Keadog, Cary's recommendation to read Pete Hiatt's site is a good one, there's some good basic information at his site about wood, drying, grain flow, and selecting wood for stocking.
I bought a piece of wood for restocking one of my guns from Pete about a year and a half ago, and he guarantees his wood to be free from defects. His price was more than reasonable, IMHO.
The gun is currently in the hands of Toby Leeds for restocking. Here's a link to pics of the gun in the restocking process, after the page loads, look at the top row and view 3 thumbnails titled F.Rizzini Restock.
http://groups.msn.com/Herbicide/shoebox.msnw?Page=3
