AFTER the popular virgin coconut oil and the award-winning “coconet” comes the coco shell board.

Living up to its reputation as a tree of multiple uses, the coconut has shown that the shell of its nuts can also be used as wood materials for dining tables, chairs, sala sets, cabinets, frames and other similar products.

Businessman Domingo Ramirez, 48, discovered the latest use of the lowly “bagol” (coconut shell), which usually ends up as charcoal, cooking fuel or handicraft material.

“The coconut shell board is really durable,” Ramirez said. So far, he has already created a dining table and chair, as well as panels and boards from coconut shells.

Experts in a state university in Tacloban City have tested the product for strength, permeability and hardness, he said.

He said he had received orders for coco shell board panels and tiles for making furniture pieces, bar counters, and flooring for an indoor basketball court, but these had been politely refused.

Ramirez explained that although it had been about five years since he started experimenting on the new product, he could not yet produce the coco shell boards in commercial volume due to lack of capital.

He said his group had acquired coco shell crushers and cleaners, and a mixer worth more than P200,000, which would remove the fibers left on husked shells, pound the shells to powder, and treat the shell powder with chemicals.

Patent

Ramirez said he got a government patent for the coco shell board in March 2004.

Now, the imaginative entrepreneur is working on some designs for dining table and chairs at a shop on a vacant lot at Barangay Diit, 8 km from the city proper.

“What we have is a backyard operation,” said mechanical engineer Enrique Sucaldito, 68, who retired from an equipment firm in Manila and now serves as a consultant of Ramirez in the coco shell board business.

Sucaldito owns the property where the improvised factory stands. Ramirez mixes the powdered shells and chemicals in a workroom at the right side of the shop, while outside the enclosed area, metal worker Laurentino Epil makes iron molds for a dining chair.

Sucaldito said he believed that their product could help the country’s economy, provide jobs to people in the rural areas and help preserve the environment.

“Just imagine how many trees could be saved by using coconut shell instead of wood. People can also earn extra income by gathering and selling coconut shells,” he said.

His son, Socrates, has invested P200,000 into the venture. “We thought the P200,000 was a sufficient amount for us to go into commercial production of coco shell boards, but it was just enough for the procurement of the machineries,” Sucaldito said.

Wood substitute

Ramirez said he got the idea of making a coconut shell board when he saw an old coconut shell that had been polished and blackened from years of being buried, but still used as a container.

“It entered my mind that the coconut shell can be made into a strong material that is a substitute for wood,” said Ramirez.

He said it took him two years to perfect the process of making coco shell boards.

At present, Ramirez owns and manages three calling stations, a public Utility vehicle and a fish cage. His extra time he devotes to their plant in Barangay Diit, 10 km from his house in Barangay San Jose on the outskirts of the city.

Wanted: Investors

Ramirez said his income was just enough for his family and he did not have enough money to launch his invention commercially.

He said he tried but failed to get the support of government agencies, like the regional offices of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Science and Technology, as well as some politicians and businessmen.

The government agencies required them to submit a lot of documents, he said. In some cases, his presence was needed in Manila, which meant shouldering transportation, and board and lodging expenses.

Despite their predicament, Ramirez, Sucaldito and Epil continue to work in the factory, hoping that someday their novel idea will benefit many Filipinos.

Source: Inquirer

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 5th, 2006 at 10:09 am and is filed under Craft, Furniture, Handicraft. Tags: Area, basketball, chemicals, Crate, Department of Agriculture, Department of Science and Technology, Design, Domingo Ramirez, Enrique Sucaldito, equipment, Furniture, Laine, Manila, metal, metal work, Money, products, San Jose, Set, similar products, Small, Table, Tacloban City, virgin coconut oil, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.