Sometimes, conformity can be boring. A house filled with classic furniture and rigid shapes is fine, but have you been thinking about going a bit explorative and spontaneous? If that’s what has been crossing your mind, then you would consider having furniture made of Suar wood slabs.
Table of Contents
What is Suar wood?
Suar wood comes from the Suar Tree, a tree native to South and Central America, which has been widely introduce to the world, especially in Southeast Asia and the tropics.
In Indonesia, Suar wood was brought in the mid-19th century by the Portuguese as a plantation tree. with the characteristic of naturally fast-growing trees, causing flare trees to spread throughout Indonesia and became a material for furniture and industrial commodities in the 19th century.
Due to the worldwide popularity of beacon wood, Suar wood gets different names wherever it is found. In the West it is often know as Monkeypod, Samanea Saman, Parota, Acacia.
What is a Suar wood slab?
A wood slab is a rough, huge, live edge piece of wood that still preserves the original color, patterns, and bark of the tree. The slab pieces could be crafted into several types of products, ranging from dining tables to countertops. This raw and rugged piece leaves a different sense of elegance that no one would expect before. The materials can be derived from any kind of tree, but one of the wood types that has gained its popularity nowadays to be produced into slabs is Suar wood.
This wood originates from a tropical acacia species that vastly grow in Asia, which has the scientific name Samanea saman. At some occasions, some would also refer to this tree as Asian oak, Trembesi, rain tree, Saman, French Tamarind, or Monkey Pod. Belonging to the mimosa family, Samanea saman is considered one of the trees that can grow quite fast. Its growth pace is approximately 75 to 150 centimeters each year.
No wonder this tree can have potential heights ranging from 17 to 24 meters, trunk diameter of 100 centimeters, and a diameter of 30 meters. What’s even more amazing is, one of the oldest Saman samanea is able to grow its trunk into over 2 m, with a crown diameter of 60 m!
The acacia tree that comes from the Saman samanea species has a particular top shape that resembles an umbrella, and a lengthy, robust root system. This shape allows the tree to acquire as many food supplies as it can due to its immense crown structure. Not only renowned for its strength and size, Saman samanea also has its distinctive beautiful characteristic that can be seen from its flowering period, which commonly takes place in May and June.
Another trivial fact that you should know about this Suar wood tree is the tree’s remarkable ability to fold up its leaves in rainy weather and in the evening. In that way, the rain should be able to cut through the umbrella-shaped top of the tree, which is why you would find some grass grown around the roots.
How is a wood slab made?
Understanding the facts behind a Suar wood slab is enticing, but perhaps you were wondering: how can an enormous tree be processed into a piece of art? Well, it is not rocket science, knowing that most wood slabs still maintain their raw shapes. Yes, that’s the key point.
Apart from the raw edges, a Suar wood slab still needs further treatment to avoid crackings and bendings on its surface. What the craftsmen always make sure is that the natural color will be maintained as pure as possible.
The exquisite shades that make Suar wood beautiful begins on the grain of its heartwood. As the tree grows older and bigger, the heartwood should appear darker. The variety of colors can be seen through the sapwood, which denotes a tint of yellow to white. Continuing to its bark, you can witness the rough gray or brown shades on the wood’s surface. It is just enchanting and timeless.
Rot Resistance: Suar Wood (Monkeypod) is a durable wood material from decay resistance, also resistant to most insect attacks.
What makes a Suar wood slab special?
A wood slab can actually be produced from any type of solid wood. However, there are certain details that you should acknowledge about why Suar wood is a worthy choice for furniture-making.
The Samanea saman trees are commonly found across almost every country in Southeast Asia, which means that this tree is able to grow extensively under tropical climates. Trees that are grown in tropical area have higher stability due to its lack of exposure to climate fluctuations. In addition to its stability, Samanea saman trees possess the structure needed for dealing with year-round heat and rain. Surprisingly, a wood that has this kind of strength is actually easy to work with.
Now, you can imagine having furniture made of a slab derived from naturally weatherproof and stable material. Since the slabs are crafted carefully without leaving its original tree edges, your furniture will at first glance seem asymmetrical. However, there’s beauty in the inconsistency. These imperfect edges that actually make your furniture long-lasting and elegant as ever.
As a cherry on top, the extraordinary colors and grains from Suar wood can definitely catch every eye in the room, so that your furniture would take the whole spotlight.
Is suar wood suitable for outdoor use?
The weakness of Suar wood is that it cracks easily when exposed to heat when outdoors. This weakness makes Suar wood unsuitable for outdoors.
Seeing this quality you should change the type of wood for outdoor furniture. maybe you are better off using teak or other strong wood materials. Although it cannot use as outdoor furniture, Suar wood has the advantage that it is easy to get and take wood with a large enough diameter and prices tend to be cheap.
Suar Wood Products
Suar wood slab can be made into some beautiful furniture products such as suar wood table, suar wood coffee table, side table, stool or furniture accessories can be made from these wood slabs. With the characteristics of the live edge and nice grain pattern, it can be a good choice for fulfilling your home with this kind of furniture.
Suar Wood Table
Suar Wood Coffee Table
But before you decide to buy new one, you need to know about the pro’s and con’s of this wood.
Pro’s
- Suar wood classified as hard wood that has good durability and sturdy. Buying this type suar wood slabs products is good choice for long-lasting invesments.
- Suar wood slabs / top is very popular with its characterstics of natural beauty of yellow on the live edge and brown grain colors. Pattern and colors are natural and thats why many people love it.
- Suar wood can be product subtitutions for other expensive wood materials like teak wood.
Con’s
- Suar wood has high moisture content which makes it prones to cracks, splits, warps, and mold. So, when you buy suar wood slab, important notice is the wood should be very dry. Find suppliers that processed the wood with kiln dry. Unfortunately, the bad news is kiln dry process is take more cost, time, and proper treatments. So be careful in choosing suppliers that has concern on this, not only sell cheap price products.
Conclusion
Suar wood is one of good option for indoor or outdoor furniture, but you need to be very careful in choosing right products and supplier, so you can get the quality one. We will be more than happy to listen to your requirements and help you supply exceptional wood slab products at the best quality. No need to hesitate, Posteak Furniture will help you. You can contact us through [email protected].
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