I am making arrows for my nephew's Maddog Pup recurve thats coming in June. It is my first time with wood and I went with the 1/4 Ramin because they said it was a little stronger than Birch. I bought a bundle of 100 from KustomKing and none of them are perfectly straight. All had just a little bow in them that I straighten them out with the shaft of a screw driver. No, their not perfect but they are darn close, plenty good enough to shoot into styrofoam for my 4 year old nephew. What helped me out a lot was the How to- Resources form, Rob DiStefano-making cheap wood arrows and straighting wood arrow shafts by Guru.
Hope that helped you out some, good luck.