That's A New One!

[Byron Trantham]

I just got a request to make something from Parawood! Anyone ever heard of it? Is it available? From what I see on the Net, the "unfinished furniture stores" sell furniture made from the stuff. Thanks.

[Mike Heidrick]

Balsa or driftwood

[Jamie Buxton]

It is sometimes also called rubber wood, or rubber tree wood. As I understand it, it is wood from a tree that produces latex. The trees are grown in plantations in the tropics. When the trees get too old to produce latex any more, they are harvested and turned into lumber. The wood seems common in imported wood furniture and knick-knacks, but I've never seen the lumber in US lumberyards.