If you were going to order limbs. What should they be made of and why?  Bamboo, carbon, osage... etc..

I have several bows all different limb material. My ferret recurve has red elm limbs with a glass core. It is one of the smoothest bows I have ever shot. I also have a palmer double carbon and an osage bamboo pronghorn long bow. I dont know that carbon is worth all the money. I would stick with the red elm and bamboo. Just my thoughts though.

In a glass bow, it's very hard to beat bamboo.  It's light in weight and is very smooth on the draw.

Mike

First pick would be foam(core).  Light, fast and smooth. Not to mention extremely consistent in varying conditions.

Lenny

Depends on the design.  In some, the core wood seems to make very little difference--performance comes from the design, with the glass doing most of the work--as in a wide, thin limb.

In a limb where the wood is making a difference, I prefer yew.  Very similar characteristics to bamboo (light, flexible, fast recovery) without the nodes to deal with.  Yew is a wood, bamboo is a grass--don't know that it makes much difference, but seems to me that the wood fibers will be more durable in the long run.

Chad

Actually, the smoothest pulling bow I own has maple actionwood limbs.  It's no slouch in the speed department either.  My experiences with bamboo limbs leaves me believing it's not worth the extra cost in a glass laminated bow.

In a recurve design I would go with something like maple or actionwood. I've owned bows with bamboo, osage, elm, foam, carbon, etc... and none of them were better than good old maple or action wood.

In a thick cored longbow I would prefer a light weight material. Maybe bamboo or yew. Possibly carbon if the bowyer knows what he's doing with it.

Chris

What kind of bow would play in here.  If a recurve and performance and durability are the goal.  Black glass and actionwood, maple or bamboo.  Add carbon for long draws in shorter bows.  
What you thinking of doing?

I'll take bamboo with carbon on the belly and back every time.

I like bamboo for longbows where the lams are doing as much work as the glass.  Smooth, light, fast.  Durability isn't a question.  Hill started using bamboo about 70 years ago, give or take a few.  Bamboo fly rods have been around for much longer.