General Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
The heartwood of Zebrawood is a light brown or cream color with dark blackish brown streaks vaguely resembling a zebra’s stripes. Depending on whether the wood is flatsawn or quartersawn, the stripes can be either chaotic and wavy (flatsawn), or somewhat uniform (quartersawn).<\/p>\n
Zebrawood has a fairly coarse texture and open pores. The grain of Zebrawood is usually wavy or interlocked.<\/p>\n
The heartwood of Zebrawood is rated as durable against rot and it is also resistant to insect attack.<\/p>\n
Working Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
Zebrawood saws well, but can be very difficult to plane or surface due to the prevalence of interlocking grain. Tearout is common. Zebrawood glues and finishes well, though a transparent pore filler may be necessary for the large open pores which occur on both dark and light surfaces.<\/p>\n
Zebrawood is reported to have a characteristic, unpleasant smell when being worked but I didn’t experience this perhaps because my wood was kiln dried.<\/p>\n
Pricing and Availability:<\/h2>\n
Zebrawood tends to be fairly expensive, though usually not as prohibitively expensive as other exotics such as Ebony or Rosewood.<\/p>\n
In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence. These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, NC Wood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>.<\/p>\n At this time, most all of my favored vendors are offering Zebrawood in various sizes and formats which testifies to the wide availability of this wood. A fairly standard 6x6x2 turning blank will run in the neighborhood of $25 with larger blanks available at considerably higher prices.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Zebrawood this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.<\/p>\n A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. It happens to me all the time!<\/p>\n Zebrawood is frequently quartersawn and used as veneer. Other uses for Zebrawood include: tool handles, furniture, boatbuilding, and skis.<\/p>\n Zebrawood is NOT listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices<\/a> but is on the IUCN Red List. It is listed as vulnerable due to a population reduction of over 20% in the past three generations, caused by a decline in its natural range. A closely-related, lesser-used species in Cameroon, Microberlinia bisulcata<\/em>, is also listed as critically endangered.<\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any restrictions on Zebrawood.<\/p>\n I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.<\/p>\n However, due to the commercial scarcity of some woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.<\/p>\n I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations. This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store. Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.<\/p>\n Aside from the standard health risks associated with any type of wood dust, Zebrawood has been reported as a sensitizer. The most common reactions include uncomplicated eye and skin irritation. As always, caution is essential until you are certain you are not sensitive to Queenwood.<\/p>\n It is important to remember that although many people may, or may not, be sensitive to any given wood, the only experience that truly counts is your own, so use reported side effects as guidance but not as a substitute for cautious and safe practices.<\/p>\n Appropriate protective equipment is therefore always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.<\/p>\n Complete information about health hazards<\/a> associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database<\/a>. Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource.<\/a><\/p>\n Fortunately, I experienced no significant difficulties while working with Zebrawood.<\/p>\n I have worked with Zebrawood in the past and I reported considerable cross grain tearout and a heavy sanding requirement. I think my experience and skills must have improved since I had little tearout and sanding was relatively simple.<\/p>\n The small dish has the least interesting figure of the three pieces I completed but it is still interesting for a small piece. It measures 6.5″ x 1.5″ and was cut from a piece of lumber stock.<\/p>\n Zebrawood Dish<\/p><\/div>\n The medium platter measures 15.5″ x 2″and has heavy figure as well as chatoyant areas which lend a special interest and beauty to this piece.<\/p>\n Zebrawood Platter Medium<\/p><\/div>\n The large platter measures a whopping 18.5″ x 2″ and ranks among the largest pieces I have ever made. It was so large in fact that it stretched the limits of the Big Easy Jaws with Extension!<\/p>\n Zebrawood Platter Large<\/p><\/div>\n I did enjoy working with Zebrawood this time more than I did long ago and that I think is mostly due to experience and practice with lots of different woods. There really is nothing that looks quite like Zebrawood, especially with heavy figure and chatoyance such as in the platters, but I am reluctant to use Zebrawood again because of its vulnerable status. And besides, I have so much wood that I don’t really need to be buying more although I did buy these platter blanks in the last two weeks as they were a rare find and I had a request for something made from Zebrawood and the platters seemed like the perfect answer. Each wood worker will have to search his or her own conscience about endangered species when choosing to work, or not work, with Zebrawood.<\/p>\n All cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool<\/a> system on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck,<\/a> while reverse chucking was done using a Easy Wood Tools Easy Chuck with Big Easy Jaws and Extension<\/a>. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks<\/a>.<\/p>\n As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I did enjoy working with Zebrawood this time more than I did long ago and that I think is mostly due to experience and practice with lots of different woods.\u00a0 There really is nothing that looks quite like Zebrawood, especially with heavy figure and chatoyance such as in the platters, but I am reluctant to use Zebrawood again because of its vulnerable status.\u00a0 And besides, I have so much wood that I don’t really need to be buying more although I did buy these platter blanks in the last two weeks as they were a rare find and I had a request for something made from Zebrawood and the platters seemed like the perfect answer.\u00a0 Each wood worker will have to search his or her own conscience about endangered species when choosing to work, or not work, with Zebrawood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[144,154,168,171,181,188,200,230,239,240,241,247],"yoast_head":"\nCommon Uses:<\/h2>\n
Sustainability:<\/h2>\n
Health Hazards:<\/h2>\n
My Personal Experiences:<\/h2>\n