Tigerwood Flooring consistency

[Kunta Kinte]

I just got a shipment of Tigerwood 3/4x4. First box I opened had the characteristic light background, dark striping. Beautiful. Next box was (essentially) a solid dark brown with some striping showing.

At all the sites I've looked for Tigerwood I've never seen a sample picture exhibiting pieces that are so solidly dark. eg:

Is this a caveat emptor/dirty little secret of Tigerwood dealers?

I've been contacting sites -- trying to find replacement wood-- that they'll guarantee doesn't have solid "looking" pieces. No responses yet. Is there anything I can do to ensure I get a consistent look? A technical term Ishould use? It seems the solid brown piece is probably heartwood, yes?

I've put a pic up at:

The smaller 5" pieces are samples I got from a 2nd vendor

Any insights, constructive suggestions welcomed and thanks in advance, B.

[ransley]

The dark stuff may not even be tiger wood. return it

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Only way to insure it is what you want is to hand inspect each batch. I doubt many dealers will take the time (and risk of return) to sort for you. Yes, it mostly likely is heartwood and as long as it came from the same tree, it is still the same wood whether it matches the rest of it or not.

[Chris Lewis]

According to Kunta Kinte :

It's a caveat emptor of just about _any_ exotic or exotic-figured wood. If you had similarly asked for, say, curly or birdseye maple, or burl or crotch walnut... consistency is going to be a big problem.

Wood is a natural product with sometimes very high variation. The only way to get consistency is to hand-pick boards, or, buy batches from people who guarantee consistency. The latter ain't going to happen from low-bid "buy raw lumber by the pallet" manufacturers, and the former ain't practical over the phone or Internet.

There's a reason why cabinet makers building furniture to show grain, even with relatively mundane domestic woods, often have to hand-pick boards preferably from the same tree.

If you need consistency, you're either going to have to buy a lot extra and discard the stuff that's "too far away" from what you want, or find a exotic lumber place willing to (or will let you) select. That's what "select" means, and why it costs more.

There's a local mill that sells eastern white cedar. If you pull them off the stack in order, you pay X/board foot. If you discard any significant number of boards, it's "select", and you pay X+.

[Their lumber is quite good actually, so if you're building the typical deck where a reasonable number of tight knots make no difference, you won't need to "select". But if you're trying for "clear" you'll have to dig for it and you pay extra.]

There may well be a specific grade designation for consistently grained Tigerwood. It'll cost more.