there's much controversy of wood vs alum vs carbons.
i prefer wood from my longbows, and carbons from my lighter draw weight recurves.
as said earlier, wood is quieter, ez to straighten, can be quite resilient, easy to come by, and if you so desire you can craft the entire shaft "from scratch". it's true carbon and alum are more consistant, but IMHO, a well made woodens shaft is next to none. i shoot them from compounds, too. i normally use POC but do have ash and laminated birch arrows as well that perform very well. and yes, hardwood arrows are very durable and have lots of weight.
