RE: Pine vs Basswood
What ACDII said, plus it depends greatly which pine - and whether you consider fir or spruce as "pine".
I make my hunting arrows out of Douglas fir - it has superior longitudinal strength to weight ratio. White pine, red pine, "knotty pine" or clear pine all would fail miserably. Southern pine ("yellow pine") is better but still not up to spruce or fir for strength.