Rubberwood

[Grahamshed]

I have an old door frame that I am debating rescuing some wood from that was made from rubberwood. I have never heard of it, anyone any idea what it is ?

 

[RogerP]

I did a search and Wikipedia says it's Hevea brasiliensis (click for article).

 

[JakeS]

I have an old door frame that I am debating rescuing some wood from that was made from rubberwood. I have never heard of it, anyone any idea what it is ?

Lots of cheap-but-not-awful-quality furniture is made from it - we have a couple of rubberwood folding tv-dinner-type tables, and when I first left my parents' house I got a dining table a bit like this:
http://www.dunelm-mill.com/shop/rubberw ... =gshopping

It's harder than pine, but not nearly so hard as ash or oak. Seems to splinter relatively easily if the damage to the tables is anything to go by. I get the impression that it may not be that clean or maybe not that straight, as all three bits of rubberwood furniture we have are made of lots of little bits of irregular length zig-zag jointed together (I thought this was a scarf joint, but google tells me a scarf joint is just a lap joint 'with' the grain...maybe I was distracted by the shape). Or maybe it's great and they just make all these cheap bits of furniture with cheap offcuts from bigger pieces?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I think "finger joint" is the term. I don't think the tree is very big, and the joining and laminating is a good way of using what is essentially a by product. I wouldn't have thought you would find a door frame made of it.

 

[woodbloke]

I'm not sure about that...I've got a single bed made from the stuff (laminated with 'V' joints') and it seems pretty hard to me - Rob

 

[Grahamshed]

So, is it worth reclaiming some of the wood for future use or do I just bin ir

 

[woodbloke]

So, is it worth reclaiming some of the wood for future use or do I just bin ir

I reckon the thing to do is to have a go at working with the stuff...say to make a smallish project to begin with. You'll soon see if it's worth reclaiming or not - Rob

 

[Grahamshed]

So, is it worth reclaiming some of the wood for future use or do I just bin ir

I reckon the thing to do is to have a go at working with the stuff...say to make a smallish project to begin with. You'll soon see if it's worth reclaiming or not - Rob

Yes, I will hang on to it for a while until I can have a go at it.