Since you have inspected the wood, do you have photos you could share?

Here is a photo, it’s enlarged to show the pinholes/pits. it Doesn’t photograph too clearly but there’s pits all over the board. To be fair the dealer addressed the issue immediately with Mirage when I told him of my concern. But they just say it’s within standards.

Is Mirage saying that the pinholes are acceptable for this particular flooring? Or that a few boards with pinholes are within the acceptable range of 5% to cull?

Thank you very much SJ McCarthy for the advice. Insect presentation doesn’t sound very appealing, I would hoped that Mirage’s quality control would have weed it out . here’s a photo of the side of the plank, does it look like an insect issue?

Yes, Jellytoast. Mirage technical support said the finish looks intact and told me that these pinholes, though they call it pits, are inherent to Jatoba Wood itself And are within industry standards for this particular flooring. For every question I had, all they keep telling me was that it was within standards. I am extremely disappointed in Mirage, for the price I had expected a much better product and a much better response to concerns about

their product. I would never buy Mirage again.

I have Mirage flooring that I am very happy with. But I did notice before I purchased that their specs for certain varieties of flooring (specified as "character") allowed for a lot of things that some might see as defects. I don't see where they state that the Brazilian Cherry is one of those "character" floors. Even in the warranty, the Brazilian Cherry is not listed as one of the floors with those characteristics. Are all of your boards like that, or just a few?

Brazilian Cherry is classified under the exclusive grade which Mirage‘s website specifies as allowing for color variations. Which is why I find it unacceptable that there are so many pinholes, if it were under the “character” grade then it’s a different story because it does say that there are pinholes and wormholes etc but Holes in the Brazilian Cherry came as a complete surprise to me. Unfortunately more than half the planks have these tiny holes, some more some less.

In my days of installing Brazilian cherry when it was the rage 15 years ago, I came across what is being mentioned. Seems to me I saw it with engineered only and in lower grades, not clear or select. It was never mentioned as a defect to me, nor did I question it.

The last photo you posted was thumbnail-size. Can you post another? I too have Brazilian cherry flooring, and from what I can see, those pinholes are not indicative of poor quality, but rather a result of the wood being cut across the pores. In fact, it’s those things which distinguish real wood from laminate, which is perfectly smooth when viewed at an angle. And you don’t want that.

Yep, I think that’s exactly what you’re seeing.

FYI these are not pinholes or wormholes. How do the pits look in normal lighting from a standing position? Flooring is generally evaluated from a position 50" from the floor. If you have something that can't be seen from 50", it's not considered a defect.

If they aren't pinholes, what are they called?

In the industry, the terms pinhole and wormhole are generally used to describe holes made by an organism. Using the term to describe a small depression in the finish might give someone the impression that it's from a parasite.

It looks like the "holes" are specifically matched to the grain...which would then indicate it is wood-related and not insect related.

If you are unhappy with the product, you will want to find out what it would cost to send it back (restocking fee, shipping, etc).

And just to make sure you are interested in Jatoba, are you aware that Jatoba DARKENS as it ages? And not only does it darken, it has TWO different colours it will turn. It will either turn flaming red/orange/brown (medium dark floors with flaming red/orange streaks) or it will turn PURPLE/PINK. No I am not kidding. Google "pink" jatoba. You will come up with THOUSANDS of photos of pink/purple Jatoba.

And you will not know which colour range you have until it darkens. It is possible you will have ONLY one of those colours....or you could have a mix of BOTH colours in the same floor.

When you get a pink plank next to a flaming orange plank, it can be very upsetting for a homeowner to decorate around their extremely busy floor.

If you are unaware of these things AND the floor isn't up to your satisfaction, it is best to send it back today, rather than ripping them out tomorrow.

Thanks for the sound advice once again. Yes, I‘m aware and can accept the color change, it’s these pits, I am not sure what to call them, they do seem to be related to the graining grooves that run along the side of the planks. I was under the impression for a high grade of wood these planks would be weeded out And I initially thought Jatoba was a very dense wood so I didn’t expected these open tunnels(grains) running throughout the planks and showing up as pits on the surface.

These aren’t just depressions in the finishes but looks to be holes on the surface that are related to the graining. What do you call them in the industry?

It's called surface texture. The issue isn't that there's surface texture, it's that there's only a minimal amount of surface texture left. My issue with Mirage is generally that their finish is often so smooth that it looks fake. Brazilian Cherry may be dense and hard but it still has grain and surface texture. There are smoother woods like Maple that can be chosen if that's a paramount issue.

From the closeup picture it's hard to tell if the pits would be objectionable when installed.

Have you spoken to your dealer about the possibility of returning the flooring in exchange for something else? My flooring is also Mirage's "exclusive" grade, but I chose a lightly wirebrushed finish for the reason Johnson Flooring mentions ... some of the really smooth finished varieties looked fake to me. My floor is white oak engineered and it looks exactly as Mirage led me to believe it would look and it was identical to the sample board. Perhaps they will be willing to work with you towards a resolution.