Rubber wood, as an economical and practical type of wood, is commonly used in furniture. Rubber wood is abundant in Southeast Asian countries, and domestically produced in Yunnan, Hainan, and coastal areas. It is the backbone of rubber trees and a raw material source for latex. The economic lifespan of seedling trees is 15-20 years, while that of budding trees is 15-20 years, with a growth lifespan of about 20 years. The rubber wood wood structure is thick and uniform; The texture is oblique, and the wood is relatively hard, which is recognized as one of the most widely used lightweight hardwood solid wood in the world; The color is light yellow brown, with obvious annual rings and a dark band at the ring boundary, with very few tube holes. In fact, rubber wood, as a new material in furniture manufacturing, has become a relatively high priced variety in the furniture industry due to its unique decorative effect and popular price, and is increasingly favored by more and more consumers. From the name perspective, the alias for rubber wood in the national standard GB16734 "Names of Main Timbers in China" is only three leaf rubber. Rubber wood does not have any other name in the national standard GB/T18513 "Names of Main Imported Timber in China".
Rubber wood wood characteristics:
1. The wood is light yellowish brown or yellowish white.
2. Loose porous material.
3. The parenchyma cells are short cut and linear or fenestrated.
4. Crystalline cells.
It can be used for household, furniture, cutting boards, particle board, wood core board raw materials, and furniture accessories.
Rubber wood is divided into two categories: domestic and imported. The price of domestic rubber wood is about 2500-3000 yuan/cubic meter. The price of imported rubber wood is approximately 3500-6000 yuan/cubic meter.
Rubber wood is used to make building materials and furniture after cutting the old wood of rubber trees. It has a growth cycle of about 15 years and is a fast-growing timber with a large yield. The log is economical and environmentally friendly. With the improvement of the solid wood furniture market technology and supporting facilities, most rubber wood furniture adopts the tooth joint process. After being treated with humidity in the drying room, the wood will not change color, mold, decay, or grow insects, and the moisture content is basically below 12 degrees. At this point, the wood surface has a glossy surface, uniform color, no special odor, fine texture, and a fine to medium structure. The decorative effect is similar to that of water ash, sample wood, and oak. Rubber wood is suitable for making products with beautiful shapes and soft curves. Rubber wood is the raw material for density board and patterned board. Rubber wood has a light color and is easy to stain. It can accept all types of colors and coatings, and is easy to match the color tone of other types of wood. At present, there are misconceptions about rubber wood in the market, and its practical value has been excessively underestimated.
Myth 1: Oak is the abbreviation for rubber wood
Correct solution: Whether it is domestic wood or imported wood, the statement that oak=rubber wood is incorrect. Like the hemp tree, belonging to the mountain hair lifting family, the tree has a yellow brown to red brown center, a clear growth ring, slightly wavy, and has a relatively distinct mountain shaped wood grain. It is heavy and hard in texture, and is distributed from north to Jilin, south to Liaoning, Hainan, and Yunnan in China. However, high-quality wood is not common, and high-quality oak still needs to be imported from abroad.
Rubber wood is abundant in Southeast Asian countries, and domestically produced in Yunnan, Hainan, and coastal areas. It is the backbone of rubber trees and a raw material source for latex. Its wooden structure has a coarse and uniform mesh; The texture is oblique, and the wood is relatively hard, which is recognized as one of the most widely used lightweight hardwood solid wood in the world; The color is light yellow brown, with obvious annual rings and a dark band at the ring boundary, with very few tube holes. In fact, rubber wood, as a new material in furniture manufacturing, has become a relatively high priced variety in the furniture industry due to its unique decorative effect and popular price, and is increasingly favored by more and more consumers.
From the perspective of name, the only alias for rubber wood in the national standard GB16734 "Names of Main Timbers in China" is clover rubber, while oak is the alias for oak, also known as green oak, oak bowl tree, and fine bark oak. In the national standard GB/T 18513 "Names of Major Imported Timbers in China", rubber wood does not have any other name, while oak is a different name for red (white) oak. Red oak is also known as bitter, fat red oak, sickle shaped oak, and Shu's red oak. White oak is also known as American white oak, dichromatic oak, Canadian white oak, hardwood, rocky oak, and European oak.
Myth 2: Rubber wood is much cheaper than oak.
Correct solution: Different places of origin, different materials, and different prices. Some people say that rubber wood is very cheap and used to not even burn firewood. The cost of using rubber wood to make furniture is low, and a set of bedroom furniture is usually only about 8000 yuan. And imported red oak is 6-8 times that of rubber wood. Actually, it's not the case. Firstly, rubber wood was not valued in the past, and even "didn't even need to burn firewood" because it didn't recognize the physical properties of rubber wood and its true value. Moreover, rubber wood is not suitable for "burning firewood".
