Zebrawood Gloat

[John Michaels]

Bought some 8/4 zebrawood the other day and made some table legs. The board was a challenge. A couple of large cracks and some hidden small ones made getting 4 usuable legs a challenge.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1108263/DSC07073.jpg

[Barry Clodfelter]

Man I love Zebra wood! Nice job on the legs.

[Tom Esh]

NIce legs! (hey, we need a whistle icon) :)
Anybody know how it ages color-wise? I did a couple pieces a year ago and haven't seen any change. I'm hoping it continues to keep that high contrast between the light & dark grain.

[Chris Padilla]

Tell us about any interesting odors you found cutting it! :)

[Peter Quinn]

Nice legs John! I made some counter tops out of zebra wood a while back, tough stuff to work with I found. Kept getting hair line cracks that were invisible till we glued up, had to cut them out.

I read an article about Zebra wood in a journal at work (Wood Digest maybe?), they have an industry spot light on a different species each month. The forestry guy said zebra wood is on a huge popularity wave internationally right now and they are dropping trees at an alarming rate. He said quality has dropped significantly in the last few years due to felling practices. They used to build a big cushion of trim and brush to soften the fall of those apparently massive and dense trees to avoid internal shattering. In the rush to harvest while prices are at a premium they forgo building this ground cushion and the brittle zebra wood develops lots of tiny internal fractures that tend not to show themselves until tension is released during final milling operations.

Nice score! Love to see the rest of that piece when its finished.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Nice looking zebrawood and great looking legs. Do you have any allergy problems when working with zebrawood? Keep those pictures coming. We like pictures.

[John Michaels]

Tell us about any interesting odors you found cutting it! :)

It smells like a wet dog.


Nice looking zebrawood and great looking legs. Do you have any allergy problems when working with zebrawood? Keep those pictures coming. We like pictures.

Haven't developed any yet. I wear a respirator when working in the shop to reduce exposure.