Thanks fellas! I really appreciate it! I thought that I was going to have to wait another week to finish this project since the only piece of ERC I had wasn't big enough. Then I remembered another project using ERC had some scraps leftover. I dug around and sure enough I had a piece! Sometimes I amaze myself with all the stuff I have squirrelled away in my truck. So here we go! There isn't much heartwood to this piece, so the stem will inevitably have some sapwood in it. That's ok though. A little contrast makes it pop anyway. So we will proceed as if the sapwood inclusion was intentional. Shhhhhh! Our little secret. With a little luck, I should be able to finish this up today. Here's what I'm starting with. Josh