I have received the wood (see above pics) from RickyBobby.
Will have to whittle down a couple into scale size chunks and see how the figure, checks, knots, etc pan out. Hoping for a real nice special set of scales to jump out.
Tim
Thanks Tim! I hope you can find something unique outta that wood ... been saving it for a project like this for some time now. I completely trust your judgement and can't wait to see what you come up with!