I've got to tell you, it's even nicer in person. If you turn the piece in the light, it has a quilt pattern. Even though I know it's not big leaf maple, it looks real similar. I've never seen eyes that defined, it's like an eybrow over the eye. I'll stop by Bucky's shop and get a picture of the boards we got out of a pulp log. The log had about a 30 degree bend, a real cull piece in any log yard. When we cut the outer sweep of the curve, it was just loaded with eyes. I think we might be on to something good, there's a lot of hard maple in our area. If we can just get a few contractors to slow down enough to let us look over the log pile, I know we'll catch some of it. Every logger I asked if they ever saw extra money in their checks for a birdseye log said no. That tells me that the scalers aren't even telling the guys when one of their logs is a birdseye. Bucky made a neat clock out of a couple spare pieces we salvaged, I'll try to get a pic of that too.
Daren-I've got a Bailey's catalog, I think I'll order a rip chain and give it a try. I'll let you know if it's worth it. I've burned up a few chain saws in my logging days trying to quarter big pulp logs and I'm not anxious to repeat those $600 mistakes.