Abstract

The present study shows that kerosene alone can serve as the best cooking oil for curing rattans to obtain comparatively better skin colour (ivory-white) and appearance. This makes the oil-curing process of rattans more economical, as kerosene is much cheaper than diesel and coconut oil. Further, the study on the effect of kerosene curing on the physical and mechanical properties of all the three diameter classes (small, medium and large) reveals that none of the properties like density, shrinkage, modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) in static bending and maximum compressive stress (MCS) was adversely affected maintaining the original utilization value. The cooking time for kerosene-curing of all diameter classes of rattans is also standardised