These are "High Contrast" ironwood scales....have both light and dark. Higher grade ironwood tends to be more orange-ish and overall darker, yes. But that's not always the case. I have other HC pieces that are darker. But most of them are not orange-ish.
I buy these for 2 main reasons - I can get them in larger quantities, and the high-contrast grade has very nice figure with no voids. Exhibition grade ironwood usually has burls and 90% of those pieces have voids that have to be filled - which really slows me down.
Hope that answers your questions.
Thanks!
Dan
KosterKnives.com