Buying staves on Ebay

[Eric Garza]

I've also bought from Lavern Bartels and gotten good products.  No complaints about him at all.  Wish I could say that for all Ebay sellers...

At any rate, I'm curious why you want to buy wood?  Shipping costs a lot, and I suspect you can find a woodlot near your house where the landowner would let you cut a smallish (5-6 inch diameter at breast height) hardwood to monkey with.  I personally derive a lot of pleasure from the process of starting with a living (or recently dead) standing tree and taking it to a finished bow. 

[Gaur]

I'm also a happy customer of Lavern (used to call him the guy with the white chair).  He's even thrown in some extra material when I asked for it for handle area and held some until I got another stave to combine shipping.  Have you seen what his snakey staves are going for?  People are bidding them up to over $300.  I have gotten some nice billets before for as low as $9.99 (plus shipping) and made nice bows out of them.

[Stingray45]

The thing I like about it is that it is so hit or miss I like the challenge. Nothing about his staves are hit or miss, but I got a snakey osage a few months back for $30 including shipping I believe. But he has alot of other good things a good variety it helps me try out new wood species I wouldn't normally be able to. I believe I got a large piece of Hackberry and the snakey osage already mentioned for $50 total, which included shipping. I'm looking to try out some Kentucky Coffee Bean soon. Just won a short, straight piece of osage I'm gonna use to make my wife a bow and I'm bidding on another stave and he's been waiting about 4 or 5 days for payment so that I can wait on this other auction to combine shipping. I got the osage for $9.99, think it's 57" or 58" long, 2" wide and 2" thick.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

If you all are getting osage from this guy as cheap as you claim then you better keep buying all he's got, cause he's either rich and doesn't need the money, or he has somebody cutting and splitting it for him, or he's just completely gone off his rocker. Nobody whos ever cut hedge would sell their staves that cheap, if you have never cut it, split it, hauled it home, then spent weeks debarking/removing sapwood and sealing staves you just cannot understand the unbelievable amount of work that's involved.
You all should get the chain saw out some weekend and go cut yourself some hedge, it will give you a better appreciation for the kind of torture that's involved. I wouldn't kill myself doing all that work then turn around and sell a stave for $10 lousy bucks, I wouldn't even cut it for somebody else to sell if they paid me by the hour.

That makes about as much sense as putting a sign next to it that says "Free to Good Home"

[Gus]

And nothings worse then the "GOOD OLE" USPS loosing fifty pound of fine Osage Staves...

I bloody Swear.
Just got back from the Post Orifice, trip number three looking this batch of missing Ebay Staves.

-Gus

[bcbull]

guys  dean marlow has some of the best staves around i quit buyin from other guys and get 90 % of mine from dean he s a reg here and i know chris has fine wood just beware who ur gettin it from, a bunch of sellers have popped up sellin half decent staves  so beware  brock

[Stingray45]

I'm not sure if this allowed here but here is the link to another one I just bought: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180682950599&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
If it isn't allowed I apologize and please remove. Just making sure I wasn't thought to be a liar.

45" long 2" wide. Some go for a lot more and some go for less, but he starts all of his auctions out at $9.99. The shipping says $17.45 but I plan to use the snail shipping that will save me about $5 and only get here 2 or 3 days later.

[Gus]

AW Dad-Burnit Stingray,

I was gonna buy that one....   

Been watchin this guy's (le_enterprises) staves for a bit, and bid on a few but as of yet can't comment on his quality or reliability.

The jury is till out on the guy (danohermie) who's staves I am waiting on.
Bought two 64" staves and four 48" billits and a 45" walking stick blank.
Received two of the billits, tracking the rest through my incompetent local USPS orifice.

I swear I am ready to put on my Nonja suit and go sneaking around the neighborhood harvesting trees in the dead of night. 
But I guess the Peel of my Sthil would probably give me away.
Heck in Houston I could step out my front door and unload my Socom with no problem.
But a Chainsaw at night?

-Gus

 

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I wasn't insinuating that you were a liar Stingray, sorry if it sounded that way. Just trying to prove a point that if this guys is selling osage that cheap you better buy all you can, cause that's next to free in my opinion and you won't ever see me selling it that cheap. There's a such thing as a man getting paid for his hard work and I don't work for free.
That's the only point I'm trying to make and not throwing off on you or anybody else.

I have also heard that Dean Marlow has some good quality stuff if you don't mind paying a fair price to a man who earned it.

I'm not even selling osage anymore just for the record, I'm fresh out except for what I want to keep for myself.
So I have nothing to gain here.

[gstoneberg]

Gus,

One of my co-workers came up to me yesterday to look at the flint point I'd knapped.  When I told him I built bows out of bodark he told me he had a large acreage of timber and was cutting and taking out all the bodark as firewood because he wanted to get rid of it.  I about strangled him.  He said there was still a lot left and I could come and cut all I wanted.  If you'll have room to haul more wood when you come up this weekend I can shoot up to his place this week and see if there are trees worth cutting before you get here.   Just remember, green osage is ungodly heavy.  Just a thought.  I have about all the osage I need for this year now.  If I cut any more I'll trade it all away.

George

[Gaur]

I written him before saying I felt bad I got it for so cheap and he said that he makes his money on some and doesn't on others.  Like I said the snakey ones I've been watching lately have been bid up over $300.  Guess I shouldn't be talking about him so positively as I'll have more bidding against me now.

[Stingray45]

No offense taken Semo. I think he's probably just starting it off cheap now and letting people bid it up once his reputation is started. Which I think has begun because I remember even just a year or two ago the most expensive I would see any stave go for was around $40, now as Guar said they can go pretty high.

Gstoneberg-if you end up cutting yourself that extra osage that you don't need and are looking to trade it away let me know.