Early 18th Century Queen Anne Flintlock Pocket Pistol with 'Mulberry' Rootwood Stock

The art of mulberrying differs little from the common practice of grain-filling, familiar to every cabinetmaker and polisher: The raw or stained wood is normally sealed first and then entirely brushed over with a grainfiller (a stiff mixture of drying oil, silica and earth pigments - including, on occasion, lampblack). For the majority of work, the grainfiller is prepared somewhat darker than the wood itself (except when polishing fair woods like Maple and Satinwood). The filler colors the grain which compliments and accentuates the wood's figure. The grainfiller is rubbed into the grain and the residue removed with a clump of hessian, or if left to dry on the wood's surface, by scraping off with a cabinet scraper. The piece is then polished or varnished in the usual manner.

Mulberrying is simply the practice of rubbing dark grainfiller into the open grain and upturned fibers of naturally yellow or yellow-dyed curly or burr wood.

Photo by Rod Akeroyd & Sons.