Zebrawood Uses, Properties, Advantages, and Disadvantages

What is zebrawood?

Zebrawood (Microberlinia brazzavillensis) is also known as Zebrano, is wood from West Africa, with an exotic appearance and decorative properties. This tree is 65-130 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 4-5 feet.

Zebrawood has an interesting alternating figured. It is usually light brown or cream with fairly wavy black stripes.

This is an excellent wood for decorative items, although customizing a unique grain can be quite difficult to work. But it can be done by a professional. This is a wood commonly used for veneers, furniture, tool handles, wall paneling, skis, and more.

The properties of zebrawood

It is a wood with a zebra-striped appearance, with alternating light brown or cream and black shades. It has a fairly coarse texture, and zebrawood grains are interlocked or wavy.

The heartwood of zebrawood is known to be durable in its resistance to rot. It’s also a wood that is resistant to insect attacks.

Zebrawood can also emit a characteristic unpleasant odor when worked. That might be a little annoying, so make sure to wear a mask to minimize odors. Zebrawood also has a reasonably high density, stiff, and strong.

Zebrawood advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

Exotic: When you see it for the first time, zebrawood looks very attractive. The color figured alternates like a zebra with wavy or interlaced grains.

We thought you would not be wrong to distinguish this gorgeous wood. Its exotic appearance seems very good if used for decorative items with turning, or maybe you want to make some furniture.

A small zebrawood table looks like it will look attractive, keep it in the house to enjoy the atmosphere in the morning.

However, it seems to be used as a veneer and seems like it will be pretty expensive.

Durable: Zebrawood is good enough for long-term use. You don’t have to worry about its durability because this wood is reliable.

The heartwood of the zebrawood is reported to be resistant to rot and resistant to insect damage.

So we think zebrawood finished goods also have the same or similar properties. This is a good thing, especially for those who attach importance to beauty in every wooden item in the house.

Because zebrawood is very good to add to the house’s beauty, you don’t need to repair or replace it shortly because it is durable.

Disadvantages

Relatively expensive: Don’t expect to get exotic wood for low or moderate prices. Because the cost of zebrawood is in the quite expensive range.

Seems like a decent price for this wood. Because not only exotic but also its population has decreased by more than 20% over the last 3 generations.

So, it seems like you shouldn’t be using large quantities of wood or doing illegal logging. Make sure the seller is also reliable, and compare prices with other exotics.

Although it’s in the fairly expensive range, zebrawood is usually not as expensive as other exotics like Rosewood or Ebony.

Workability: Zebrawood is not an easy or difficult wood to worked. It has advantages and disadvantages in workability.

For example, this wood can be sawed well but can be very difficult to flatten or surface. The reason is because of the many interlocking grains.

You can glue zebrawood and finish nicely. It’s necessary to use quality and sharp tools and pay attention to the grain figured in cutting.

Because it can increase the selling value of wooden goods for sale, it will also make it look more beautiful and has high artistic value.

Zebrawood for furniture

Maybe you need to imagine how good zebrawood furniture is that has an attractive appearance with a unique grain figured.

We think it’s pretty good, especially for a small table or small cupboard. Several properties of zebrawood are also good for it, such as durability, strength, high density, and others.

Although its resistance to rot is not very durable, but the wood seems to be quite good for long-term furniture.

But don’t think you’ll get lots of zebrawood easily and cheaply. You will need to prepare extra money, or buy finished goods if you want it to be easier.

Zebrawood for veneer

It is a very good idea to use zebrawood as a veneer. We’ve seen some pictures of zebrawood veneer, and they’re really good. You can coat several things with this veneer, whether it’s doors, furniture, or anything else.

That will make the thing it’s coated with look nicer. Maybe you also want to try beautifying the room with zebrawood veneer.

However, this doesn’t seem cheap. Because the price of zebrawood itself is in the quite expensive range, maybe you should try to make your own for a lower cost, or buy one to make it easier.

Zebrawood for boatbuilding

Zebrawood is a strong wood. That is the first reason to use it for boatbuilding.

Then this wood has a high density, and it seems to be able to make the boatbuilding structure more sturdy when put together and not easily separated.

A further reason is that zebrawood is durable in its resistance to rot and insect damage. This is an excellent reason.

You don’t have to worry about rotting or nesting insects because this wood can withstand that. Although not forever, but probably not broken shortly.

Zebrawood for skis

Maybe you need skis for next winter. We think you should try making skis out of zebrawood. It seems like it would be a good piece of equipment to accompany your snowboarding and having fun.

Some of the properties of this wood are quite good for it, such as being strong, having a unique and attractive appearance, and being durable.

It would probably be wooden skis that could last a few winters. Don’t forget to pay attention to the unique-looking grain-figured design to make the skis look more attractive, beautiful, and seem good for sale.

Zebrawood for tool handles

Zebrawood is an exotic wood with a zebra-like appearance. It seems like making some wood handles for tools out of zebrawood is pretty good.

This thing doesn’t require a large size of wood, but only needed by the tool handles may only be 2 fists sizes. It will not have much of an effect on this wood population.

The appearance of the zebrawood also seems to add artistic value and selling value to the goods being part of it.

We think it’s bad enough if the item is for use because it seems more if it is only used for decoration.

Zebrawood for wall paneling

A beautiful room wall is the dream of some people. Making it may cost a lot of money, but you can still make it. It looks like wood zebrawood wall paneling would be better, although it may cost more.

The exotic and beautiful appearance of zebrawood can make any room in your home more attractive. You can customize the wall paneling the way you want, then make your own or place an order if you can’t do it yourself.

Don’t worry about the durability and other properties of the wood. Because we think zebrawood is good enough for wall

paneling.

Zebrawood for marquetry

Zebrawood can be an excellent choice for some marquetry pieces that use more than one wood.

The unique appearance of zebrawood and different from many other kinds of wood makes this wood exotic and worthy if used for decorative items.

You can make marquetry using zebrawood entirely if that’s possible. But we thought it would be better to combine it with other woods.

This can be a complementary wood that adds to the beauty of the marquetry.

Zebrawood may be quite challenging to work with due to its density and hardness, but it’s worth trying it out.