Bartman,
Rimfire answered your questions much better than I ever would have.
Rimfire,
About the only thing I’m not in agreement with you on would have to do with stocks cracking....other than that, you seem to have the experience to validate your opinions.
That was just a case of your experience being a little different from mine, and it is not a big deal anyway because I would certainly never tell someone to not buy a beautifully figured stock just because I think it would be a little more likely to crack than a plain-wood stock.
