Very Large Piece of Zebrawood - Need Advice

[John Michaels]

Just picked up this piece of Zebrawood today. It's 6 feet long, 23 inches wide, and 2 inches thick. I'm thinking of making a writing desk out of it and selling it at a local gallery. My question is regarding the sapwood at each edge. With zebrawood it looks so much different than the heartwood. Should I leave the sapwood or trim it off and incorporate some other wood like walnut at the edges. The heartwood down the middle is about 15 inches wide, so simply trimming it off and will leave me a piece than is too narrow for a desk. Opinions much appreciated.



http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1108263/zebra-1.jpg

[Anthony Whitesell]

Not having built too many table tops, my first thought would be to try to incorporate it naturally to act as an edge banding and leave alone for the most part.

If you cut it off, what would you do with the sapwood pieces?

[Don Bullock]

My $.02 worth wound be to use it as is. That's a beautiful slab of wood and the sap wood sets off all the stripes. If I had a slab like that I'd be tempted to make some breadboard ends from maple to match the light areas or walnut to match the dark.

[John Michaels]

If you cut it off, what would you do with the sapwood pieces?


Not sure. The sapwood of zebrawood is pretty unattractive. The motivation for leaving it is how impressive this wide piece of zebrawood is. It's hard to find it in widths over 10 inches.

[Jacob Reverb]

I'd try to leave it, and if I did leave it, I would also try somehow to keep the wane on the edge.

I wonder how that sapwood looks stained...any idea?

[Chris Padilla]

Wow! That is the biggest piece of zebrawood I've ever seen...very cool. I love the patterns in it...so distinct!

I have a slight concern about how close to the pith (center of the tree) that slab is and wonder if you'll suffer from some cuping. Can we get more of an edge shot?

Do you plan to keep the top as a slab?

If you're into "wood as mother nature designed it", it should be left as is and the contrast should be considered in the overal design of the piece.

If you simply like the heartwood contrast, cutting the sapwood off and resawing the piece to give you a wider top could work as well.

Please provide a few more picture/angles of this magnificient piece!

[Jim Becker]

I'm a natural edge fan, so that sap would stay, but this is both personal preference and predicated on the design of the piece, too.

[Prashun Patel]

I like it natural too, but I think the sapwood bands are wide relative to the heart and distract from it. I'd trim some of the sap off.

[Greg Cole]

Coin toss depending on the potential buyers taste in regards to leaving the sapwood or not.
Just lil me....I'd leave it as is and use it as a feature if it's to become a table top.

[alex grams]

Gorgeous piece of wood. That is one of those pieces that just screams to be bought so you can make something special out of it.

The options I see are:

-Leave it as is with the sapwood for the desk top
-Since it is 2" thick, resaw it if you can, then you could cut the sapwood off of one end and bookmatch th pieces as your desk top. This would give you a desk depth of about 30 inches and you would be sapwood free.
-If you are open to other designs to use the piece, I think it would be great to use the natural edge and the slab of wood as a nice table top for a hall table design (not sure the proper name of the style of furniture, but the kind of taller (36-40" tall) long tables you see in entry rooms or such.

Is the thickness of 2" a finished or rough cut thickness? Do you have the tools to resaw it? Could you maybe even cut it down to a thick veneer (~1/8") and get a lot of use out of it? I am not sure what tools/capabilities you have with the wood.

Awesome piece though. Mind if i ask what you paid for it/where you found it?

[Lucas Bittick]

Very impressive and beautiful. I am in favor of keeping the sapwood-- it is very even and balances well with the heartwood in dimension. The slab could be used to make 2 writing desks? It has so much potential for Nakasima-type furniture-- something that highlights the natural origins of the material.

[David DeCristoforo]

Everybody's being so polite about this. Let's just say it. If you cut that plank, you will be shot.

[Frank Kobilsek]

.... from the Woodturners forum. That plank would make three outstanding platters if it was in my garage (opps 'studio').

I'd keep the sapwood if it becomes a table or a platter.

Frank

[Mark Ball]

I would cut one edge of sapwood off, resaw it into two 1" pieces, and then bookmatch the two into a really nice top. You would have sapwood on each edge, which I think would look nice.

[Radek Kowalski]

Nice piece of wood. That really is a problem, just send the piece to me and I will figure something out.

[Greg Cole]

Everybody's being so polite about this. Let's just say it. If you cut that plank, you will be shot.
Is this pre-Yoshi David? ;):rolleyes::D

[jim oakes]

I love the contrast of sapwood on walnut, but I do cut off some if it's super soft.
If your sapwood is hard enough to wear well I'd say:

Only a sap would cut of that sapwood!

[Raymond Fries]

I think natural is always better. If mine. I would find a way to make it part of the design.

Either way, it will make an excellent piece.

Enjoy your project...

[Ben Davis]

What does the other side of the slab look like? From the one picture it appears that more heartwood will be showing on the other face.

I think you have a number of options available to you to play the width of the board. One option is to cut veneer, bookmatch to width, and wrap the aprons of the table with the sapwood so that the width of the wood is basically folded over the edges.

I would have a hard time "wasting" that much zebra wood in one slab table top, but that's me. I think you could make a number of stunning pieces from a veneer approach, but I would be in total awe if I saw a tabletop that thick made of solid exotic hardwood, regardless of species.

Pics of the other face!

[John Michaels]

What does the other side of the slab look like? From the one picture it appears that more heartwood will be showing on the other face.

I think all the replies along the lines of "keep the slab" has convinced me to keep it just the way it is. The first photo shows the other side. The second photo shows the natural edge. It's a little chewed up, but I can smooth it out.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1108263/DSC07202.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-11/1108263/DSC07201.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Oh man...that's a gorgeous piece of wood, John. Whatever you make with it is going to be a real looker!

