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Red Palm

Introduction

 

Along the lines of history, the coconut timber comes from farmed plantations of old coconut palms. The coconut tree was planted as a crop in giant plantations throughout the tropics within the early half of the twentieth century to harvest the coconut fruit. The tree bears fruit till about 70 years of age, at that point, it is thought-about to have reached the tip of its economic life and is cut down to create means for future crops. Each year, many million palms are cut down throughout the tropics. Historically, the trunks are wasted by-products from this method.

Only in very recent years have folks begun to explore the potential business uses for this vast, different alternative of timber. This led to the business launch of coconut timber in a range of various merchandise, from flooring to posts to articles of furniture. With these merchandise working at capable or perhaps higher than standard hardwoods, coconut timber represents a viable substitute for vulnerable hardwoods from an ecologically-sound supply. It is a brand new timber resource that comes from plantation crops and offers an alternative to rainforest timber

Red Palm is additionally familiar outside of the carpentry community as coco palm, wherever it's cultivated and fully grown throughout the tropics worldwide for its fruit. Nearly each a part of the tree is claimed to possess use or value, and therefore this tree is understood as the ‘tree of life’ and therefore the older trees are usually solely harvested for wood once they need to pass their time of fruit-bearing—usually once 50-70 years.

Technically neither a softwood nor a hardwood, palm falls into the class of monocots, that additionally includes bamboo, grass, banana, rice, wheat, corn, etc. (Monocot is brief for monocotyledon, that merely implies that the seed of the plant contains one leaf, instead of two as found in dicots.) Palm woods don't have any growth rings, and as a result, the shrinkage rate for drying the wood is additional or less uniform between the radial and tangential surfaces, leading to a T/R magnitude relation of 1.0 and smart dimensional stability.

Red Palm is very variable in weight, strength, and hardness properties as a result of the wood is thus non-homogenous: the trunk may be a gradient between the robust fibrovascular bundles and therefore the softer polysaccharide structure. Toward the outer wall of the trunk, the density of the wood is the greatest and bit by bit becomes lighter, softer, and weaker towards the softcore. because of this nice variability, the density of Red Palm will vary from less than 25 lbs/ft3 (400 kg/m3) to almost 62 lbs/ft3 (1000 kg/m3). fast visual scrutiny of prospective wood blanks will facilitate sort undesired pieces: darker wood sometimes has a denser packing of fibers and tends to provide heavier, stronger, and more durable material. Palm may be a monocotyledon within the palm family. The wood is essentially a bundle of tiny straws that are fibrous. There aren't any growth rings visible. Many people mistake the open grain of this wood for checking, however, the fibers have an open grain look that's traditional for this wood. The wood is troublesome to figure however will manufacture some nice pens, bottle stoppers, and finish grain bookmatched adorned box A-one. Red Palm is a smaller amount dense than Black Palm, however, it has an equivalent structure wherever denser fibers are packed along and enclosed by lighter colored less dense material.

Palms within the Arecaceae family are reported to cause skin irritation and general constitutional effects, thus care and correct gadgets ought to be used to guarantee safety. Red Palm is reported to be durable regarding decay resistance, though it is susceptible to the attack of insects and termites. 

 

Specifications

 

Common name

This wood is also known as Red Palm, Coconut Palm. It is referred to in the Philippines as coconut lumber, or coco lumber, and elsewhere additionally as coco wood or red palm where it is cultivated and grown throughout the tropics worldwide for its fruit. The name coco comes from the Portuguese language coco which means skull. The shell of the coconut fruit was almost similar to facial features.

 

Scientific name

Cocos nucifera

 

Distribution

This tree is found throughout the tropics worldwide

 

Tree size

This tree can grow up to a height of 65-100 ft (20-30 m) tall, with a trunk diameter of about 1-1.3 ft (.3-.4 m).

 

Average dried weight

The average weight of this wood is 51 lbs/ft3 (820 kg/m3).

