Mulberry

The grain of the Mulberry tends to be quite straight with a uniform medium texture.  Mulberry displays a good natural luster.

Mulberry endgrain shows both small and large pores in a ring pattern.  Medium to wide rays are common as are gum deposits.

Mulberry is rated as being very durable in terms of resistance to rot.  Mulberry also has good insect resistance.  Mulberry also weathers well.  All of these characteristics make it an excellent choice for outdoor utility applications.

Working Characteristics

Mulberry is not commonly used as a timber wood so the working characteristics are not as well explicated as is the case for many more commonly utilized woods.  However, Mulberry is reported to respond well to both machine and hand powered tools.  Mulberry is also reported to turn, glue and finish well.  It should be noted that Mulberry is quite hard, notably harder in fact than either Red or White Oak.  Mulberry is not noted to have any distinctive odor.

Mulberry Reverse

Mulberry Reverse

Pricing and Availability

Mulberry is almost never commercially harvested because most trees of are not of suitable size.  When Mulberry is sold, it is sold by and for hobbyists from small mills local to areas in which Mulberry is native, mostly in the southeastern United States.

When available, expect Mulberry to be quite expensive for a domestic hardwood due to its scarce availability and generally small size.

In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence.  These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods, Bell Forest Products, NC Wood, Got Wood?, and WoodTurningz of Indiana.

However, none of these fine vendors only Got Wood? currently sells Mulberry turning stock, in sizes ranging from 6”x2” to 10”x2” but only one of each size.  Hurry or they may be gone by the time you look.  The most expensive piece is slightly over $14.

I did do a quick search to see what I could find in terms of Mulberry turning blanks and the results were quite limited and only consisted of limited dimensional lumber sizes.  I purchased my Mulberry turning blanks through Ebay, a source I am reluctant to use, but for a wood of such limited availability the choices are few.

Woodfinder is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers.  In your search for Mulberry, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings.  I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.

A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer.  I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand.  It happens to me all the time!

Uses

When Mulberry is used, it tends to be used for outdoor applications such as fence posts or for indoor or outdoor furniture.  In addition, because of its hardness, Mulberry is also used to make turned objects.

Mulberry Exterior

Mulberry Exterior

Sustainability

Mulberry is not listed as being in any way threatened or endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices nor is it on the IUCN Red List.  However, within Canada, M. rubra is considered endangered.