Yew staves 4 sale????

[snag]

So, I was looking around on the net and found some seasoned yew wood staves. Pretty pricey...$150-$200. But if you look at fuel costs, time spent looking for a good tree to cut down, etc. it might be worth it...? What do you guys think? Do you buy your staves or do you cut your own and season it?

[Jboyd]

I cut my own osage, I can't get yew here in Alabama but I have one piece that I traded for a few years ago
that I haven't made a bow out of yet.

If you can trade for it use what you can get for stuff that you can't get, its alot cheaper that way.

Jamie

[Del the cat]

Getting good Yew is a problem, you guys in the US are lucky to have some great quality stuff, but of course it's a huge continent country so not everyone will have access, and shipping will cost a fortune.
One of the guys posted his huge haul of Yew last week, maybe a pot luck stave from a haul like that would be cheaper, but if you want a quality seasoned stave I s'pose you need to pay or find it yourself.
Personally I like to find it myself (I'm in the UK), but it means looking at an awful lot of trees, and metally noting every Yew I see in a garden/church yard etc and checking it out.
I had an enquiry for Yew last week, but I don't have any to spare. I usuall only cut one limbs/small trunks a year, and they aren't always entirely 'authorised'
Del

[Cacatch]

I would never pay that much for a stave. You could ask around and find one a lot cheaper and/or trade something for one and keep your $150-200.

CP

[George Tsoukalas]

We as a bowyer community are sure infatuated with osage and yew. There's no yew or osage growing in NH. In my backyard I have lots of black locust. I have oak, maple, ash and hornbeam. When I started making bows I learned on BL cut from yard. I went through many staves. When I ran out I bought boards at no more that $8. I still do. I've bought osage and hickory at shoots. Much cheaper there. No I would not pay that kind of money for a stave. I guess, Snag, it depends on how much you want the yew. Jawge

[HatchA]

I wanna try yew and black locust some time but am thinking of funding some oak that needs trimming...  Irish oak should make for an interesting project, don't you think?

[snag]

I want to try making a yew wood bow because where I live, Oregon, yew has a long history in traditional archery.  Just finished a great book about a man, Chet Stevenson, who lived in my town and built many great yew bows. Kind of inspired me to try this.  I'm working on a juniper stave right now and loving the process.  But just trying to think ahead....I am definitely going to be building more bows. Heck, this first one might not even turn out! Got to be lining up some more staves.  I don't like spending that kind of money either. Especially when I am such a novice at this.  But if I start to get the hang of it I want to make a yew wood bow out of some good wood.  Thanks, David

[Cacatch]

By all means, use what you really want to use    ...what we're saying is that we think you could obtain it less expensively. Also, do you know the people or company that have these for sale? If you buy from people you don't know anything about, the staves may or may not be of bow quality.

Here's my suggestion to try first:

Put an ad in the trading post here in the forum that you are looking for a yew stave. If you have anything at all that you would be able to offer in trade, make it known. If you do not, inform that you have nothing to trade, but want to make other arrangements. I've never bought or used yew staves, but my guess is that you could find someone on here that has an extra or so who would give it up for less than $150, and they would most likely be a bowyer themselves who would have more of an eye for bow quality wood than a perfect stranger perhaps. Also, you can ask the mods for a reference on the person before you trade so you feel more comfortable doing so.

CP

[Marc St Louis]

The time it takes to grow a decent size tree also plays a part.  You can get an 8" Osage tree to grow in a matter of 20 years but it will take at least 5 times that to get a same size tree of Yew with decent ring count

[JW_Halverson]

Geez, Marc, sounds like I better get off my butt and get my yew planted in a hurry!

Actually, I planted a series of hackberry saplings this spring and hope to harvest in about 8 years.  The last one I cut in the backyard was 8 yrs old and nearly 6 inches across at breast height!  Got quite a few bows outa  that one because there were no branches for nearly 12 ft! 

Ang George T is right (as usual), we often fall into the trap of yew and osage and ignore a lot of cheap and plentiful bow wood around us.