Rubberwood is a light-colored medium-density tropical
hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
obtained from the Pará rubber tree (''
Hevea brasiliensis
''Hevea brasiliensis'', the Pará rubber tree, ''sharinga'' tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family Euphorbiaceae originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now pa ...
''), usually from trees grown in
rubber plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
s. Rubberwood is commonly advertised as an "
environmentally friendly
Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that cl ...
" wood, as it makes use of plantation trees that have already served a useful function.
Other names
Rubberwood is also known as plantation hardwood, or "Hevea" for the genus that the tree belongs to. In 2002, the
Malaysian Ministry of Primary Industries marketed it under the name "Malaysian Oak".
History
Although it had been used on a small scale before, its use for
furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...
making has become much more common in the late 20th and early 21st century with the development of chemical treatments to
protect the wood against fungal and insect attacks. There are extensive rubber plantations with mature trees, especially in
southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
; the earlier practice was to burn the tree at the end of its
latex
Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well.
In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
-producing cycle.
Currently, rubber plantation trees are generally harvested for wood after they complete the latex producing cycle, when they are 25 to 30 years old. When the latex yields become extremely low, the trees are then felled, and new trees are usually planted. This makes rubberwood 'eco-friendly' in that the wood is harvested from a
renewable source. The wood from the trees is light in color and straight grained making it easy to stain and match in woodworking. Part of the industry adoption of rubberwood was an international campaign to avoid use of a previously used light straight grained wood which was harvested from South East Asia's endangered wetland
ramin
Ramin or Rameen, transliterated from Rāmin (Persian: رامین), is a Persian masculine given name of Zoroastrian origin. It is also an occasional surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
* Ramin Bahrani, Iranian-American wr ...
''(Gonystylus)''.
Chemical treatment
Rubberwood is susceptible to fungal and insect attack that limited its use in the past. However, in the 1980s, the development of chemical treatment processes allowed the wood to be more widely used for furniture making and frames. Today, rubberwood is generally treated soon after sawing by pressurized immersion in
boron
Boron is a chemical element with the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the '' boron group'' it has t ...
preservatives, followed by
kiln-drying to diffuse the chemicals and to control moisture content.
Uses
Rubberwood has a dense grain that is easily controlled in the kiln drying process. Rubberwood has very little shrinkage making it one of the more stable construction materials available for furniture, toys and kitchen accessories. It is easily
worked, and takes on
stains uniformly. As with all hardwoods, rubberwood comes in varying degrees of quality.
It is not suitable for outdoor use, as rain can leach the protective chemicals from the wood, exposing it to fungus and insect attacks. Excessive moisture will also cause the wood to warp and rot.
References
External links
Properties of rubberwoodat the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Madison
Wood
Rubber
Sustainable building
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