Reminds me of some stuff that a wood supply place near here has. They are two brothers from Laos. The one is the artist. That "flower" is nearly 4' (yep four feet) wide. Check them out.
Looks like you're in for some fun, Pete. We'd like to see some of those when they get finished. Out of curiosity, do you often engrave the fancy figured wood like this, or do you save the laser for the simpler woods?
I try to talk the people into a nice engraved maple box for a pen like this but every so often, much to my disapproval, they insist on their name on the pen. So far to my surprise they look good and the customers love them.
I say leave the pen as is and put it in a nice box.
I do not normally use such great wood on Bracelet Helpers but I have a special friend who wanted one.
I went to Micro mMesh 12000 on this one and it looked this good WITHOUT any finish on it. I put on a coat of friction polish just for a little protection.
Do not laugh to much at the friction polish. I use it a lot on pens and have never had a problem.