Today's African Timber Notes ---- Preservative - Treated Wood

A few days ago, SHARON received an order inquiry from a Middle - Eastern customer who needed African hardwood preservative - treated wood for plantation support columns. The customer used to use relatively cheap softwood, which was treated with vacuum impregnation for anti - corrosion before use. However, based on the experience of the Chinese market, the service life of this kind of softwood after anti - corrosion treatment is not very long, especially in environments with exposure to sunlight, humidity, or high salt content. It is guessed that after discovering this problem, the customer started to seek African natural hardwood preservative - treated wood to replace the softwood preservative - treated wood.

During the process of serving the customer, it was found that the customer was sensitive to price. In pursuit of low costs, the initial demand was to find cheap AD African hardwood and use it after anti - corrosion treatment. But the customer didn't have enough understanding of African timber and anti - corrosion treatment technology. The customer wanted to use un - dried African hardwood and treat it with the vacuum impregnation anti - corrosion method used for KD softwood. We suggested that this was not feasible. Because for the 5CM*5CM specification of un - dried African hardwood, due to the high moisture content inside the wood fibers of the hardwood itself, whether it is impregnated with anti - corrosion agents or by vacuum impregnation, the anti - corrosion agents cannot penetrate deep into the interior of the hardwood. The anti - corrosion agents can penetrate the wood only about 2MM. It cannot truly increase the anti - corrosion effect. Eventually, the cost increases, but the effect is not good.

Only by using dried hardwood and vacuum impregnation can the best anti - corrosion effect be achieved. But this will increase the cost far beyond the expectation. The following are two common anti - corrosion treatment methods for hardwood used in Chinese factories.

The first method: Simple anti - corrosion impregnation. The treatment is simple, fast, and low - cost, but the anti - corrosion effect is average.

The second method: Vacuum impregnation anti - corrosion treatment. The process is relatively complex, the cycle is long, the cost is relatively high, and the anti - corrosion effect is good.

Finally, considering the customer's cost - control requirements and usage scenarios, the options we provided are as follows:

The first option: AZOBE specification, AIC - quality. The edges can have white bark and knots, but there should be no heartwood, cracks, or AD. It can be used directly without additional anti - corrosion treatment. As an excellent outdoor hardwood used and recognized by a large number of customers, AZOBE has good anti - corrosion performance and is especially suitable for high - temperature and high - salt environments. In China and Vietnam, it is mainly used in the wooden structures of fish rafts in coastal aquaculture, the pile feet, doors, windows, and railway sleepers of wooden houses in the multi - river coastal areas of Bangladesh, and the fences in European coastal areas. During the transportation and use of AZOBE, fine cracks may appear on the surface, but this does not affect the lifespan and strength of the wood.

The second option: TALI, AIC - quality. It does not need anti - corrosion treatment and can be used directly. As a long - standing anti - corrosion wood, TALI has a wide customer base in Vietnam, China, India, and Europe. In Vietnam, which has a subtropical and tropical climate, more than 70% of the world's TALI is consumed. It is used in a full range of scenarios such as outdoor floors, indoor floors, doors, windows, and furniture. It has extremely excellent anti - corrosion performance.

The third option: BILLINGA, AIC - quality. However, BILLINGA has the lowest cost, but its anti - corrosion performance and strength are slightly inferior.