Forcibly reeled silkworm (Bombyx mori) silk was used to study how exposure to a degumming treatment (boiling in distilled water for 30 min) affects tensile properties. Because forcibly reeled and naturally spun fibers exhibit comparable mechanical behavior, the results can be generalized to material obtained conventionally from cocoons. The effects of degumming include: a decrease in the initial elastic modulus, a decrease in the stress at the proportional limit (yield strength), a change in the qualitative shape of force-displacement curves, and significant qualitative and quantitative variability in force-displacement data from samples subjected to nominally identical degumming histories. Immersion in water at room temperature or heating in air at 100degreesC for 30 min are both qualitatively equivalent to a 30-min degumming treatment in boiling water, in terms of the effect on silk tensile properties.