VENEERS FROM OIL PALM STEMS AS AN ALTERNATIVE FOR FURNITURE COMPONENTS: SOME FINISHING PROPERTIES AND PERFORMANCE

摘要

Earlier studies have shown that oil palm stems can be processed and converted into boards. It was also found that fibres from the stems and empty fruit bunch (EFB) could be pressed to form panel products such as particleboard and medium density fibreboard (MDF). Recently some trials have shown that the oil palm stems can be peeled to form veneers. These veneers are either used as surface materials or further processed to make laminated veneer lumber (LVL) popular product for furniture manufacturing. Further studies are in progress to investigate the potential of the veneers from oil palm stems. This paper will highlight the results obtained from studies on finishing properties of veneers. This study important as indicators and to ensure that the furniture components made from oil palm veneers can be finished easily and give a better finishing value to market demand. It was observed the veneers could be finished to enhance the appearances. The performance of the finishing systems applied found to be satisfactory when the system consist of filler, sealer and topcoat showed the best results.