Need advice please - What looks best?

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Weird Wood Pusher
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I need a little help from the forum members because I am having trouble making a decision what looks best.
I was hoping you could tell me which of these you like the best and which you like the least.

I just got an old plank of Zebrano, or Zebra Wood. I never paid much attention to this wood in the past, but at the Oregon knife show a friend used this wood on a couple of his knives and he asked me to get some and have it stabilized.

How I cut the wood makes a really big difference in how it looks.
I will be cutting it up and sending it to K&G on Monday for stabilizing. So before I cut it all into blocks I thought I should find out what all of you like.

001_zps8d31df77.jpg
 
In furniture applications you usually see it crosscut.. I also like this the best of your choices.
Second the bias..especially depending on the shape of the handle...think Nguyen..
 
Cross cut and bias look the most unique to me, the other options look kind of plain but I could be wrong.
 
Cross cut and bias would be my vote


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My bias (so to speak) is that the patterns on the wood ought to be more or less parallel to the long axis of the handle. I'd vote for quarter and flat.
 
I like the flat cut & quarter sawn, I've seen some Zebra wood handles by Butch that looked like that and they were really nice, they also look the most Zebra like to me.

The cross cut looks a bit like the pattern in Mammoth tooth to me
 
I usually will not cut blocks for end grain because that leaves you with the weakest possible piece.
But sometimes it can work.
I cut some 1/4" thick end grain strips and it took more pressure to break than a flat sawn strip of maple burl.
Still I would suggest end grain blocks be used on hidden tang knives for the most strength.

Here I tried a bias cut with the thinner stripes on the face. This way the stripes on the edge are not such a pronounced angle.
002_zps8fe94a90.jpg
 
For a full tang handle I like the second bias cut. For a wa it's quarter sawn all the way.

Be well,
Mikey
 
This is a crude illustration to show where wood would break if it were to crack.
Think of the length of the white line as the amount of strength to that sort of cut.
Crosscut with end grain faces would be about 10 to 15% of the possible strength of the piece of wood.
Bias cut would be about 60 to 70% depending on the angle.
Flat and quartersawn would be 100%.
This is an oversimplification of how a piece of would will be weakest or strongest.
001a_zps41b107ae.jpg
 
I agree with some others that crosscut has the coolest appearance, but its relative weakness and cognizance of the decision to make a structurally weak cut of wood just to take advantage of it visually is a little bit of a turnoff.
 
If I were to use a crosscut piece on a knife for myself it would only be as ferrule material where the wood is supported by the tang, or as spacer material.
But that is just my preference. I like to be a bit cautious and plan for the worst.
 
Good thoughts. The crosscut I've seen on furniture has been fragile in the extreme. This stuff loves to separate along the grain.
 
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