I'm not too impressed with the quality of the finish on their nosing pieces. Lots of bumps/bubbles type of areas it seems. I guess it's not noticeable though when you're actually ON the floor and not staring at the wood in your face.

I could not have received a more random lot of them either!!!

This is about as much variation is you're going to get! There is one board in particular that I really like with the wavy look, but the others are kind of 'blah' with the dark spots.











The top board, it looks like the coating is not holding up on it, peeling off. Should I return this board? At $30/pop I shouldn't have to risk it...?

You have some nice "flame" on two of those. So I would put them in the most noticeable place. The others are just blah looking. Typical. And I'm not sure Bruce actually made them. I've heard that a single company makes most of the prefinished trims now. I think the name is something like Artista or Artisan or something like that.

Artistic Finishes.

There is another manufacturer of trim pieces, names Seneca Mills, that is wanting business, and getting it.

Page from an old (1995!) Bruce product guide:
http://users.rcn.com/switch32/BruceLines.jpg

Good, Better & Best is still used today though.

Current Bruce FAQ page I quoted earlier:
http://www.bruce.com/resflram/na/bruce/ ... 17677.html

Liberty Plains is a Best line.
http://www.bruce.com/resflram/na/bruce/ ... eId=2061.0

I agree that Good, Better & Best is not the best marketing approach, but thats the way they call it.

I guess they do it that way so that consumers who don't know real grades can just pick them out based on the good/better/best approach?

Floorguy, the way I read that is that you are saying that Seneca Mills is making higher quality trim pieces? This is pretty common with Artistic Finishes? I'll look on the wood and see if I can see who made it.