Acoustic Guitar Construction

I need some tips on identifying the grain direction of some mahogany that I have for a neck. I'm having a hard time seeing the grain on the end of the board with saw marks and all. Do you all have some tips for clearing all of this up? I guess my eyes are just not that good. I've tried scraping and sanding but that just seems to add more marks to add to my confusion.

Hey Kyle, I have the same trouble. The sawmarks are really confusing. I was able to saw a great billet in the wrong direction.

This works the best for me: look for different colours in the endgrain and see if they flow into the sidesurface.
Wait, maybe this pic helps:

Hi -- Mr. obvious here, but I should have mentioned that I mark grain orientation on all our billets in a couple of places. Plus the ends are colored to help match the grain for things like bindings, neck blanks etc.. I believe its these little things that give a finished project visual continuity.