I have been in the wood working business for most of my adult life, with my wife helping me for the past 20 years. We make are living traveling to Primitive Art festivals, Renaissance fairs, Mountain Rendezvous and such. I have a good friend who has a sawmill where I get my wood, such as Black Locust, Hickory and Ash. I will look at more than 10,000 board foot to find only a 100 board feet or so of bow quality wood. I make several styles of bows, such as the American Flat Bow, that works very well with hickory. Ancient European bows, like the Stellmoor and the Holmegaard, but my favorite design is the Eastern Woodland Bow (or the Cherokee Longbow). The Cherokee Longbow traditionally made from Black Locust, has been mostly forgotten over time, I love the simplicity of the design and how intuitive and instinctual it is to shoot. I get great personal enjoyment knowing that people that buy my bows will also get that same feeling as I get when I shoot such a bow. All my bows are REAL working bows. When broken in properly and kept well oiled (Linseed oil), they will last many years. My wife makes all the bow strings using the traditional Flemish Twist method and beeswax. Long Live Traditional Archery