A friend of mine has a hickory bow I made nearly 10 years ago. It's still rocking and rolling. About every other year, he hits the whole thing with light steel wool and wipes on a thin layer of poly, just to keep the seal fresh. A neat trick I learned for white wood... just before you seal it, crush a piece of charcoal into dust and wipe it on the handle and belly wood (shooter side of limbs) and it will stick in the fibers of the springwood. When the excess is wiped off with a rag, the grain pops out great with the slightly darker springwood holding the dust. Then you can hit it with a light stain, let it dry, and then seal her up.

I didn’t realize so many guys was into making bows. I am really looking forward to It myself.

You can easily make a hickory bow of wide limb that will last about forever. It will kill any deer or about anything you want to hunt with the right arrow and head ,but it won't be as fast and high performance as an Osage done right.

I watched a video. The guy had built a Osage that was shooting 175fps , that’s up there with all the commercially bought bows I have shot over the years. However I don’t see the bow specs or arrow comb he was shooting.

175 would be very high for a self bow, even osage. 140-155 would be more in line with hunting weight arrows.

I was surprised that a guy on YouTube built a maple board bow bought at Home Depot a d when finished is was shooting 145fps through a Chronograph, bow was 55lbs at 29” draw shooting a 550gr arrow.

It's the shape of the bow,weight and weight of materials that make a bow shoot fast. An arrow doesn't care if it's shot from a compound or a selfbow. If you can construct a natural bow that has the right shape and weight it will shoot right with anything similar.