Yes it is "opto-wood " , yes it does look good and I get many compliments on it from the bolt-trash crowd I hang with , no that was not my first choice for wood but my choice of which rifle was decided by inspection of the muzzles on available rifles . It is I think rather plain walnut with some kind of treatment , lazered maybe . I don't think it is dipped , I have some camo guns that I think were dipped and it is quite different. I have the piece I cut off the stock to customize my lop and I plan to do test on it . One plus about the opto wood is that when I took a spill in the mountains and gouged the grip cap it wasnt as painful as would have been with $$$$$ walnut .