Almaciga Resin
Almaciga resin is one of our major forest products exported to other countries. It is widely
known as Manila Copal. Some of its industrial uses include paint glass, varnish, plastic, linoleum, printing ink, and fuel for torch.
Almaciga tree grows in almost all mountainous forests, but most particularly in Quezon, Zambales, Palawan, Cagayan, Abra, Kalinga Apayao, Nueva Vizcaya, Samar, Zamboanga and Davao. High export quality products are those that come from Palawan and Quezon.
Procedures:
1. Almaciga tree with 35.5 cm. diameter can be tapped for resin.
2. The total length of the cut is about 1/3 of the total tree circumference.
Each cut is 30 cm long and 1-12 cm wide with a 30 cm space between each cut.
3. More cuts could be made out of a big trees compared to small ones. A tree with 115-155
cm diameter maya be cut 5-6 times while only one for smaller trees.
4. The quality of resin taken during summer is higher than those taken during season.
5. Resin has a higher quality if it is clean. Cut hardened resin into small pieces, soak in water
for a week, then air dry.
Grind firmly and place in 95% ethyl alcohol to melt. First class quality resin melts in 97% ethyl
alcohol.
6. Almaciga trees grown in lowland produce more resin than those grown in the highlands.
The bark from the lower part of the tree is soft and thick and produce more resin.
Source:
Tekno tulong