Products and Services —
Hevea Wood
Since 1926, Firestone Natural Rubber Company (FSNR) has been operating the world's largest rubber tree farm in Liberia for the purpose of producing latex. Now, as part of a new environmental initiative, rubber trees that have reached the end of their lifecycle for producing latex — after about 28 years — are being processed into an ecologically sustainable hardwood called Hevea wood.
Hevea wood, commonly known as "Rubberwood," "Parawood," "Asian Beech" or "Malaysian Oak," is used in the manufacture of furniture, flooring, interior finishing, plywood, paneling, chopping blocks and staircase components. This hardwood is typically pale cream to light brown in color with moderately coarse, straight and even texture.
Hevea wood is considered to be one of the most environmentally friendly woods. The utilization of Hevea trees for lumber keeps the carbon stores in the wood, thereby preventing the carbon load in the atmosphere from increasing. Previously, once latex production waned, trees were cut down and burned, putting its carbon stores immediately back into the atmosphere. Now old trees are cut down and transported to the mill where they undergo a series of millings to predetermined sizes according to customer specifications. Once milled, the wood is sorted and prepared for the pressure treatment vessel where they receive protection from insects and fungi. For each tree we harvest, we replant another seedling in its place.
Once treated, the wood is moved to one of Firestone's 21 steam-powered kiln driers, where it is slowly dried over a period of weeks according to precise temperature and time schedules. This assures the wood reaches the desired moisture content.
After reaching the target moisture content, the wood is removed from the kiln driers. It then undergoes a rigorous quality grading and sorting process according to Firestone's high standards. Each piece of wood is graded, re-stacked and finally sent to Firestone's on-site warehouse ready for shipment to customers all over the world.
Product Descriptions
Currently, Firestone is producing kiln-dried, rough-sawn Hevea wood. Our hope is to make additional investment to begin production of S4S, laminated boards and finger-jointed lengths in the near future.
Grades:
Firestone Hevea wood is kiln dried to a moisture content of ≤ 10%. The grading system for Firestone Hevea wood is based on the Thailand Parawood (Hevea wood) Association Specification. Grades are specified as grade A, grade C and Bends.
Typical properties:
- Appearance - Pale cream to light brown
- Texture - Moderately coarse grain, mostly straight, even
- Density: 560-640 kg/m3
- Tangential shrinkage: 0.8%
- Hardness: 975 lbs force
For more information about our Hevea wood products, please contact Cliff Bailey (330) 379-7882 (Northern U.S. Sales) or Rod Blalock (706) 625-2627 (Southern U.S. Sales).
