I tried to find the definition of clear wood, just found this... Pretty cool though, wonder if anyone ever did a cue like this or if it wouldn't work.
https://www.businessinsider.com/clear-wood-university-of-maryland-video-2016-5 <-----"Engineers have made clear wood that's stronger than plain wood"
Anyways, what is clear wood?
Very glad you asked, if you did not ask, you could go thru life believing that I am talking about wood that you can see thru, not the case at all.
It simply means CLEAR of defects.
When a log is cut, the cut pieces pass by the lumber grader, he has to quickly determine the value of the wood based upon it's quality. A piece with many knots and grain that runs off the piece would be about a number 4. If it only has one knot but the knot of over 1/3 the width of the board, it's a 3 or 4. IF it has two knots on opposite sides of the board, both knots are less then one third the width BUT a straight line drawn up the board cannot stretch between the knots without touching them, it's a 3 or 4. If those two knots are small enough that a straight line can travel up the board and still leave 1/3 width without touching the other two knots, it may qualify for a 2.
If a piece has zero knots and the grain stays on the board for more than 2/3 of the board, it may qualify as a number one. When grain runs off within `1/3 of the board, it's about a 3 at best.
When a board has straight enough grain that one grain can run end to end, the same board has zero knots or holes, it's most likely sold as CLEAR.
Clear is the top quality of wood. When a Sawyer has a clear log, he may decide to quarter or rift saw the material for best quality cuts, that's a different lecture.
When all is clear, a Cuemakers job now begins.
A light amount of sugar marks will not kill a grade at this point, A Cuemaker may weed them out if too many streaks are showing.
Many end uses make their own grading system beyond this as clear and clear select (when a person hand selects the board) are the top prices coming out of the lumber yard
Clear can mean what I see on many shafts, about 5 straight grains per inch but guess what? A good cuemaker will throw out the 5 grains per inch, my guarantee is a minimum of 15 grains per inch.
Bleaching is not allowed on my shafts.
Many good comments on this thread, great job to all who participated.