The Romance of Philippine Mahogany

by tE ROY H. STANTON, SR., President E. J. Stonton & Son, Inc., Los Angeles

Th,e finest and largest stand,s ol high quality titnber abound in the Philippine Island,s. With the enorrnous d.epletion ol our own hnrdnnood, timber caused largely by three wars which d,emand.ed, so tnuch uood lor military needs such as trucks, naay shipE, barges, PT boats, aircraft, etc., u)e now haae to d.epend. upon the Philip pines lor a aery large part ol our requiren,ents lor high grdde hnrd,usood, and, plyutood.

The Philippines have been somewhat slow in developing sawmills and plywood operations, although many new plywood and veneer plants have been installed dur' ing the past few years; and eventually it is contemplated that all Philippine timber will be utilized in the Islands, with export of logs prohibited.

The serious problem with sawmilling has been the fact that the lower grades have been hard to dispose of, due to extensive lack of the building of homes which require much wood, particularly in the outlying Islands. While considerable building of high class homes goes on in the large metropolis of Manila, it is just too expensive to trans' port the lower grades from other Islands off Manila.

This is being corrected now as some of the larger operations in the largest Island, Mindanao, have built plants for production of particle and insulation board, and sev' eral paper plants are being planned. Thus, the lower grades will be utilized in these plants and it will then be possible to increase lumber production to enable increas' ing shipments of the high grade, practic' ally clear lumber to the States.

Tremendous shipments of Philippine logs have been made to Japan since World War II, which have been manufactured into ply' wood and lumber. For instance, in 1960, 1,220,000?000 board feet of timber were shipped to Japan and in L96I, 1,262P00,' 000 board feet.

Building operations in Japan are enor' mous, with the country's population of approximately 901000,000; and Japanese sawmills have no problem in disposing of these lower grades for construction, thus enabling them to sell the high grade lumber to the States. Also, wages are very low and hours are long, so they can aford to import the logs and still ship their plywood and lumber to the States in large quantities.

This, however, will not be the case very much longer as the Philippine people must develop their own wood industries to provide employment for themselves. Also, their forests are being rapidly depleted even though strong efforts are being made to provide for reforestation.

There are approximately 3,000 varieties of hardwoods which grow in the Islands, but only a few are expertable to the United States under the name "Philippine Mahogany.'o These are mainly of the "Shorea" family which provide the major part of the timber cut for export.

The trade name Philippine Mahogany was given to the wood from these species in the early part of this century, due to the fact that the grain resembles that of the genuine Swietenia or genuine Mahogany which grows largely in Central America.

Genuine Mahogany is in relatively short supply as compared with "Philippine Mahogarry", and the high cost makes it available principally for the most expensive furniture and cabinet work. On the other hand, the Philippine wood is obtainahle at prices low enough to allow it to compete with domestic hardwoods and even the upper grades of Ponderosa Pine.

Also, practically clear boards are abundant due to the manner in which the Philippine trees grow, as they extend upward to as much'as 20 feet before throwing out branches; thus, the butt logs are remarkably free of knots and run especially good widths and lengths.

There are five species that make up the bulk of the wood exported for finish and plywood purposes. These are Tanguile and Red Lauan, White Lauan, Bagtican, Almon and Mayapis.

The first two produce the dark red wood and the last three make up the light red species. The dark red Tanguile and Red Lauan are of a very uniform red color, while the light red is divided into the pink category cut from the Almon and Mayapis trees and the whitish pink cut from White Lauan and Bagtican.

Unfortunately, it has been very difficult to get the sawmills to segregate the species of light red into the pink (Almon and Mayapis) and the whitish pink (White Lauan and Bagtican). Therefore, the dealer or importer must usually do this job after receipt of the lumber in the States; this does feguire long experience in handling these woods, as the mixed color in light red can make it undesirable due to the crazy quilt efiect. Also it is necessary for the lumber dealer to see that the wood matches the plywood which he sells in conjunction with it. No difficulty is experienced with the uniformity of color in the dark red.

The texture and hardness varies greatly with the location of the timber. The Northern Island of Luzon produces much harder texture than the Southern Islands. including large Mindanao. This is due to climactic conditions and the type of soil, which afiects the rate of growth of the trees.

The Dark Red, Red Lauan and Tanguile of Luzon prodominate over the light species, and are especially adaptable for fine trim, cabinet work and furniture, due to the fine, firm texture.

The Dark Red of Mindanao and the other Southern Islands is somewhat lighter in color and is softer in texture, which makes it rnore adaptable for boat planking and the manufacture of plywood. In these Islands the light red species predominate over the dark red.

Summing up, beautiful Philippine Mahogany is no doubt the favorite of the American public due to its plentiful supply and economy in cost and its adaptability for the average home builder's needs.

The first sawmill built west of the Mississippi river was built at what is now Vancouver, Washington, in 1827 by Dr. John Mcloughlin, Hudson's Bay Factor at Fort Vancouver. It sawed Douglas fir, America's most widely used lumber species.

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For Show

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To Choose F Rom

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