I still like maple better because when I was carving on this plaque, the board warped a little.....I've never had that trouble with maple...The board was an inch thick and I carved 7/8" into to it...That could have caused it....Or maybe this piece of wood was a little closer to the center of the tree and that caused it?...I really don't know?...I've heard that you could put a moist towel on the wood and iron it out but I not sure which side that would work on [Concave or convex?]. The only side I could do that now on would be the back side of the curve which is a convex curve but I wouldn't want to try it unless I knew....Maybe I could put several coats of polyurethane on the back side....Do you think that-that would work?...I'm not sure but I could try it.....Thanks for the kind words...I appreciate it!!!