**** bow staves

[Dryfire]

I am seeing elm, mulberry, etc. staves on an online auction site for reasonable prices. Anyone have experience with buying staves from this online auction site? Any words of advice? I am thinking of making a bow in the next several months and have had minimal experience. I do own and have read all four editions of the Bowyers Bible.

[takefive]

I think I've bought six staves (3 osage, 2 hickory, 1 elm) there and I haven't had a bad experience.  Really study the pictures and descriptions.  I've seen staves that the seller has described as having no knots or just a couple of pins and the pics clearly show decent sized knots.  Some sellers exaggerate the thickness of the rings, too.  Medium rings turn out to be pretty thin.  

All in all, I've been satisfied with the staves I won, though.  One of the osage and both hickory staves were actually nicer than I expected.  The other two osage staves were split narrower along the belly than I'd expected, but they still made nice bows.

[takefive]

Guess I'm the only one who bids on them here.  Good; less competition.  

I mainly look for osage staves, 'cuz it is the best bow wood I've found.  You have to chase a heartwood ring for the back of the bow, but if you take it slow it's not that hard.  O/w hickory is a good choice if you don't want to chase a ring.  Probably will take more set than osage and it performs best at low humidity, though.

Probably best to look for a nice straight stave, 'tho an inch or two of natural reflex is a bonus.  Avoid ones with big knots or humps on the back.
Good luck!

[Igor]

Working on a couple right most sellers seem to over state the size of rings etc. But a careful buyer can  buy a workable stave at a reasonable price if you are willing to season them yourself


Good luck

Glenn

[Igor]

Originally posted by Igor:
Working on a couple right now - most sellers seem to over state the size of rings etc. But a careful buyer can  buy a workable stave at a reasonable price if you are willing to season them yourself


Good luck

Glenn

[scrub-buster]

Read the description  and look at the pictures thoroughly.  If you want a closer look at anything send the seller a message.  They should be able to email better detailed pictures.

[Dryfire]

Thank you all for posting replies. Good info.

[koochiepie]

I've got a couple decent staves there.