SBE

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I am in a very very small group of people that can buy any cue they want that can make that statement.
Congrats,
Nick Serdula

Yeah that's why I asked you if you were a purist.... I totally understand that. A lot more folks seem to like undyed woods versus dyed. Nothing wrong with that.... It's all about personal preference.

I saw what I was told was a 300lb purple heart burl at a wood dealer just over a year ago and yes I have a picture on my iPhone but I don't know how to share it. It's not much of a picture it just looks like a large boulder and is covered with bark on the sides I could see. I didn't want to climb over a large pile to get to it and try to turn it over it just seemed like asking for an injury. I called another cue maker who's famous for loving purple heart and asked if he would be interested in sharing it. We decide that for close to $7000 it was just more risk than we wanted to take on it and I was on the hunt for Honduran rosewood burl. It was a buy it all proposition for all his burls and he wouldn't cut them open to take a look inside to see how nice the figure was.

I would not buy burl without seeing the grain. When you call somewhere or order online and say I want 4 pieces of Gabon for instance, the quality can swing greatly when they go to the bin and pick out your order. I am not after quantity... I want quality. The grading systems makes me laugh.... "museum quality, gem quality, 5A, exhibition, blah blah blah......" Means nothing, show me some pics of both sides of the piece. Show me the face, and the sides. Is there figure on all 4 sides? Should there be ?

I also wouldn't buy logs or purchase by the pound. I mean if you want cut offs just buy cut offs. Otherwise you're gambling, and there's a good chance that ENTIRE log of snakewood / masur is not going to be as figured as the exposed face. You might just get boring unfigured wood with cracks, but you won't know until you cut it up.

As far as the 300lb "purple heart" burl..... you never know that could've really been (taken from my giveaway thread)----> Cinnamon burl, or ambrosia burl, or brown burl, or bocote that was called buckeye burl, or wildwood burl, or grandillo burl, or Narra burl, or Australian burl, or Mandarin burl, or Purpleheart burl (Jim's favorite).

Wood "sellers" should know right? Go to fleabay and look at how many listing of burls are wrong. The guy in Mokena, Illinois is STILL selling Canxan / Nargusta (Central American burl) as Desert Ironwood, and he throws in the latin name in his description to try and sound like an authority ---> "Olneya tesota of the family Leguminosae, the legume family (subfamily Papilionaceae, the pea group)". He is also selling Amboyna that is clearly some type of Aussie burl. It's ridiculous.....

Buyer beware...... is all I can say.