If anyone knows where I can get a nice straight black locust stave please let me know. Must be willing to ship or close to Raleigh, NC. Im trying to make my first selfbow and want as nice of a stave as possible. Thanks for any help locating one.
I got a few not perfectly straight. But I highly recommend starting on something other than black locust. Can be tough for beginners. Is for me anyway.
I agree with bigcounty. Get a piece of hickory and build a bow from it first. No ring chasing and can make a very nice bow. I've made a couple of black locust bows and they are nice. I'm still getting hang of chasing rings. If you are bent on making a bow from wood that you have to chase a ring on, I'd buy a good osage stave. I haven't built one from osage yet but it's the "holy grail" of bow wood. Just my 2 cents.
Aaron
I also live in eastern NC and would like to know if you found a local supply of black locust staves. I'd be happy with any local wood to be honest, but I'd prefer BL.