I disagree, that performance is paramount, IF what you want is to shoot an animal. You open up a big can of worms, like 86" bows, or bows w/ 7", 8" of reflex or recurve or bows braced 4". While some of these bows can be very effective hunting bows, it's not the most common configuration.
That said, generally you want a more dense wood for a more heavy draw weight bow. Simply because you can use less width and lenght to achieve the same stored energy.
Most (of the very good) selfbows vary very little in terms of performance, particularly when you rule out the radical designs. So, since it doesn't really matter, lots of folks tend to prefer relatively short flatbow designs, and where the region calls for it, woods like osage, black locust, mulberry, yew which have sap which seems to help mitigate changes in, or the effects of changes in moisture content. For selfbows moisture control is perhaps as important as any other aspect when one wants to maximize performance w/in a particular design.
To answer your question, osage would be the preferred choice for my needs. In an extremely cold environment like Canada, depending upon the season, you might do fine with other wood choices. Most any reasonable wood will make 80# @ 28" without too much extra design consideration, beyond a little extra limb width.
Topic: what wood for most efficient and high performance 80# selfbow? (Read 1529 times)
