Waru Wood for Furniture

Waru tree (Hibiscus liliaceous) is a species of tree that is quite common in Indonesia. The tree grows well in tropic areas with rainfall ranges from 800 to 2,000 mm. Waru trees can live in coastal sandy beaches, mangrove forests, and also in the riparian area. We can find the trees grow wild in the woods and sometimes are planted in the yard or on the side of the road as a shade tree. In the fertile soil, the wood will have a straight stem, but in the infertile soil it tends to grow with a bent trunk, with broadly  branches and leaves.
The tree has many benefits. The leaves have a rough texture that is very helpful for the fermentation process in the manufacture of tempe (fermented soy bean). The leaves can be cooked as vegetables. It can also be used for hair treatment and even as medicine for some diseases. The waru tree has a thick skin that will produce strong fibers that are commonly used as material for rope. Now the fiber is often also used to be used to make nets, bags, or other handicraft products.


 

The use of wood in the woodworking industry is not much. It is considered a low-quality wood. It has medium hardness with vague grain character. It doesn’t have nice appearance as the teak or mahogany wood. This wood has traditionally been widely used as building materials, wheels for carts, and handicrafts. But lately the wood is also used as material to make furniture. The wood gives an advantage since it is cheap and easy to be handled. The wood has medium hardness, is tough and can be dried easily. The wood is a good choice to be used as the inside part or support part of the furniture.

Some furniture factories also use the wood to make the exposed parts. With proper construction, it is quite strong to make cabinets, tables, and even chairs. With proper model and finishing actually we can still make a nice-looking product with this wood. This wood has a white base color with bluish gray, purple false or purplish brown, or greenish. The light basic color gives flexibility in finishing color choices. But since it does not have strong grain character, then it won’t give the beautiful appearance as the premium wood. The wood has soft grain texture with small and shallow pores. It can be finished in close pores quite easily. It absorbs stains quite well, and then we can apply finishing material on it without any problem. It also can be finished with paint or solid color with a good result. The soft grain texture and less pores make it can be painted quite easily. We can get close pores finished without any filler application. We can make the clean-looking solid color with any color, or we can make the antique paint finish with quite easy process. 

furniture made of waru wood in combination with mdf
 

The waru wood is susceptible to getting attacked by insects. The treatment with anti-insect chemicals is recommended to preserve the wood.