Penggunaan kayu bermutu rendah

Low quality of wood is usually produced by a group of low wood specific gravity and sometimes is called group of light or very light wood. Current utilization of these wood is very specific and very narrow, due to their basic properties which do not support more broader wood map. Old definition of wood quality determined commercial wood on the basis of mechanical properties and suitability to construction end-use. Three species of the group are discussed in this paper, namely balsa, randu and kemiri. Wood processing technology has been fastly developed and being introduced with hightech instruments conlinously. This technology will improve simultaneously quality of wood processing products to meet high standard of modern world. Some wood processing which produce modified wood, plywood, particleboard, mineral bonded board, fiberboard and composite board are considered as appropriate technology for utilizing low quality of wood to produce high standard wood panel. Results of some research on group of low wood specific gravity showed that PEG-1000 modified wood improved its stability without sacrificing surface quality in wood finishing. Higher percentage of fibers in the wood makes a better chance of construction utilization. The three species showed good results and they are very promising to meet the standard of wood panel. Keywords low density wood, utilization