A D bow is bascially you're waling stick- especially when using a good dense wood like Osage. My current bow, an Osage ELB, is practically square at the handle. Osage can take alot of abuse, and hickory can as well to an extent- but it woulnd't be able to put up with as much bow weight. For your friend, I'm sure any good hardwood, about as tall as he is and tillered circularly, would make a fine walking stick and bow pulling 40# or so.