Anybody buy staves on ebay?

[bluegill]

I checked ebay recently and have seen a few osage staves for sale pretty cheap. Has anybody ever bought a stave off ebay? They seem like a good deal but i'm cautious.

[rudderbows]

BlueGill, I bought a tree split stave on ebay a couple of years ago. It was good. had a slight twist to it and was a typical tree stave. made a nice bow. Mind you its a tree split stave and is not perfectly  straight like a glass bow but still made a good bow.

[DBernier]

I have and if and if you go to this link you will see a lot of stuff. He is a stand-up guy and honest. Email me for more info if you want.

myworld.ebay.com/le_enterprises

Dick

[tom sawyer]

I look at staves on ebay just for fun.  Always interesting to see what sells as premium bow wood.  Sometimes great, sometimes the rigns are not what I'd call premium.

Dick I always enjoy seeing Lavern's staves, you can tell his stuff because of the white chair he photographs on.  He had some absolutely beautiful stuff once in awhile.  More importantly, he has removed the bark and sapwood so you know whaqt you're getting.  I feel that is most important when buying without seeing it first.  I know you lose the fun of doing it yourself, but there's a lot of things that can be hidden under bark.

[makete]

Always wondered about staves on that site.

[Pappy]

I never have but know some buddies that have ,like the others have said some were really nice and some were junk,guess you just need to know who you are dealing with.I would sure hate
to buy a piece without seeing it frist unless I knew them real well or knew someone who did.
   Pappy

[tom sawyer]

The guy with the white chair does photograph both ends, so you can see what the spring/summer ratio is.  You have to watch this, there is quite a bit of variability in what is for sale.  You also need to watch out because the ends of some of the staves come from near the stump, and you can see bigger/thicker rings on this end but the other end might be more puny.  I can usually tell which end is up on a stave, from a closeup of the rings on both ends.  One of the best indicators that a stave is top notch that I've noticed, is that several people bid on it and the price goes over $50 pretty fast.

[mullet]

  That osage stave of mine being passed around on the friendship bow thread came from Ebay.It sure didn't look that twisted in the pictures.

[tomm]

I have gotten two stave's on ebay both were good and made bows that shoot where I look one is 50" tip to tip and the other is 68" payed about 40$ for one and 25$ for the other and that was with shipping. I will get more from there when I want  Osage. Just have to get it at a low price to make it worth the chance you are taking by not being able to look it over in person. tom

[Eric Garza]

You need to be incredibly picky when buying on ebay, regardless of who you buy from.  I've been burned a number of times, and my feeling is that most of the folks who sell staves there have never actually made a bow and really don't know a good stave from a piece of firewood. 

I'd recommend not bidding on any piece that isn't debarked.  I'd also make sure they offer an in-focus close up of both ends and a look down the length of the stave from both ends.  I'd also avoid anything that's sawn, as some of the sellers saw the edges of their staves to make them look straighter when the grain actually veers off the edges due to natural twist or warp or whatever. 

Just some advice...