Zebrawood

Walt2

Walt2

Joined
Mar 13, 2001
Messages
1,157
My wife broke her favorite letter opener a couple of months go, so I ordered one of the blades that TKS sells. Prior to ordering the blade I was looking around through some of my wood scraps and found something that it took me a while to realize what it is. It is a piece of Zebrawood that I had bought before 1980. I forgot all about having it. It has been stored since then. (I used to tinker around on some small wood projects) I decided to use it for handles on the letter opener. I took it to the table saw, boy I had forgotten how tough that stuff is. I was curious and started to cut on a piece of it with a couple of folders and found out real quick that it would quickly take the edge off S60V and D2. Especially if a cut was being made across the grain. I still have a couple of pieces left, the largest one is 13/4"-2"-15".
I think I will hang on to the pieces and find something to use them on, just won't mess with it with a knife blade again.
 
I like cross cut zebra wood...

fc931841.jpg
 
Lovely handle on that knife CL!

Walt,
I hope your using a respirator when cutting and sanding that Zebrawood, because it's somewhat toxic.;)


All the best,
Mike U.
 
Not trying to sound mean at all, but am I only person who assumes everything is bad and always wears the respirator?
 
No, I don't care what I'm sanding, I'll wear some protection -- if it's dusty, it can't be good for the lungs. Of course, I smoke so that's kinda counter-productive. :D

Anyway, that Zebra wood looks fantastic cross-cut. :eek:
 
I always wear protection when I'm grinding. My grandson is learning to grind and the first thing he does is put on the respirator I bought him. He wears it whether it's wood or metal or he doesn't grind.
 
Any kind of dust is bad for the lungs. Some woods are also toxic and some woods are also allergenic.
 
Thanks for the advice concerning Zebrawood being toxic. I did not know about this. I will probably me using some of it next week on a blade that I made out of 5160 and sent to Lee Oates to get tempered. This was my first blade and I found out how much work it is trying to reduce 1/4" down to 3/16" or less using a bench grinder some, but mostly using a file. Putting a flat grind bevel by draw filing also takes a lot of time. Thanks again for the advice.
 
As a rule of thumb, it's usually a good idea to use the respirator when working with exotic woods. Sometimes the incidences of adverse reactions from a given wood can run the gamut from extremely common to relatively rare, but if YOU happen to be one who's gonna have that adverse reaction (anything from sneezing, skin rashes, flu-like syptoms or symptoms on up to a full blown asthma-like respiratory arrest) I'm of the opinion it's better safe than sorry. I don't like coming across as the voice of gloom and doom, but this is one facet of knifemaking that is a bit of a pet peeve of mine because an adverse reaction from working a toxic wood is so easily preventable.

Walt,
Please post a pic of the knife! I don't know about ya'll, but I never tire of seeing the work of other knifemakers.:D


All the best,
Mike U.
 
Mike, I don't have any way to post pictures and wouldn't know how if I did. Also this blade is awful close to another makers design, which I don't want to be accused of copying. I started this project just to see what I could do. I appreciate everyones comments and advice.
 
Walt2 wrote:
Also this blade is awful close to another makers design, which I don't want to be accused of copying.
Click to expand...

I respect that. But, really, I think most makers don't mind someone making a design similar to one that they've done before for their own use. After all, in knife design there is very little that is new under the sun that hasn't been done before by others.
But anyway, I hope the knife turns out better than you expect.:D

Good luck with it and all the best,
Mike U.
 
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