there is a lot that goes into producing an osage stave,for someone who just cuts a few trees a year,no big deal,first you need to locate a farm,come to agreement on price,then hunt for some good trees,maybe one in a thousand, cut it drag it out,where i cut I drag them 2mile with a 4 wheeler,to the truck,then load haul one way to the osage farms 100miles,get them home, split,burn half cause its no good, shellac, wood glue, a hundred dollars,build a place for storage,watch out for wood borers, then no matter what some are going to crack, more fire wood,then remore sapwood, and rough out blank,buy more bandsaw blades,about 2 dollars per bow,seal with shellac,but its all worth it for good wood,then buy a business licence,pay taxes,then pay a vendor fee, gas to the shoot , food, hotel bill,sales tax,upkeep on truck as staves are heavy,drive half way across country, but its worth it for good wood,any one who thinks stave prices have gone to high come work with me for a week,well I have got to go,back to work, splitting logs this week,I got 70 split yesterday I am splitting staves in the rain today,i think staves are made of the same carbon as diamonds but a lot more useful
