I want to invest in some rabbit fur strips, just not sure which style of cut I should get. I understand from what I have read the benefits of each style but I don’t want to invest in basically two different cuts in the same color.
Is one style more versatile than another… ?
Suspect you will get more distance out of standard strips, aka “Zonker” strips, than crosscut. The crosscut style is mostly used to palmer bodies, however you can do the same with a zonker strip. Conversely, you cannot really use crosscut for wings/tails, etc. as you would with a zonker strip. I’ve mostly given up on crosscut myself. YMMV.
I cut my own so it’s easy to have both. I also tie jigs so I use the cross-cut as much as regular zonkers.
What John said. A “palmered” body tied with zonker strips may not look quite as neat as those tied with the cross-cut rabbit, but once they get wet they’re similar and effective (and cast like a wet sock). When we were in Alaska last year, I ran out of cross-cut and used zonker strips for some MOAL flies - fish didn’t seem to notice the difference (although they were pink salmon and I don’t think we found much they wouldn’t hit). Having said that, I do prefer the cross-cut when wrapping a body.
Regards,
Scott