 

Color and Appearance

The reddish-brown fibers embedded in a very light tan or light brown colored body. Fibers are more densely packed toward the outside of the tree trunk, becoming thinner and thinner toward the middle of the tree. The middle core of the tree is soft and contains none of the darker vascular bundles that offer the wood its characteristic look and hardness. (This is almost opposite of the standard outer sapwood/inner heartwood combination found in dicot hardwoods.) Its wood is reminiscent in look to mahogany; but, coconut timber features a way more fibrous grain than mahogany and lacks mahogany's iridescence. Color tones and hues vary from golden to close ebony, with dark brown flecks. There are 3 basic color divisions about the timber's density: dark brown tones (high density); medium brown tones (medium density); and lightweight golden tones (low density).

Coconut trees haven't any annual growth rings, rays, heartwood, or branches, which means that coconut timber is free from knots and different such imperfections.

 

Grain and Texture

Red Palm has a medium to fine texture, although it is by no means that even or uniform on account of the distinction between the dense, darker fibers, and also the soft, lighter polyose structure of the wood. The grain is incredibly straight and contains no growth rings, knots, or defects. Being a monocot, end-grain characteristics are non-typical in comparison to a lot of acquainted hardwood dicots. Red Palm has a uniform distribution of reddish-brown fibers embedded in a very softer yellow/brown body of parenchyma. Growth rings, sapwood, and rays are utterly absent. Endgrain exhibits a dotted pattern distinctive to palm trees.

 

Workability

It tends to be quite troublesome to work with both machine and hand tools. The toughest, densest part of the wood is found on the outer perimeter of the trunk, which supplies the tree its strength, whereas the wood’s high silica content provides the tree elasticity. Towards the middle of the trunk, the wood gets less hard.

The hard fibers contrast with the soft body of the wood, and maybe brittle and splinter or pull out. very sharp tools and proper cutting angles are needed to urge clean results. As this wood incorporates a significant quantity of silica in it, this wood has blunting effects on the machines and tools. Applying a hardener or sanding sealer before final sanding/machining might assist in giving a more homogenous density and cut back tearout. The lighter colored body of the wood tends to soak up larger quantities of finish, thus care should be taken throughout finishing; a sanding sealer is usually recommended. The lighter colored material will typically be dented by a nail. Wax sealed ends are common. when sanding sleek with 100 grit, use a decent CA glue to stabilize the turned article, let the glue dry for many hours, then finish sand. This can be a great way to save in stabilization prices. Red or different colored dye looks smart with Red Palm.

 

Odor

No characteristic odor is produced while working or harvesting this wood.

 

Availability

Although Red Palm trees will stand up to 1 foot across, the middle of the trunk is stuffed with a soft, unfigured portion, with solely the outer areas of the trunk containing the characteristic colored fibers, thus solely narrow boards and spindle-stock are usually available. Costs for many sizes of Red Palm ought to be within the moderate vary for an imported tropical wood. This wood species isn't listed within the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List of vulnerable species.

 

Common Uses:

Almost each a part of this tree is helpful right from its fruit, leaves, to its roots, and even a lot of. This tree is thus known as the ‘tree of life’.

The wood of this tree is usually used for flooring, canoes, rafts, walking sticks, knife, and tool handles, carvings, rafters, furniture, and turned objects. Coconut timber has several applications as each a structural and interior style material. The harder, high-density timber is appropriate for general structural functions like pillars, trusses, rafting, furniture, window and door frames, floors, decking, and floor joists. Medium-density coconut timber will be used for walls, ceiling joists, and horizontal studs. Low-density coconut timber is employed in non-load bearing applications like wood pane, internal trim, and ceilings, yet as homewares. Coconut timber equipped by Pacific green is to be utilized in exterior applications throughout Abu Dhabi's Masdar city development, together with the doorway gates, screens, and doors.

Activated carbon may also be made up of coconut trunk charcoal. The product will be used to manufacture numerous chemicals like carbon disulfide, calcium carbide, silicon carbide, carbon monoxide, paint pigments, prescription drugs, molding resins, black powder, electrodes, catalyst reactors, brake linings, and gas cylinder absorbent. ethanol may also be created from coconut waste products.

Coconut timber may be a supply of financial gain for fewer developed Pacific island communities. The previously low-value senile coconut trunks are promoted as a supply of veneer and different wood products.

 

References