Looking to get into bow making, got all of the tools to do it allready just haven't found a tree i could chop down yet. Was wondering if anyone near me had staves they could sell so I can get some practice and not have to wait almost a year once I find a tree lol

Anyone have a stave or two that they aren't going to use? I'll pay shipping, just can't see spending 100 plus shipping for a split log that can break during tillering.

That’s the risk all bowyers take. If you want free then go cut some and wait for it to dry. Like all bowyers do. Seeing a trend?

There are scads of Maple, Elm, Hickory and other species available in most of Virginia. You can cut one today and have a perfectly functional and effective bow in 30 days if you can find one to cut.

The thing is I don't own and land with trees. So who's tree am I going to chop down? I'm trying to find someone that will let me cut a small tree but it will take time. I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable price for a stave but a sliver of hickory is not worth $100+.

I might have access to one. I need to check. Where are you located in VA. Send me a PM and we’ll see what we can work out.

It's interesting that you mention a Hickory stave isn't worth $100.00 yet you don't have a chunk of Hickory...or any other bow wood.

If you are any where near Blackwater in Lee County I can likely get you access to a stave.

Don't need a tree,, maybe try a board bow,,,Elm from Lowes, Menards,,etc.

Find a good hickory tree. Cut it down, clean it up. Split it into staves, debark and season them well. $100 will seem like a bargain. As suggested, boards can be a good starter option.

Don't judge the price of staves until you get one on your own.

There are osage staves selling for $100 shipped free on Etsy. A friend who has bought them says to pay close attention to the end grain. For osage there is a ratio of early wood and late wood that make a good stave.

The rings are early wood (spring growth), the area between the rings is late wood (yearly growth).

The best staves have thin early wood and wider late wood. A so-so stave has about the same thickness of early and late wood, the early wood rings will be fat.

The piece on the right and the middle have so-so rings at the top but get really good as you go down.

The wood up near the sapwood at the top of the middle piece would be impossible to chase a ring on, it has mostly early wood and no late wood.

I use tight ring osage for bamboo backed bows that I don't have to chase a ring on.

This is the last osage tree I cut, being an old guy (75), I decided this was work for a younger guy and called it quits on osage harvesting. I have 2 lifetimes worth of osage staves stored under my house and gave this tree to a good friend after I split it into staves, and no, I don't sell it.

As you can see there are some very good staves that can be split out of sections of this log and some have a poor early wood late wood ratio.

This picture will give you an idea of how big this osage tree was, the city pushed it over with a bulldozer, I called the road crew office and got permission to salvage it.

Loaded and ready to go.

Out of the dozens of osage trees that I have cut this is the only one I have cut where I had a tractor with bucket and trailer to get it out of the woods with.

I manhandled all the rest of the osage trunks and staves out of the woods by myself. I aways split them on site and either carried or moved the pieces end over end all the way back to the truck.

Like Runner said; don't balk at the price for a good stave unless you have cut a few for yourself, it is a labor-intensive job.

To split these logs on my trailer into 4" wide staves, remove the sapwood and chase a ring on the backs would be a week's work and tough work at that.

Nice looking wood there Eric,,looks like more than a $100 worth of work.

I picked up a log for $100 but have $1000 worth of work turning it into staves

Where in VA? I'm in NC near Henderson, I have a few Osage staves. Should be getting a bunch more next month

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be a (hickory, not osage. I know osage is worth more.) stave worth $100+ I just can't justify ruining something that expensive as a begginer. I don't have loads of money.

If you are worried about breamong a stave, and you're going to, you would be better served by going and picking put a board as suggested above and work on that. You will less of a monetary investment, and the skills you acquire will applicable to.working on a tree stave later on.

I’ve got a yellow locust that’s good and cured. Think it’s been cut and split for two years?? Can’t recall exactly. Where abouts are you?

I've made a board bow before. Just looking for staves at a decent price now. The hardware stores around me only seem to have red oak also, looking for something different.

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