[Peter Quinn]

Looking for opinions? Use the second side (heartwood up). Make as few cuts as possible, keep it natural, or cut it into small pieces and get some lighter fluid. That giant slab is both impressive and attractive. Most of the zebra wood I have seen and worked with is merely the former. Not my favorite visual effect generally, but your slab is a winner to my eye.

If you cut off that sap, which while plain seems to ground the otherwise repulsive stripes of the vertical grain, it should make good kindling for the rest.


KEEP IT NATURAL. GO NAKASHIMA ON IT. LIVE EDGE AND ALL. LET THE SLAB DICTATE THE PIECE, BUILD AROUND IT'S DIMENSIONS AND INCLUSIONS. That belongs in a gallery. Slice it up, square edge, danish modern in zebra wood, that belongs in an over priced Euro trash furniture outlet in SOHO NYC.

[Phil Thien]

The sap wood frames the heart wood beautifully. I'd keep it as is.

[Greg Hines, MD]

If you are that concerned about the sapwood, then cut it off, resaw the slab, and glue up the top. Personally, I would leave it.

Doc

[Bill Karow]

Does this qualify as a thinly disguised wood gloat? :D That's an awesome slab...my vote is with most others, wider heartwood side up with minimal edge alteration if you're confident it will be stable enough to resist cupping. I hope we'll get to see how it looks when completed!

[Vince Shriver]

Everybody's being so polite about this. Let's just say it. If you cut that plank, you will be shot.


Come on, David, how do you really feel about it?

I couldn't agree with you more - that is a rare find, beautiful piece of wood. What makes it especially cool is the sap wood is so nicely balanced on the edges, almost by design. It'd be a crime to cut it.

[William Hutchinson]

You have lots of options, depending on what you want for the final product. Creative placement of resawn pieces could yield interesting possibilities.http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/wlhutch/zebra-2.jpg

[John Michaels]

You have lots of options, depending on what you want for the final product. Creative placement of resawn pieces could yield interesting possibilities.http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/wlhutch/zebra-2.jpg

Wow that's some cool photoshop effects. I'm pretty leary about resawing zebrawood. It can be unstable & unpredictable. I'd cry for days if I had two warped pieces after resawing.

[William Hutchinson]

"Passage in Time" Wood Floor Clock, Created by: Brian Hubel (https://www.artfulhome.com/artist/7313.html)


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/wlhutch/Zebrawoodmapleburlclock.jpg

Zebrawood has many possibilities-- you have a nice piece of wood and I'm sure your final choice will be outstanding.

[Randy Looney]

Heres my 2,

I would resaw and book match and make 2 table or counter tops out of it. If I was not able to resaw my self I would find a sawyer that would do it for me. I think it would also make 2 beautiful counter tops.

[Jack Briggs]

I'd leave the sapwood and incorporate it into the design.

[Russ Kay]

When I see a piece of wood as striking as this, I'm reminded of the time a year or two ago when I took a friend into the local Rockler, where they had some of the first shipments of their gorgeous bubinga slabs. They had one there that was hard to believe, about 6 or 8 feet long, 2 feet wide, and about 2 inches thick, priced around $1500 (or was it $2500?) if I recall correctly. My friend asked me what I would do with that, and my honest, top of the head answer was, "I'm neither skilled enough nor worthy enough to work on that piece of wood; anything I might do with it would probably be a crime."

Sometimes a piece of wood can make us pretty humble.

-- Russ

[Brent Smith]

I'd definitely leave the sapwood as is. It makes for a great contrast. If you don't like the wavy edge you could trim it (not too much!!) and add an edge banding of either more Zebra or some other dark wood (Wenge, Walnut and Ebony come to mind). I wouldn't make that edge banding more than 3/4-1" wide though. Good luck with the piece, whatever you do with it that slab is going to look impressive!

[Lucas Bittick]

I think all the replies along the lines of "keep the slab" has convinced me to keep it just the way it is. The first photo shows the other side. The second photo shows the natural edge. It's a little chewed up, but I can smooth it out.

I just heard a collective cheer!

John, definitely keep us posted about your project. I can't wait to see what you do with the slab. Its visual balance both in graining and heartwood/sapwood ratio is nearly perfect IMHO.

Now for the funny quote prizes...

Third place:

Nice piece of wood. That really is a problem, just send the piece to me and I will figure something out.

Runner up:

KEEP IT NATURAL. GO NAKASHIMA ON IT. LIVE EDGE AND ALL. LET THE SLAB DICTATE THE PIECE, BUILD AROUND IT'S DIMENSIONS AND INCLUSIONS. That belongs in a gallery. Slice it up, square edge, danish modern in zebra wood, that belongs in an over priced Euro trash furniture outlet in SOHO NYC.

Winner:

Everybody's being so polite about this. Let's just say it. If you cut that plank, you will be shot.
:D

[Chris Padilla]

John,

I'll ask it since everyone else is being so polite: What did that cost and where did you get it? Does your supplier specialize in such large exotics or was it a rare find?

[John Michaels]

John,

I'll ask it since everyone else is being so polite: What did that cost and where did you get it? Does your supplier specialize in such large exotics or was it a rare find?

I found it at www.westpennhardwoods.com It was about $581 plus shipping. Came out to roughly $24 per board foot. West Penn has some pretty large slabs of exotics like bubinga and such. Finding a piece of zebrawood this wide is definitely a rare find. If you navigate on their web site to unique boards, then zebrawood flitches, you can see pieces for sale (most have been sold already. I called them and they found me a piece out in the warehouse that wasn't on their website yet.