Yew is my favorite limb wood, especially in a longbow.Light, fast, very smooth. InChek-Mate's tests,they found nobenefits to using bamboo vs. yew. My 60@28 longbow gains 2.5# per inch out to at least my draw (30.5"). Didn't think to scale it any further. Yew usually isn't very fancy, but veneer can take care of that if you don't like the looks.

Hickory seems to work good in a laminated limb, but can run from very plain to pretty fancy. All the cherry I've seen was very plain. Don't recall seeing any ash limbs. Juniper looks almost identical to red cedar--I like the looks, but haven't owned a bow with juniper limbs.

I like a heavier riser wood--cocobolo, chechen, rosewood, etc.

Talk with the bowyer and see what he says--some design their limbs around a particular core, so one wood may work better in a given design.

Chad