United States Department of Agriculture Forest Products From Forest Service Latin America Forest Products Laboratory General An Almanac of the State of the Technical Report Knowledge and the State of the Art FPL-GTR-67 Abstract Contents In 1985, the U.S. Congress mandated a program com- Page monly called the Caribbean Initiative. To fulfill their portion of this Initiative, the USDA Forest Service Executive Summary . 1 developed a “Program for Tropical Forestry in Latin Introduction . America and the Caribbean.” This document is part 4 of the Forest Service program, and it was funded by the Part I-Raw Materials legislation for the Caribbean Initiative. Forest Resources. 9 This document is based on an extensive survey (nearly 3,000 documents) of the world literature pertaining to Wood Resources . 16 Latin American woods and their use. It contains a dis- cussion of the resource, the literature, the state of the Part II-Processing knowledge, and the state of the art in actual practice, by primary and secondary processing and by prod- Pulping .................. 39 uct areas within the processing options. A discussion about new initiatives and programs that are needed in Chemicals ................. 52 research, technology transfer, and training is included. Sawmilling ................. 63 In addition, lists of references, the bibliography, and limited lists of the tree species are discussed in the Drying .................. 76 literature. Veneer and Plywood Manufacture ....... 87 Keywords: Tropical timber, Latin America, forest products, research, manufacture Wood Preservation ............. 99 Reconstituted Board Products ....... 109 Part III-End Use Engineered Uses ............. 121 Furniture Manufacture ........... 129 Miscellaneous Products .......... 131 March 1991 Part IV-Areas for New Initiatives and Programs Maeglin, Robert R., ed. 1991. Forest products from Latin Research ................. 135 America-An almanac of the state of the knwoledge and the state of the art. Gen. Tech. Rep. FPL-GTR-67. Technology Transfer ............ 138 Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 151 p. Training ................. 141 A limited number of free copies of this publication are Appendix-Common and Scientific Names available to the public from the Forest Products Labo- of Species Referenced in the Text ratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53705 2398. Laboratory publications are sent to more than 1,000 Common name .............. 145 libraries in the United States and elsewhere. Scientific name .............. 148 The Forest Products Laboratory is maintained in coopera- tion with the University of Wisconsin. Forest Products From Latin America An Almanac of the State of the Knowledge and the State of the Art Edited by Robert R. Maeglin Research Forest Products Technologist Preface Authors Although we recognize that a considerable contribu- R. Sidney Boone, Research Forest Products tion to employment and income in Latin America is Technologist* generated by nonwood products and services from the forests, these are beyond the scope of this almanac. Ex- Valdevino Jose Carlos, Technical Manager cluded are nonwood products such as rattan, leaf prod- AIdo Gandolfi, Jr., Technical Manager ucts, bamboo, cork, honey, fruits, mushrooms, nuts, Montana Quimica S.A. and wildlife. Also excluded are services from the forests Rua Ferreira Viana such as watershed protection, recreation, and tourism. No. 561, 04761 This almanac is primarily concerned with the products Sao Paulo, Brazil made directly from the wood of trees. For example, the state of the knowledge and the state of the art in the Lee R. Gjovik, Research Forest Products Technologist* manufacture of wood pulp for use in making paper are included, but not the state of the knowledge and the Mario Han-Rosenblum, Vice President, Latin America state of the art in the manufacture of paper. Osmose International, Inc. Luis Thayer Ojeda 0115 The literature cited and the accompanying bibliogra- Of. 604, Casilla 4178 phy were largely derived from electronic searches of Santiago, Chile the world forestry and forest products literature from about 1968 to present. Additional searches of the liter- George B. Harpole, Research Forester* ature were made manually for the earlier periods, and James F. Laundrie, Chemical Engineer, Retired* a complete literature search of all USDA Forest Ser- Ronald Wolfe, Research General Engineer* vice, Forest Products Laboratory, research on tropical Duane F. Zinkel, Research Chemist* woods and products was made. Requests for publica- tions from all Latin American institutions involved in *USDA Forest Service forest products research were also solicited. The liter- Forest Products Laboratory ature reviews were augmented by visits to eight Latin One