I always favourd Mesquite for this. My father has made several belt
buckles from cross sections of Mesquite wood and they are beautiful.
Somtimes there are interesting colour changes in tree rings. -G

foster239 wrote:
I would like to make coasters from a small (3-4") log by crosscutting
them on a bandsaw about ¼" thick. Would anybody have any
recommendations on what kind of wood/log to use that would not
"check" and would have an interesting grain structure?

Thanks