Wood From Mango Trees

[ecline]

Hi,

The wife just bought 3 rai of land in Doi Saket, Chiang Mai. The land was planted with about 170 mango trees, many of which are pretty scrawny. We intend to build a house and live on this property and have no desire to farm mangoes. So we will end up cutting down a LOT of trees. My question is what can mango wood be used for? Is it any good for building salas or similar structures? I guess one would have to dry/cure the wood for it to be usable. Is that even possible in the humid weather and long rainy season? Should I just forget about it and let someone cut the trees down and haul the wood off to make charcoal out of?

Anyway, I am a total newbie when it comes to anything to do with working the land or building anything, so any suggestions are appreciated.

Cheers

[harrry]

try googling mango wood.

lots of ways it can be used.

[Gary A]

If the trees are big enough, the logs be can used for the wood which is good quality for furniture. Most old mango trees are not big enough to log out but they do make very good charcoal. You may get some offers from charcoal makers but the offers would be for very little money. I'd guess that the best you would do would be to give the wood away in exchange for the takers to clean up the mess.

[xen]

Off the top of my head ( could be wrong tho) i think it is often used for wood turning - bowls and plates and so on. - maybe buy yourself a lathe and make some cash that way.

[cooked]

Off the top of my head ( could be wrong tho) i think it is often used for wood turning - bowls and plates and so on. - maybe buy yourself a lathe and make some cash that way.

Maybe the OP will get back to us on that when he has broken a thumb for the first time.

[sscsamui]

Mango wood can be used for your Sala or any out door use. and indoor. Just be sure to dry it well and seal it well

[Ackybang]

Hey ecline.

Upto you of course, but if it was me, I would try to leave as many trees standing as possible - not only will they cool your property down, and offer good shade / air for which you'll be grateful for at certain times of Year, but are also helping the planet - something I believe everyone should be trying to do to some degree these days - they'll help offset your footprint, past and future, aswell as provide a passive income.

You don't need to do much with mango trees - they pretty much look after themselves, and you can collect and sell the fruit quite easily, or let someone else buy the rights to collect it themselves - aswell as eating it yourselves.

Any you must cut down, you can make into charcoal yourself easily and store / use for Years, or sell - around 200 baht a sack these days. The collectors offer around 500 baht a tonne - and don't take up the roots.

Personal taste of course, but where I live, my house is surrounded and enclosed by many different mature trees, and I love the feeling it invokes.

Good luck with your build.

[ecline]

Hi again,

Thanks for the good comments. I had actually looked into the possible uses of mango wood before posting. There just wasn't much info about doing anything other than making charcoal, furniture and decorative bowls and such. We are definitely going to leave in a bunch. Not sure how many yet. Most of the ones we want to cut down are either inconveniently located or are just complete eyesores. Many of these we will replace with other types of shade trees.

Anyway, there are still very many that will have to come down. The guy who put them in put in way too many, or so it looks to us. Does anyone know of an outfit in CM that does tree removal? I have heard that some will cut the trees for free if they get the wood. We have asked around the neighborhood but no one seems to know of anyone.

Thanks!

[Ackybang]

Hey mate - me again.

I had a similar predicament to yours, and had to clear enough land for me to build a house on - an as yet ongoing project. I could have found a charcoal guy to take the trees away - but as I said, they don't uproot the trees - which is a no-no for Thais - certainly the older ones where I live. They consider it unlucky, and say it will cast bad energy over your house, if you build over tree roots - rather like some Westerners say it's bad to build over underground streams / wells.

To that end, I found a local with a tractor, and the trees we couldn't dig out by hand were pulled out, roots and all - cost me a few hundred baht and a bottle of 40.

The subsequent trees were saved, which we then chainsawed up to use on our build, as and when we needed them - you can use strips of the wood to reinforce your formwork, and / or as scaffolding / supports for overhead formwork, when pouring lintels, or beams above ground level, stairs / steps, etc - depending on how you cut it. ( Some of the roots, depending on size, make fantastic natural sculptures / bases for tables, etc.)

This actually saved us a load of money by not having to purchase such wood, ontop of the already astronomically priced 'legal' formwood we purchased, and after using it, we rendered it all down for charcoal, which has lasted us for over a Year so far (we still do all our cooking / water boiling over charcoal everyday, as the kitchen is still not in !).

