A technique for high-density wood softening in the micro-sectioning process for wood anatomy studies

Abstract

Wood identification for commercial applications is important and has a significant demand worldwide. Microscopic wood identification involves many processes such as softening, sectioning, and data analysis. Softening of wood is a crucial method for obtaining good sections for microscopic analysis but softening high-density wood is difficult. An alternate method of softening high-density wood for wood identification is presented. Different concentrations of alkali, NaOH, were tried, and optimized for different treatment times to obtain adequate softening of high-density wood. 20% NaOH treatment for 5 days at 30°C was used to soften high-density wood of variable density between 1 and 1.118 g/cm3. The species studied were Calophyllum spp., Shorea robusta, and Handroanthus spp., in which softening was satisfactory.