PRODUCT AND DESIGN

Defects in palm stems

Coconut palms are attacked by insects (rhinoceros beetle, palm weevil), mycoplasma-like organisms, and fungi.

Insects usually attack the growing point of the palm, reduce its vitality and finally lead to its death. Rhinoceros beetle attack can easily be detected visually. It results in palm fronds being cut in a diamond-shape.

Mycoplasma-like organisms attack the phloem and clog it. They result in the final death of palms. The diseases are known as Lethal Yellowing and Cadang-Cadang.

Fungi usually attack the palm stem, when its vitality is diminshed due to insects or mycoplasma-like organisms, or after physical damage, be it through hurricanes, or due to human impact. While the other two agents have no direct impact on the timber quality, fungal attack does. Most commonly fungi find entrance into the stem through harvesting steps cut into the outer, hard portion of the stem in some countries in order to facilitate harvesting of the nuts (Figure 4). Rainwater and dirt collects in the wounds, and fungi (and later also insects like termites) find their way into the stem and feed on the parenchymatic tissue. The attack appears as brown spots on a cross cut or as a string spot on a longitudinal cut, where the parenchyma is gone and only the bundles remain intact. This attack reduces both the properties as well as the appearance of the timber.

Products

Taking certain pre-conditions into account, almost the entire stem (trunk) of the coconut palm tree can be used to manufacture structural components, furniture and other utility articles.
The essential things that must be considered are:

-   density group and wood structure

-   the climate where it is to be used

-   the woodworking conditions.

The three density groups discussed in the first chapter must be taken as a basic pre-condition in utilization. A list of recommended uses is given in Table 3.

Table 3: End-uses for coconut wood

Use	Density group
	High	Medium	Low
Structural
- loadbearing	X
- studs, beams	X
- roof trusses	X	X
- gangnail trusses	X	X
- glulam beams	X	X
- floor joists	X	X
- internal members	X	X
Door and window frames	X	X
Staircases	X	X
Stairs	X
Flooring	X
Parquet	X
Wall-panelling (t & g)	X	X	X
In/outside cladding	X	X	X
Roof shingles	X	X
Furniture	X	X	(X)
Tool handles, tools	X
Kitchenware, bowls	X	X
Turned products	X	X
Curios	X	X
Crates, pallets, boxes	X	X	X
Charcoal	X	X
Briquettes			X
Transmission poles	round, hollow stem
Fence posts	quarter split, upper third of stem

As can be seen in Table 3, wooden products are manufactured mainly from medium-density and high-density coconut palm wood. The low-density wood does not achieve adequate strength values and surface qualities and therefore has only a very limited range of uses.

Sources FAO Report, Assessed on 21 February 2016