My Mother in law planted the trees herself Years ago, and I hated having to see them uprooted, but we really had no alternative. I have since, planted hundreds of trees on one of our farms, to compensate for the ones we took up (around 25), so it's all good.

Maybe consider this method if you're stuck, and they share the same superstitions around your area.

Good luck.

[Gary A]

We had to take out a few mango and some other trees and since we already had had an excavator there, he removed the stumps very quickly. I was banging on them with my little Yanmar and it would have taken me forever with a plow to cut the roots and the dozer blade. The excavator took only a few minutes per stump. They guys who cut the trees for the wood, cleaned up the mess and piled up the tops. I burned the tops when they had dried enough.

[ecline]

Hey Ackybang and Gary A,

Thanks for the info and suggestions. Since we have so many trees, we will be tossing a bunch and keeping the wood from as many as is practical. There is another type of tree on the property. Completely unattractive as they have virtually no leaves. But they are really tall and some quite thick around the trunk. They are also ramrod straight and so might be really good for sala or car port posts, or some such thing. How does one dry the wood out? I guess the trunks would have to be stacked up on supports up off the ground and protected from rain? Anybody have experience drying tree trunks ranging in diameter from 6 to 18 inches? Is it even worth trying?

I don't think superstitions are really an issue where we are. The charcoal idea is good. I will look into how to do that since we have the wood and space in spades!

We are going to replace a stand of about 20 - 30 really scrubby mangoes with a rain tree and another stand of equal size with a banyan, at least that is the plan now. In 3 years it should be looking really good :-)

[apache9441]

I would find out a bit more about those 'ramrod straight' trees with not many leaves before you cut them down . maybe we can get the thai name ?

Are you sure its not mahogany or teak ?

[Mudcrab]

I would find out a bit more about those 'ramrod straight' trees with not many leaves before you cut them down . maybe we can get the thai name ?

Are you sure its not mahogany or teak ?

or rubber?

[cooked]

I would find out a bit more about those 'ramrod straight' trees with not many leaves before you cut them down . maybe we can get the thai name ?

Are you sure its not mahogany or teak ?

My first thought also..

[Kiniyeow]

If you still have some trees left, I would love to take some of the wood off from your hands for woodturning! Especially if there is any burls on the trees.

[jingjoke]

'So we will end up cutting down a LOT of trees.'

Not a good idea.I'm with Akky #9 on this.

Cut only the trees occupying the footprint of your house to be. Mango are delicious, require no supervision, provide shade, and can be sols or preserved, even the kids would love one or two to pickk on the way to school.

When one considers the time needed for a tree to grow to maturity, cutting it down seems cruel at the least.

[AA1]

Ecline.

When I did business between Thailand and England, before I moved here permanently, as an extra from Thailand I used to import turned Waste Paper baskets made out of old mango trees (9+" diameter) and then polished from near Chiang Mai. It was easy to get round tin or square ones covered in fabric BUT they were the only ones that I ever found in England that were turned and polished for Studies, Drawing Rooms or similar quality rooms. I have one beside my desk here in Thailand and would NOT have anything else. There is a market for these if you can find a suitable quality distributor or outlet. We sold a lot and felt that we were helping those who had finished one crop before replanting. Highly recommended IF you you can get the right outlet from wherever you originate from.

Good luck,

AA1.

[Kiniyeow]

if your going to cut some down, is it possible for me to get a few pieces from you?

[mo99]

'So we will end up cutting down a LOT of trees.'

Not a good idea.I'm with Akky #9 on this.

Cut only the trees occupying the footprint of your house to be. Mango are delicious, require no supervision, provide shade, and can be sols or preserved, even the kids would love one or two to pickk on the way to school.

When one considers the time needed for a tree to grow to maturity, cutting it down seems cruel at the least.

Another commonly overlooked problem is Termites! My landlord cut down a lot of trees at my place a few years before I moved in, and we have a huge termite problem now. They are even going after the live trees. If you get rid of trees for what ever reason, I'd recomend adding some mushroom plugs to the stumps to decompose them faster.