Straightness of grain, consistency of growth rate, tone and density are my major factors. Color is not a concern, so long as the color is consistent over the entire shaft. The 13mm shaft with my taper needs to weigh between 3.8oz-4.3oz., no lighter & no heavier. I bounce each shaft & note the sound & how high it rebounds from the concrete floor.
Though color of the wood can be minutely affected by the handling of the logs, color of the wood is most determined by habitat, region & age of the tree. Specific species also plays a role. Trees from central & northern Wisconsin are the whitest in the world, with UP Michigan & Ontario a close second. Wood from New England is very light brown, almost white. Wood from further south is yellow. The reasons are growth rate due to seasonal climate, and habitat, what grows next to the trees & where it gets it's nutrition. If it's mountainy terrain & heavy forest like the northern Vermont/New York area, the maples are the smaller trees in the forest next to the giant oaks & ash. In Michigan the maples are the bigger trees. Climate is different, too, as is the soil and nutritional value of the soil which is effected by minerals and decaying plant life. Then you must consider age. As a tree ages the core dies & basically becomes a water preserving sponge, while the outer layers(sapwood) continue to grow. If all is well, the core of the tree will not deteriorate after death & eventually the living sapwood will tremendously slow growth. It causes the wood to turn brown. It is not constantly & rapidy expanding anymore. It's simply just there. This is considered old growth & happens after 100-150+yrs. Slow growth is similar. It grows so slow, for numerous reasons, that the wood is stagnated, retarded in growth & thus turns brown due to lack of cell reproduction. This is why old growth & some slow growth shafts with high grain count are brown, not white. It has nothing to do with lumbering process. The most that can happen with lumbering is the wood turn slightly yellowed, and then begin to rot/spalt.
The drying process also determines some color. Traditional kilns reach temperatures of 100-120 degrees. It takes weeks or months to properly dry the wood, but the wood is left in a natural state but with less water content. Vacuum kilns heat to over 800 degrees & zap the moisture from wood within hours or a few days. It not only cooks the wood, but sucks all of the moisture & sap & oils from the wood. This leaves the wood bright white with minimal color defects, but also chemically changes the wood. It is a very fast & effective way of making perfect, useable lumber with only subtle deterioration, but I have experienced it to be somewhat softer & lower quality than traditional kiln dried wood. It's great for kitchen cabinets but I don't trust it for my cue shafts. Just my own personal thoughts & experiences. I have logged, milled & dried maple lumber personally. There's a lot more to it than most folks realize.
Specific species of maple also plays a role in quality. All "hard maple" is not the same & is not only sugar maple. Sugar maple is the major species, but black maple is also logged & milled & marketed as hard maple. The tricky part is that black maple & sugar maple naturally produce a hybrid. Region determines overall character of each hybrid. This creates several sub-species of the two major hard maple trees. Lumber mills & yards sell any of it as "hard rock maple" The mills likely never know the exact species as they most often do not cut the timber themselves but bid on the logs at auctions. Any hard maple will have similar bark patterns & color, and makes virtually identical looking lumber. The differences only emerge when the wood is used under stress in a structurally demanding item like a cue shaft. I have forest property that has both of these two maples growing side by side, and there is a difference.
Anyway, that's probably more than anybody is interested in knowing about maple, but when it comes to finding the best possible wood for a shaft it comes in handy. I'm a wood freak
It's fun & I am always amazed at how much there is to learn. I have been studying maples for a few years now & still finding new information. And it's only one of hundreds of woods used in a cue!!!
