Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Uses for Wood from Pruning and Tree Felling

Just putting a thought out here. Locally, can wood with herbal and skincare properties be made into such instead of being sent to the composting factory? Even small quantities of hardwood could be made into small furniture. Would furniture makers and other hobbyists be interested to buy large hardwood logs directly from work crews? Instead of the wood - each over 1 metre in diameter - being sold to timber merchants/hoarders for $70 a piece?

Arboriculture work crews put in blood, sweat and tears, literally, and should deserve more in terms of monetary remunerations.

Even small quantities of wood in the right hardness, quality and/or properties could fetch a pretty penny. Instead of being sold to middlemen, who are only interested in colossal sized hardwood logs.

 The ubiquitous Baphia nitida or Camwood are found as periphery hedges around schools and rubbish centres. It is relatively fast growing, given that it belongs to the Leguminosae family.

 Quite a lot of wood would be taken off every time the crew comes around for pruning. As for the hedge above, the leaves were touching the ground before being pruned, so you could imagine the amount of wood being stacked up.
As a sidenote, this hedge has low and long branches ala the Tembusu tree on the Singapore $5 note, and some are "self-supporting", as they form an arch that touches the ground. I had sat on one such branch before.

 The famous leaning towers of... Acacia confusa.

Close-up

Older Acacias seem to have a tendency of "sudden death".

 Stack of logs from the relatively fast-growing Khaya senegalensis. Even a large log above 1 metre diameter would not fetch much, as so many were being felled nowadays.

These hardwood would be worth more, as the trees are slower-growing and harder than Khaya.
The one lying flat is Casuarina equisetifolia and leaning on it are Cyrtophyllum fragrans (syn.
Fagraea fragrans), or more commonly known as Tembusu.

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