Sustainable, Eco-friendly Rubberwood
Gaults Hospitality is committed to sourcing environmentally friendly, fair trade or ethically produced products wherever possible. We are very pleased to offer our furniture collections manufactured from rubberwood as a sustainable source of high quality hardwood furniture - so you can be sure that what you buy has a happy history!
Rubberwood is often the most misunderstood species of wood in the furniture industry. The name rubberwood invokes a variety of misconceptions as to its features and to its durability. Rubberwood (also called Parawood in Thailand) is the standard common name for the timber of Hevea brasiliensis.
In fact, rubberwood is one of the more durable lumbers used in the manufacturing of today's home furnishings. As a member of the maple family, rubberwood has a dense grain character that is easily controlled in the kiln drying process (all of the raw rubberwood lumber used in Gaults furniture collections is double kiln dried to ensure a stable finished product). Rubberwood has very little shrinkage making it one of the more stable construction materials available for furniture manufacturing.
Like maple, rubberwood is a sap producing species. In the case of maple, it is syrup; in the case of rubberwood, it is latex. Rubberwood produces all the latex used in the world for all rubber-based products.
Rubberwood is strong, flexible, resistant to fungus, bacteria and mold. It's compatible with most industrial adhesives, easy to work with and has a beautiful grain suitable for quality furniture. The wood is a pale cream to yellowish brown color and is easy to stain to gain deeper colors. The finish adaptability is rated at 94% of that of teak under standard conditions and comparable to beech for workability.
There is one more feature of rubberwood that is very important in today's world. Rubberwood is the most ecologically "friendly" lumber used in today's furniture industry. After the economic life of the rubber tree, which is generally 26-30 years, the latex yields become extremely low and the planters then fell the rubber trees and plant new ones. So, unlike other woods that are cut down for the sole purpose of producing furniture, rubberwood is used only after it completes its latex producing cycle and dies. This wood is therefore eco-friendly in the sense that we are now using what was going as waste.
In the past when the rubber tree reached the end stage of it?s productive life as a latex source, it would be felled and burned on the spot or chopped up for firewood to make way for a new tree - but the wood is now being used extensively in furniture, flooring, construction and even toys. Given their large size, a single tree can provide a great deal of timber.
So as you consider your options for furnishing your hotel or resort consider the many attributes of rubberwood; it is an eco-friendly, sustainable and high quality wood.
