I just cut some staves the other day... I have a persimmon, a redbud, and a black cherry or two. The persimmon and black cherry are pretty straight, the redbud has some character. These are four to six inch trees..... I can lay my hands on honeylocust, hackberry, hickory, ERC... anything that grows in Alabama, which is 'bout everything except yew.
I need sinew to finish an osage limb bow i am working on.