Sample preparation: The wood specimen used for testing were prepared from clear defect free rubber wood cut into blocks of 2×5 × 2×5 × 0×5 cm for dimensional stability, water absorption, hardness and chemical resistance tests.
For tensile strength measurements samples were prepared in several steps. The blocks were cut into 11×5 ×20 × 0×7 cm using the standard method (Schneider et al 1990). Half of the samples were shaped into a ‘dog-bone’ shape with a 8 × 4 mm centre portion of 50 mm long, 25 mm of which would be the extensometer gauge length. The other half of the samples was treated with polymer and then shaped. After that each sample was filled in the gauge length region (30 mm at specimen centre) with a fine, flat file to ensure an uniform rectangular cross section in the gauge length. Sample widths and thickness were measured at three places in the gauge length of each specimen and the values averaged to obtain cross-sectional area. Bending test samples were cut into blocks of 10 × 1 × 1 cm.