Secondly, the current price of domestic rubber wood is 2500~3000 yuan/cubic meter, while the price of imported rubber wood from Thailand and Malaysia is around 3500 yuan/cubic meter, with some even reaching 6000 yuan/cubic meter. And the price of oak is 4500-8000 yuan/cubic meter. Generally, the term "oak furniture" refers to imported red or white oak. The so-called domestic oak actually refers to Northeast China's rough wood or artificial wood. Due to the same family as imported oak, domestic sellers collectively refer to them as "oak". Its performance, material, and texture differ by one grade from real oak (imported oak), and the price is much lower.
Therefore, when buying rubber wood furniture, one should clarify the origin. Once again, the more solid wood is used, the corresponding price of furniture will be much higher.
Mistake 3: Rubber wood has poor hardness, material, texture, and performance, and is prone to deformation during processing.
Correct solution: Compared with famous and precious woods such as green nanmu, camphor, Huangbora, Gensen, Liuxiao, and Laming, rubber wood has no inferior physical and mechanical properties, and is even more similar to oak with similar colors and textures.
Like other wood materials, it is called wood fiber material. From the following important performance data, it can be seen that the density of rubber wood is not much lower than that of oak wood, but there is a slight difference: the air dry density of domestic rubber wood is 0.61g/cm3, while imported rubber wood can reach 0.65g/cm3; And the air dry density of oak is 0.66~
0.77g/cm3, both of which belong to deciduous wood (i.e. hardwood). The hardness of the rubber wood end face is 5492N, and the hardness of the oak wood end face is 6510-10000N. The bending strength of the rubber wood is 91.8MPa, and the bending strength of the oak wood is 88.1-118MPa.
The bending strength of rubber wood is slightly lower than that of oak wood, and according to the classification criteria of physical and mechanical indicators, it belongs to Class III, so rubber wood is less prone to bending deformation than oak wood. Wood with higher hardness is more prone to cracking, while oak has a hard and heavy texture, making it difficult to remove water. Furniture made without removing water may begin to deform or shrink and crack after a year or a half. Rubber wood has a significant difference in hardness compared to oak, so oak is more prone to cracking than rubber wood. Myth 4: Rubber wood contains a lot of sugar and is not easy to remove, is not wear-resistant, and is prone to discoloration, decay, and insect infestation.
Correct solution: In the past, due to the unique nature of rubber trees, harvested rubber trees quickly became discolored, moldy, and decayed. However, with the progress of furniture manufacturing technology, rubber wood used for furniture production has solved the above problems and effectively retained and highlighted the excellent characteristics of rubber wood.
The main process of rubber wood is high-temperature and high-pressure cooking, which extracts high sugar, starch, and residual glue from the wood, and adds preservatives for chemical treatment. Steam drying allows rubber wood to reach the required moisture content for furniture production, while also killing bacteria and pests inside the wood. The treated rubber wood will not discolor, mold, rot, or infest, and its moisture content is basically below 12 degrees. At this point, the wood surface is glossy, with uniform color and no special odor or taste. The texture is fine, and the structure is fine to medium. The decorative effect is similar to that of water ash, sample wood, and oak. So, we don't have to worry about the claim that rubber and wood furniture is prone to high sugar content and difficult to remove, discoloration, decay, and insect infestation.
Myth 5: Rubber wood produces rubber juice, which is harmful to the human body. Furniture made of rubber wood can easily cause skin allergies.
Correct solution: Natural rubber is widely used in the fields of medicine and health, as well as in daily life, such as blood transfusion and baby pacifiers. The main component of natural rubber is polyisoprene, with a content of over 90%. In addition, it also contains a small amount of protein, fat, acid, sugar, and ash. From these products closely related to human health, we can see that rubber juice after treatment does not cause harm to human health, while rubber wood after processing does not contain any chemical components.
Due to its many physical and chemical properties and decorative effects similar to high-end natural wood, rubber wood has become increasingly widely used in the furniture industry. It has been regarded as a high-end wood, a new type of high-end artificial board, and an elegant decorative material in the decoration industry. From the perspective of application history, rubber wood is a sawn material made from rubber trees that do not produce raw rubber. In the late 1970s, drugs and treatment equipment and technologies that could prevent pests and fungi from rubber wood were developed, and were first commercially applied in Malaysia in large quantities. After anti-corrosion treatment and drying treatment, the board is favored by Japanese businessmen who value the decorative effect of wooden structures due to its elegant color, beautiful texture, fine structure, and good processing performance, and has been introduced in large quantities into the Japanese furniture manufacturing industry and residential decoration.
Most of the rubber wood used by some domestic furniture companies is imported from abroad and undergoes strict inspection and quarantine at the customs, providing reliable protection for safety, health, and quality. Consumers can use rubber wood furniture produced by these companies with high quality with confidence. At this point, we can see that the statement that furniture made of rubber wood is prone to skin allergies and should not be used by those who are weak or allergic is biased.
From the above aspects, it can be seen that rubber wood is not as inferior as some merchants promote, and in some aspects, its characteristics are even better than some less high-quality domestic oak. Therefore, rubber wood cannot be blindly excluded, nor can it be blindly worshipped for oak furniture.
