I agree w/ Jerry's post....and curl or figure and the amount of same are very subjective criteria on choosing a blank or precarve.
When I first started building LRs in 1977, the blanks were quarter sawn maple and very expensive , but I thought what the heck...wanted the very best for my LRs.
After a few builds, the price of these quarter sawn blanks became an issue along w/ another issue....the very vivid curl was a distraction for the rest of the LR. Not that my LRs are anything special, bur still felt that the vivid curl "blinded" the onlooker of the carving, architecture and workmanship. This would really be a "sin" when viewing Jerry's builds.
A couple of years ago I violated the "contract" w/ myself of not taking orders and the customer wanted an excellent, very curly blank. Talked to Wayne Dunlap and he said a #7, very hard red maple blank would fulfill the customer's expectations.
Ordered that blank and also placed an order for 2 more #7s. Wayne told me that their lower medium grades of hard red maple {#4 and #5} would make very attractive LRs and I was surprised that he told me this.
Rec'd the 3 blanks and all were made into LRs and naturally the #7 had more curl, but this was slightly subdued by the choice of dyes. The #4 and #5 blanks also were made up into nice looking LRss and to me, were just as good looking.
Although the total price of the 3 blanks was more than 2 yrs ago, the $235 + shipping was a lot less than the cost of 1 quarter sawn blank and sometimes way less than half.
Seeing all three LRs came out OK, the economy of medium grade blanks is the reason that they're all I've used since......and all came from Dunlaps.....Fred
