My brother makes longbows, usually in the 50-60 pound range. We usually just buy some cheap red oak, back it, plane it, and put in the minor details. He's made some really nice Osage Orange bows in the 70 pound range.
I've been shooting traditional longbows for about 5 years, i just recently switched to a compound. I'll tell you though, there's nothing like pulling the trigger of a mechanical release and putting 10 arrows within an inch of each other.