Rubberwood

Rubberwood is wood from the Pará rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). Rubberwood has been produced on a small scale, but has become much more common. There are extensive plantations with these trees in southeast Asia; the earlier practice was to just burn the tree at the end of its latex-producing cycle. Rubberwood is advertised as an "environmentally friendly" wood,^{[citation needed]} as it makes use of plantation trees that have already served a useful function.

Uses

Rubberwood is the standard common name for the hardwood timber of Hevea brasiliensis.

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 availabe for furniture, toys and kitchen accessories. It is not suitable for outdoor usage.

Rubberwood produces all the latex used in the world for all rubber based products. An ecologically "friendly" wood. The life of the Rubberwood tree is generally 26-30 years, the latex yields become extremely low, the trees are then felled and new ones usually planted. Rubberwood is used only after it completes it's latex producing cycle and dies. This wood is therefore eco-friendly in the sense that we are now using what was going as waste.

As with all hardwoods, Rubberwood comes in varying degrees of quality.

Other names

Rubberwood is sometimes also called parawood, or "Hevea" for the genus that the tree belongs to.^{[citation needed]} In 2002, the Malaysian Ministry of Primary Industries marketed it under the name "Malaysian Oak".

External links

• Properties of rubberwood at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Madison
• Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study: The Utilization, processing and demand for Rubberwood as a source of wood supply