Natural rattan that lives in tropical forests has many benefits and a strong material to be made into high-priced product. Natural rattan is considered an environmentally friendly product because it can grow without harming other plants, when natural rattan is harvested it will be able to grow back in almost two years. With the presence of rattan, the wooden community will be preserved. Natural Rattan has a diameter of 2 to 5 cm, has long segments, not hollow, and has small thorns that are useful for avoiding attacks by opponents, including humans if they want to touch it. When cut down, rattan plants will let water out where the functions is to survive in the wild nature. It should be noted that rattan is a source of food for the Javan rhino, which is now extinct. Let’s plant rattan for the preservation of forest and forest animals.
Rattan has a fast development to grow and harvest, so that export needs will be maintained and provide a large enough contribution to the forest ecosystem because it minimizes continuous logging.
Nowadays, natural rattan used for the world of furniture industry, natural rattan loves by people from other countries. Many orders for export abroad. The rattan will be cleaned to remove the thorns and will be boiled first before they are become as furniture. There are 2 procedures for processing rattan :
- For large rattan using kerosene and small rattan will go through the fumigation process with sulfur
- Then, The rattan will be processed into woven materials such as pitrit, lessio, core, peel, and is usually used for handicraft materials.
Rattan has many benefits in the industrial sector, the raw material with rods and segments can be transformed into quality materials and high selling value to be exported abroad. Natural rattan has a distinctive smell that makes buyers popular. It is said that the strong smell of natural rattan can repel insects that appear in the house. Rattan is lighter than wood and easy to shape.
Along by the time, the production of rattan continuously increase. An imitation of rattan made from plastic material or we can name it Synthetic rattan. The synthetic rattan was functioned to keep natural rattan growing in the forest. However, there are disadvantages caused by this synthetic rattan:
- Contains Poison
The poison in this artificial rattan is not permanent, this substance appears when this material is burned. Synthetic is plastic, where the manufacture of synthetic rattan comes from plastic. If the chemicals material that used for Synthetic rattan exposed to fire, it will produce steam and chemical substances which is not good for health.
- The strength is decreased
Compared to the real rattan, the strength of synthetic rattan is lower because its light weight. Synthetic rattan products are not strong enough to support loads, so they are not suitable for table furniture. The craftsmen generally combine synthetic rattan with aluminum, iron, and wood materials. However, natural rattan still looks fresher with natural colors and looks luxurious.
Thus, we still need natural rattan and maintain our forests by maintaining natural rattan as well as possible. Because we need healthy forests, healthy animals, we must maintenance the world for all of us.
