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BELIAN
WOOD
Belian is the standard local name
in Malaysia for the Botanical Tree called EUSIDEROXYLON ZWAGERI and
it’s also commonly known as the Ironwood of Borneo. This heavy
hardwood comes from the family of LUARACEAE and the distribution of
it occurs in Sabah and Sarawak throughout the lowlands particularly
on low-lying alluvial areas.
Belian trees may reach a height
of 100ft with trunk diameters of exploitable trees up to 36”
(90cm). This durable sinker wood seasons slowly becoming black with
age and according to the book “The Prehistory of Sabah” by Tom
& Barbara Harrison, it is said that “in the open, in this
climate(tropical), only the hardest wood, such as belian, lasts
more than a century, never two.” The hardwood is rated as very
durable with a service life of 50-100 years in ground contact being
reported immune to termite attacks. A service life of 20 years and
more for marine work in tropical waters is reported. Belian is
normally used for heavy construction, marine work, boatbuilding,
piling, printing blocks, specialty furniture, industrial flooring,
roofing shingles and tool handles. This wood has a tendency for
checking and splitting but with due care, this problem may be
rectified easily.
The general characteristics for
belian may be described as having heartwood that is light brown to
almost bright yellow in color when freshly cut, darkens on
exposure to a deep reddish brown or very dark brown or almost
black. The sapwood is bright yellow in color and it also darkens on
exposure, sharply defined. The texture is find and even, grain is
straight or only slightly interlocked somewhat lustrous and it has
a lemon-like odor that persists with no marked taste.
A closer look at it from the
microscopic view would see that vessels are medium sized and
generally evenly distributed. While mostly solitary, some are in
groups of 2-3 with a slight tendency to arrange in oblique lines.
Tyloses are abundant. The wood parenchyma is moderately abundant
with paratracheal parenchyma predominating, vasicentric to aliform
and confluent. An occasional narrow band of apotracheal terminal
parenchyma occurs and finally, the rays are fine.
Pieces of recycled Belian Wood
aiming for the Green Label (i.e.) International Trademark For
Conservation is created out of love for the Environment and Human
Life. Saving the resources that is going to be depleted and that
will take lots of time to replace.
Educating the public on
conservation and telling them about the beautiful and quality
things that can be created from manufacturing old shingles, houses,
staircases etc. picking up wood/driftwood that is carved by nature
will come naturally.
Indeed there are one hundred and
one thing that one can do to conserve the nature. It was given to
us centuries ago and it seems to wither with time. Save our
Rainforest. You will see and feel a whole lot of difference in a
land full of greens.
The outcome is a 90-95% local
inputs in terms of raw materials, labor and certainly will
qualifies as made in Sarawak products.
Belian
PESUT (Dolphins)
Sarawak's very own Irrawaddy
Dolphins known locally as "Pesut", this rare mammals can be spotted
in close proximity around the Santubong waters.
Carved from a piece of discarded
wooden belian shingle from a construction site in Kuching, Sarawak,
this belian wood originally located at Balai Ringin between Serian
and Sri Aman, home for a lot of belian trees.
Heart, tree, hornbill, cross and
all the other belian made products not mentioned are carved from
shingles found in the same location as Belian PESUT. |