African Zebra Wood

Zebrawood has a medium to coarse texture and a wavy or interlocked grain pattern.

African zebra wood.

Zebrawood is excellent for wood turning veneer furniture pens and knife handles. It s black and creamy striped timber fetches high prices from the international market and is subsequently a target for selective logging. It is a hard wood with a medium to coarse texture. In the 20th century the most important source of zebrawood was microberlinia brazzavillensis also.

The alternating hard and soft material creates working difficulties but zebrawood takes a clear finish without issue. Zebrawood lumber has heartwood that is light brown or cream color with dark blackish brown streaks vaguely resembling a zebra s stripes. Zebrawood is an exotic wood native to the western african countries of cameroon and gabon. The african zebrawood is also of high economic value.

Exotic wood sale 25 40 off now thru october 31 2020 guess where this wood got its name. The zebra like appearance is due to the light colored sapwood in contrast with the dark colored grain. This has led to the local extinction of the species from the foothills of mount cameroon. Depending on whether the wood is flatsawn or quartersawn the stripes can be either chaotic and wavy flatsawn or somewhat uniform quartersawn.

Zebrawood is characterized by a striped figure that is reminiscent of a zebra the name originally applied to the wood of astronium graveolens citation needed a large tree native to central america. The name zebrawood is used to describe several tree species and the wood derived from them. Heartwood is a light brown or cream color with dark blackish brown streaks vaguely resembling a zebra s stripes.