Vern,

This is almost a coinkydink. A buddy of mine brought over 2 dozen shafts he wanted me to finish. You' ll never guess what they were. Laminted birch he uses for horeshoes. Ok all seriousness aside a couple werent to bad but over all these have to be the worst of all the laminated birch I have seen yet. Warp like snakes in the hot sun! (and btw, it aint hot hehe).

I will have to go with what I said the first time. Ash/Maple would be my pref in that order. They are both durable as heck (have bounced them off 1/8" galvanized steel, then again have bounce cedar off a junked car door to) The one thing with ash is to seal them well. They are very porus. If these pores are not sealed, the wood will warp for obvious reasons. I dont feel they warp when they are taken care of. Atleast none of mine have from mn to southeast rainforest of Ak, to the interior and north slope. Wood arras do take a bit of tlc as you well know and ash is no more different. I have played a little with Maple and liked them. They were some tuff stuff. I however didnt buy them and had to givem back. (the conditions of me making them for him lol)

I' ll let you know how they straighten this weekend as I have a handful of other sets I am working on currently.

I will try to add pics also now that this new deal is to easy, the typical before, during and after stuff on a couple shafts.....