I like G1's.

They were the first large order of FAL's and they have durable metal hand guards.

The worst part about FAL wood is that the belgian style hand guard is pretty weak and they never figured out how to fix it.

Building a G1 clone you avoid the problem and it's awesome when you sort through Matt's pile of seconds and find a matching grain stock and pistol grip cheap.

I like blemishes that won't sand out. A military contract rifle never has a requirement for clear grain with no knots or voids in the wood. It's the great exception that is perfect.

An Ironwood second is still better than most contract rifles and it has character.

Trees are imperfect things, that's why we enjoy chopping them so much.