cocowood

· Extreme hardness of some dried timbers (eg cocowood) making sawing difficult and requiring special saws.

Chapter 4 1988

· Since cocowood was previously considered a waste material with immense disposal problems, its utilization as a building material not only solves a waste problem but provides more people with a cheap, good quality material and conserves a great deal of other expensive and scarce timber resources.

Chapter 4 1988

However, special knowledge and equipment is required in processing cocowood, as each portion of the coconut trunk has a different density and strength, and its high silica content and hard outer portion causes rapid dulling of sawteeth (requiring special tungsten-carbide blades).

Chapter 4 1988

While cocowood is related to hardwood, there are some basic differences in growth characteristics: cocowood has no heartwood and sapwood, no annual rings and hence no increase in diameter; the age is determined by circumferential demarcations along the length of the bark; it has no branches and knots; the density decreases from the outer part to the centre, and from the lower part to the upper portion of the trunk.

Chapter 4 1988

· Research activities in several Asia-Pacific countries have shown cocowood to be a viable secondary timber, which is abundantly available in most tropical costar areas.

Chapter 4 1988

(eg cocowood) when still green, since the moisture in the fresh logs lubricates the saw.

Chapter 4 1988