Veneering and sawing performance of plantation-grown Eucalyptus pellita, aged 7–23 years, in Borneo Malaysia

ABSTRAC

Plantation-grown, high-value timber species producing high-value end products are key to optimising land utilisation in Sabah and Sarawak states in Borneo, Malaysia, while meeting the demand for downstream processing. Eucalyptus pellita is one such species suitable for the tropical climatic conditions and exhibits considerable potential for solid wood and veneer production. The characteristics of E. pellita grown in Sabah, demonstrate the need for an appropriate silviculture management and downstream processing strategy to optimise the quality and quantity of veneer and sawn board. Recovery from E. pellita resources has demonstrated the average volume recovery of dry-graded veneer ranged from 38.1 to 49.5%, whereas the average dried board volume ranged from 48.5 to 57.9%. If E. pellita is to be grown on short rotations as a peeler resource, an appropriate pruning regime is needed to maximise the volume of clearwood. The greatest cause of volume loss was end-splitting in the recovery of veneer and solid timber.

KEYWORDS:

• Eucalyptus pellita
• recovery
• veneer
• end-split
• Borneo

Acknowledgements

This study was conducted as part of the Solid Wood Project undertaken by members of the Borneo Forestry Cooperative (www.borneoforestrycoop.com). Special thanks are extended to Anuar Mohammad, Rebecca Chong and Alexander Hastie from the Sabah Forestry Department Forest Research Centre for assistance with sampling at KB96/22, Charles Garside from Yayasan Sabah at Luasong for access to material and all of the Sabah Softwoods Bhd R&D field staff for support and assistance with field work. The management and staff at Rajang Plywood Sdn Bhd and Cymao Plywood Sdn Bhd are especially thanked for allowing us to conduct the mill trials.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).