chemistry must be similar to our native species and, therefore it probably has some resistance.
The lady who has the log said that it is about 100 yers old and that it is too big for her to reach around. It seems interesting but I gotta weld the rocker panels and replace the passenger side floor on my old F-250. Yeah, and fix the lights sos I'm not limited to high beams.
BJGardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled