I have noticed set acting differently in hardwoods and softwoods. Some larch I have tillered recently seems to take set early on, but recovers from more set than I am used to in hardwoods. Of course designs utilizing compression wood for the belly exhibit this trait even more so. The merit for differing woods depends on your intended use, I suppose. At the one extreme, Badgers preference for a bow that takes some set, (but doesn't go through a recovery process), might be what works well for his flight shooting. On the other hand, the bow shown below is a compression wood belly, and needs to recover after a sustained full draw.