Name: Pip Bickerstaffe
Suggestion: On the subject of which woods are to be avoided, typically most English yew will make poor and frequently brittle bows, that break. It can also make quite soggy bows; both are disappointing. Bamboo is not a wood and should never be used.
Maple can be used as a backing and can also be totally unsuitable, you need to know what you are looking at to avoid a broken bow.

If the wood you are looking at has an established history as a bow wood then it is likely to be OK but there are few woods that will successfully back bows and provide reliable bellies. Look at the bows that are professionally made for guidance. If you do not see the wood offered by a reputable manufacturer then it might be best avoided. Best to ask the question of someone who's opinion you can trust before you spend the money.

Name: Pip Bickerstaffe
Suggestion: There ar a goodly number of people who are not happy about the use of bamboo in longbows.
Bamboo is a grass, not a wood. The best bamboo for use in bows, typcally flatbows, has always been tonkin cane which was used to make split cane fishing rods. As split cane rods are no longer used the tonkin cane is no longer imported. So what we have available is the bamboo that garden centres import, the cheapest, it has no useful properties as a bow wood.

The English longbows was, historically, a self yew bow. Good quality yew is not available in quantity and even the very best yew - classed as a softwood - has a short working life. So for a practical long lasting bow you need to look at alternative "woods" from which to make your bow. Typically the best bow woods come from either north or south America. Bamboo is a grass, not a wood; it comes from the far east where they have a completely different archery tradition to ours in Northern Europe.

Let us keep as true to our traditions as is practicably possible.