In my compound days I shot aluminums untiil Bass Pro came out with the ridiculously cheap red head carbons, then I switched to them for a few years.
Rewind back to January when I picked up my first Recurve. I bought aluminums, it was safe and cheap, and quick. Then I started experimenting with woodies. I have 2 doz woodies all tuned up. 9 BH tipped that fly beautifully, which is what ill be hunting with. I also have 1/2 doz GT 5575 that fly like darts from the Superior, and I do like shooting them, but it does worry me a bit about the Gpp for the bow, I don't want to harm it.
I got the Superior back a few weeks ago and my 2016s were too weak so I picked up some 2018s and they fly beautifully.
Well I was out stumping a couple weeks ago, and my targets were Osage apples (thousands of them on the ground it seems) and leafs and some embankments. Well I was shooting my POC with Hex heads and broke 3 of them in about 30 min of OSAGE APPLES!!! I was under the impressing woodies were durable for some reason. So I shot a Gt5575 and must have hit a rock under the ground and it drove the tip and insert right up the shaft.. So i grabbed the 2016s with judos and finished the day shooting and Never bend, break, nada.
I have creased some alums when hitting them with another arrow, and I got a bent nock in once from bouncing off a sapling, but that same glancing shot (3D shoot) blew up my woodie.
I do not subscribe to the heavy front line of thinking, so therefore do not add weighted inserts or super heavy heads, I like 125-150 grain tips. Well in order to get good arrow weight I would need a lot more up front for most carbons, but with my Alums, i am comfortable with total arrow weight. Now I did say MOST carbons, I would like to try the Heavy Hunters once, but I refuse to pay that for baresshafts when I could have 2 doz alums made up complete ready to hunt for the same price as a doz bareshaft heavy hunters.