Gifford Pinchot Drive American countries (Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Madison, Wisconsin USA 53705-2398 Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela), with scien- tists in the forests products area, and with personnel in government and industry. Reviews of this document by key scientists in several of the Latin American coun- tries have added greatly to the veracity of its content. More than just a report of the existing literature, this almanac is a synthesis of this information presented in a usable and valuable form. iii Acknowledgments To make this document a working tool, we have endeavored to have all aspects to be as true to actual situations and needs as possible. The only valid way to accomplish this was to have it thoroughly reviewed by several people. We sent nearly 60 copies of the original draft to people who reviewed it and made comments. Without the substantial help of these reviewers, the document would be much less effective. Special recognition is given to Frances Devlieger, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile, for extensive contribution to this document. Our deepest thanks to the following who helped in this effort: Baker, Andrew Hernandez-P., Jorge Posey, Clayton USDA Forest Service INAFAP-CENID-CITECMA Wayne, Oklahoma, U.S.A. Puebla, Mexico Forest Products Laboratory Han-Rosenblum, Mario Madison, WI, U.S.A. Osmose International Inc. Honorato-S., J. Amador Santiago, Chile Buckman, Robert INAFAP-CENID-CITECMA Oregon State University Puebla, Mexico Slooten, Harry J. van der Corvallis, OR, U.S.A. INPA, CPPF Linares-H., Alberto Manaus, Brazil Caballero-D., Miguel INAFAP-CENID-CITECMA Souza, Mario R. de INAFAP Puebla, Mexico IBDF, LPF Mexico, DF, Mexico Brasilia, Brazil Mejia-M., Luis Carlos Carlos, Valdevino Universidad National de Colombia Tinto, Jose C. Montana Quimica S.A., Medellin, Colombia Buenos Aires, Argentina Sao Paulo, Brazil Valladares, Jaime Melo, Roberto Escobar-C., Oscar ICAITI Universidad de Concepcion Guatemala City, Guatemala Universidad National de Colombia Concepcion, Chile Medellin, Colombia Vazquez-S., Q.B.P. Luis Navarrete-A., Jose INAFAP-CENID-CITECMA Gandolfi, Aldo Universidad de1 Bio Bio Puebla, Mexico Montana Quimica S.A., Concepcion, Chile Sao Paulo, Brazil Zavala-Z., David INAFAP-CENID-CITECMA Neumann, Rodolfo J. Flores-G ., Eliseo Puebla, Mexico INAFAP-CENID-CITECMA Universidad de Concepcion Puebla, Mexico Concepcion, Chile Fuentes-L., Martha E. Paz, Jose INAFAP-CENID-CITECMA Universidad de Concepcion Puebla, Mexico Concepcion, Chile Gonzalez, Guillermo Perez-M., Alirio Tropical Science Center Universidad de Los Andes San Jose, Costa Rica Merida, Venezuela iv Executive Summary Prompted by a critical reduction in the tropical Research Recommendations forests of the world and the global implications of such reductions, the U.S. Congress in 1985 mandated Anatomical and Physical Properties a program commonly called the Caribbean Initia- tive. Subsequently, the USDA Forest Service, to ful- 1. Wood anatomists and technologists should keep in fill their portion of this Initiative, developed a “Pro- touch with government and private forest surveys or gram for Tropical Forestry in Latin America and the botanical expeditions to obtain samples of new or Caribbean.” This document is part of that Forest Ser- unevaluated species for testing. vice progam, and it was funded by the legislation for 2. For preferred species of a wide geographical range, the Caribbean Initiative. anatomical and physical property data, on a regional basis, should be assembled for possible use in genetic The USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, control of properties in planting stock. sees this program as an opportunity to effect changes in the utilization of the forests of Latin America that Mechanical Properties will help to slow the diminution of the resource. It may seem that using a resource is hardly the way to con- 1. A network of laboratories needs to be developed serve it, but history has shown that wise use and plac- to evaluate species for mechanical properties using ing a value on a renewable resource can result in its standard testing methods. The methods should be continuation. Such, we feel, is the case with the forests jointly established by the Latin American commu- of Latin America. nity to best serve the local needs for use of the tim- bers in question, as well as the broader world mar- Although this document has been prepared by the kets (see Part II, Veneer and Plywood Manufacture). USDA Forest Service, the execution of our suggestions 2. A coordinating group of representatives from for- will only be possible with the cooperation of many est products research laboratories throughout Latin nations and organizations. We hope