Best Board Bow Wood?

[BrokenArrow]

I have made about 10 or so board bows. I have backed them all with hickory except for a cherry and a black walnut which I backed with maple. I have used as core woods hickory, jatoba, purpleheart, canary wood and honduran Rosewood (this is a really bad bow wood).
My experience is hands down the black walnut is the lightest and the fastest which really surprised me??
What is your experience with board bow woods as core wood?

[ohma2]

I agree with maple and black walnut , surprising combo.ive. not used them before but Ive got some yellow and greenheart that id like to make up with a maple back.

[BrokenArrow]

I've found that maple backing works good on woods with SG below.60 and hickory above .60

[bushboy]

Elm will take a lot of abuse before fretting,especially if it's heat treated before glue up.the trick is make the core light enough as to not remove to much of the hardened belly while tillering.

[bubby]

I have made a boatload of board bows with different woods and for a selfbow it has to be hard maple, it's fast, takes little set and it makes a better backer than hickory as far as i'm concerned

[bow101]

Looked up some woods on the chart,  these ratings are MSS (maximum shear sttength)
Seems like Hickory out performs the rest but all is good.  Don't know what Osage is, its not on the chart.
Taken all things into consideration like MC and grain, if a bow wants to break it will break.

White oak  ~ 2000
Hickory      ~ 2430
Maple         ~  2330
Ash            ~  1950

[Badger]

  For self bows my vote is maple, for lam bows and cheap woods I like cherry as a belly wood with most any decent backing. I like ash a lot if I can find some of the denser stuff for backings and belly wood.

[adb]

I have made a boatload of board bows with different woods and for a selfbow it has to be hard maple, it's fast, takes little set and it makes a better backer than hickory as far as i'm concerned

+1

[toomanyknots]

I wish I could find some good quality maple, the stuff I got takes lots of set. Maybe it just isn't dried all the way or something. I would look for some hickory, if you can find straight grain. I think it has a lot going for it as a board bow, like being cheap and good quality bow wood. Red oak is still fun, works, and is everywhere basically? Definitely not the best wood though.

[bubby]

Tmk it sounds like you are getting soft maple, there is a big differance

[George Tsoukalas]

I've made lots of bows from red oak.No idea how many. I've used ash, hickory and maple too.  Hickory is a good one. Jawge

[Mohawk13]

I vote for Hickory. Made a board bow from a $7.00 2x4 and will be traveling to many areas of the States and World this year with it..Great bow, even with a bit of set.

[mikekeswick]

I don't think there is a 'best board bow wood' its more to do with choosing the right combinations and then the right design for that combination.

[adb]

Very true.

[sweeney3]

I have yet to see woods other than red oak or poplar in board form in our all-in-one stores around here.  Of those, so far I prefer red oak.  I've made several good, and a few less-than-good, bows from it.  The less-than-good ones were my fault a while back.  I'd love to find a real lumber yard with assorted other woods in it, but no luck yet.  Fortunately, I have looooooooooooots of ERC, elm, hackberry, oaks, cherry, hickory, and persimmon handy here on the place. 
I'd be really happy to find clean, long, ERC heartwood bows that I could back, but that may be a pipe dream.  So far, all the ERCs have had to come via stave.  Which is fine; just slow and labor intensive.  Really pretty though.