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Rattan Introduction

Rattan is a kind of palm tree that grows in the canopy. There are hundreds of different kinds, and the biggest is about 650 feet. Most trees are found in Malaysia and Borneo. For thousands of years people have used rattan for a lot of different purposes. Most rattan is made into furniture, but other uses are for rope and baskets. In the Philippines it is used for hammocks, sleeping mats, fish traps, and baskets. Today rattan is the second most important product after lumber. Millions of pounds are shipped out each year. Many kinds of rattan are threatened because of how much is being cut down. The forests that they depend on are also being cut down mostly because of logging.

Rattan comes from various ASEAN Countries. For example in Indonesia rattan raw materials are collected and half processed before shipping to Surabaya for further process. There are a few popular species, each with different characteristics that are suitable for different parts of furniture.

Straighten the rattan for further process of polishing. Straightening the rattan will increase the out put of polishing; a process that mainly putting the rattan poles into a rotating sand paper to rid off the unwanted skin. Straightening and polishing is a process that needed to be done to rattan with larger diameter.

Production lines to polish rattan poles. Before this process the rattan are sized and put in to size adjusted machines. This process produces high quantity of dust.

Sizing the smaller rattan for further process to collect the skin.

In order to obtain even thickness and uniformity leaves stalk are removed one by one by using special knife.
Extrusion peeling is a process where by rattan poles with various grid are forced through knife to obtain various end result. This particular picture shows a skin removal process.
The waste from extrusion machines account for the highest waste in the raw material process. It is thus important to consider and adjust the size of the knife every time when processing different size rattan.
Different knives used in extrusion peeling.

Operator collects end result of the extrusion peeling. One of few products obtained by extrusion peeling.
The core produced by extrusion peeling takes the shape of starfruit. This core will go through another process to round the diameter.
Fitrit is another product collected from the extrusion peeling.
The skin of rattan is a very valuable component for weaving, locally named webbing. This skin of various width comes from the extrusion machines.

Coming from the extrusion machines the skin is put in to another process that trim the underside of the skin to give it a uniform thickness. The by product produced in the trimming process 018b.

The rattan skin and then glued together to make a long strand ready for weaving. Prior to this process skin of different color are grouped together to make a uniform result.

Storage of rattan strand.

Rolls of rattan strand are then woven to produce fabrication of rattan skin.

Another method of weaving that involve high labor power to pull each single strand of rattan with a spiral like needle.
Stock of woven rattan ready of quality control. Reparation process done of finished sheet. Finished products are stored in a plastic woven bag and sampling is done to measure the accuracy of the weight.

Every purchase is monitored by a sales person to check for the right quantity and quality.
Short poles and uneven sized rattan are sold at a lower price.