yes tom s. and pappy - i believe that way of working pretty much helps to do inspired work!
these are different combinations of wood: (l.t.r.)
hickory-backed hardmaple, pyramid (started tillering that-one, posted pictures with questions; have a look...)
bamboo composit, yumi style (my buddy glued that-one)
hickory-purple heart-jatoba, narrow-limbed flatbow
hickory-black walnut-jatob, with long recurves
bamboo-black cherry-ipé, flatbow
underneath lays a hard maple recurve waiting to get hickory-backed.
have some more ipé, jatoba, bulletwood, hickory and bamboo and also a few rough-out selfbows... i just go ahead and make some bows, for my own learning experience. i have occasional orders and also a friend wants to display some in his archery store.
frank