Most people only have a handful of stocks made during a shooting lifetime. So, we get to choose whatever "cut" we want, and how it's dried.
Over on Woodnet, there's a guy whose family has been providing all the Euro gun companies stock wood since before the Big War.
They kiln dry their blanks by the ten's of thousands. Shipping container's full, dried en mass. Of course they are feeding factories, and endless duplicators, so a % scrap is to be expected.
He pretty much disagree's with everything people ever say on these sites. I figure somewhere's in the middle is where I will be satisfied. I doubt that if I let a blank lay in my barn for another 50 years, that it would one day decide not to move when the draw knife comes out. But not the day before.
Myself, I don't see how a 200 year old tree is all that different than a 150 year old tree. A tree is the product of it's growth environment. Heartwood is dead, and has been for a long time. When a blank is cut, only so much stress relief can occur. The pretty little swirlies are all tied up in knots decades before I ever see them, and I doubt they plan on changing their relationships when I cut through them.
Regrettably, there is no definitive way to prove a negative. Maybe a book matched set would be like twins during an experiment.
