nathan, i see you writing ibe- are you referring to ipe . it makes an excellent compression wood, when combine with hickory or boo makes an excellent bow- or if you are crazy enough even combined with a "microthin osage stave"- will make a superb bow!!
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=009340
yew, has its own tension wood in the sapwood, or again use a backing, if no sapwood. or it is used as lams in glass bows.

sorry man, your link wont show!!

Wayne,
Absolutely correct, it may have been autocorrect, I'll edit to correct.  Also the link you mentioned has been fixed, thanks for the heads up, and the info you gave on the superb bow is very interesting.  In will have to experiment with that combination.

I said osage is number one for a selfbow, meaning an unbacked bow. The ipe, beefwood and purpleheart bows that I made were backed with hickory and they made fine bows but I just enjoy building selfbows more than backed bows. I guess they would probably work as an unbacked bow if you found a knot-free board with straight grain. Osage likes to be bent, it bends easily with heat, scrapes easily, it is very forgiving of mistakes during tiller and is very available where I live at. The tropical woods are a beast to bend with heat, hard as a rock to scrape or sand and they are very expensive to buy at a lumberyard.

Okie,
I have been reading about Osage orange some more since the recommendations have been in that direction.  I have heard that there is some even in Virginia, can anyone verify this?  I would love to be able to work from a stave that I have produced.  I understand there is also another level of expertise that is required to do that.  Opinions?

To me there is nothing more satisfying than building a bow from a tree that I picked out and take through the whole process. Yes you can ruin a lot of good wood if you dont know what you're doing and how to season it. The best way Ive found to season osage is cut it, split it in half, seal the ends, spray the bark for bugs and let it sit inside(not outside or in a woodshed)for a month or two before further splitting. Others may disagree but I leave the bark on mine until Im ready to make a bow which is usually a couple of years. With whitewoods you can cut them in the spring or summer and the bark will peel easily, this will save you from ring chasing if you dont enjoy that part of the build.

Blackhawk said there is osage in virginia so I reckon you need to get out there and start looking. It will grow almost anywhere but the best place to find it around here is in creek bottoms or small valleys. Its pretty easy to spot at this time of year, from a distance the tree will usually look like a tangled up mess for the most part and the limbs and canopy have a certain distinct color to them. The female trees will probably still have some horseapples laying on the ground around them too.

My favorite wood is osage for selfbows.

My favorite composite bow combonation is bamboo backed osage.

I feel that making a selfbow requires more time to learn and more creativity.  Making composites is more like assembly for me.  It's much more predictable and a recipe can be used.  It's generally not that way with selfbows, particularly when goingfrom tree to stave to bow.

If you want to make an osage selfbow, there is no better reference than "Hunting an Osage Bow" by Dean Torges.  For that matter, his video "Hunting a Bamboo Backed Osage" is probably the best on making a composite bow.

http://bowyersedge.com/hobhbb.html