Rubber tapping
Rubber tapping is the process by which rubber is gathered. An Incision is made in the bark of a rubber tree, which cuts through the latex vessels that flow between the bark and the cambium. The latex then drips into a collecting cup which can be either plastic or ceramic.
The work is done at night or in the early morning before the day’s temperature rises so the latex will drip longer before coagulating and sealing the cut. If you make the cuts late in the day you harvest up to one third less.
As the latex drips out it is collected in cups.
But you must not tap the trees every day. Each tree should be tapped on a fixed day. For example one tree is tapped on Monday and Thursday another, on Tuesday and Friday and a third on Wednesday and Saturday. Each tapper can tap on average 440 trees.So he will have 3 groups of 440 trees,Since he will tap each tree only twice a week.Tapping stops for two months in the cool season when the tree loses its leaves and makes new ones. When you have worked over the whole length of the tree, taking away the bark ( generally after 7 years) you can begin again.This can be done three times. That means you can harvest latex for 28 years. After that, it is best to make a new plantation. Depending on the final product, additional chemicals can be added to the latex cup in order to preserve the latex for longer. Ammonia (10-25%) solution helps prevent natural coagulation and allows the latex to remain in its liquid state.
Rubber Processing
There are three types of latex:
# Liquid: Highest quality
# Latex mats
# Liquid: Highest quality
# Latex mats
# Scrap rubber: Strip of rubber from the cut surface
The latex obtained from the tree is sieved to remove the foreign matter. The latex is coagulated in metal pans using a dilute acid such as acetic or formic acid (l part 4% formic acid required for 100 parts 12% latex more if ammonia is added).?.? As many as 20-30 rubber trees were tapped to fill this pan.
After coagulation, the cake of raw rubber must be rolled to remove the water and washed to remove the acid. A wooden roller is used to compress the rubber and squeeze out the acidic water.
The slabs are then further processed by being passed through rollers which press them into the final rubber sheets rubber. The texture seen on the sheets of?rubber come from the last set of rollers used.
Rubber tree trunk
The wood from this tree, referred to as parawood or rubberwood, is used in the manufacture of high-end furniture. It is valued for its dense grain, minimal shrinkage, attractive color and acceptance of different finishes. It is also prized as an “environmentally friendly” wood, as it makes use of trees that have been cut at the end of their latex-producing cycle.