Lacquer Trees in Vietnam

Lacquer is a natural product extracted from various species of trees in a process similar to the extraction of latex from rubber trees or of resin from pine trees. Lacquer trees seem to grow only in Asia but seveal kinds of them can be found there and the lacquers they produce differ greatly in properties, qualities and chemical composition.

As it is almost the rule for natural products the terminology is rather imprecise and based on vernacular, local names rather than on scientific standards. This may generate misleading confusions. The eariest one of course is not to distingiush between the various products which are sold under the name of lacquer or lacquer paint: this designation has gained generic as well as natual orginne, giving a glossy surface, even if it has no relationship whatever with true natural lacquer from China, Japan, Cambodia, Thaiand, and of course Vietnam. So it needs a good eye ad some training to recognize some artificial lacquers fom natural ones.

The asia lacquer-poducing tees are members of the two closely related Rhus and Malanorrhea species of the same Anacardiacieae family: Rhus Succedanea grows in China, called “Tsi-Chou” by the chinese. In the North Vietnam one finds a very close relative, Rhus Vernicifera. In Laos, Thailande and Burma, the “Rhus Mannorrhea”, while in Cambodia row various kinds of Malanorrhea this later being also the specie found in South Vietnam.

Although the Japanese claim that their native product is supperior to all other, it is generally recognised tat the lacquer from Rhus Succednea produced in China and Vietnam is of the best quality. This specie is the only one, apparently, to be grown in plantation, at least in Vietnam. All the other lacquer trees grow in the wild ad the lacquer is simply collected by the local people.

Many wild lacquer trees reache big sizes, up to 20 meters hiht in some cases, and live a long life, while the Rhus Succedance found on the plantation emain a small, young tree which is replanted every few years. Even so the culture of lacquer-tree in Vietnam is restricted to the Northern provideces, secially to the province of Phu Tho which has esablished reputaion of producing the best lacquer of the country.

The market for lacquer has been fluctuating widely through old and recent time and planting lacquer trees has become a less and less financially rewarding occupation, especially when the political tension and war between Vietnam and china stopped the exportations to this country that was traditionally a major importer. This explains that mainly women and children cater for plantations. This culture has nevertheless some economic importance because it brings a well income to the poorest farmers and because the lacquer trees grow on the lands too poor to support and more productive crops: the plantations are established on hill slopes too difficult to irrigate and too steep to level into rice fields.

There is however, expectations that this culture could be boosted by finding new and economically rewarding uses for lacquer in industry. The laccol and the saccharides which can be extracted from the lacquer are valuable products with many existing potential uses for the formulation of specialty paints, catalyst for epoxy resins, and as source material for a gamut of fine chemical products. If demand and prices for lacquer could grow, many farmers would be eager to produce more, by extending the planted area, replacing old trees by new ones and boosting production by using fertilizers.

Visiting a plantation of Rhus Succedanea is not a very impressive experience. The trees are small, not exceeding 3 to 4 meters in height, with trunks below 15 cms in diameter. They are planted by the end of Autumn through September at regular intervals every 2 to 3 meters. A few seeds and some natural fertilizer are deposited together in each small hole, some 10 cms deep. The first stems appear in November. A few months later, in April, all the stems from each hole but three are uprooted and by July the last selection is made: only the stronger samplings are left. After one year the trees reach 0.80 meters, after two years some 1.20 meters and after three years or four years, when production stars, they are barely over 2 meters high.

An impressive characteristic of lacquer is its allergy to people. The fact is that raw lacquer is extremely allergen. It is said that some people are so sensitive that they suffer allergy just by passing close to a lacquer tree (the lacquer allergy is called that being eaten by lacquer in popular language). After being filtered and “stir-cooked” it becomes practically harmless. Only those people who are particularly sensitive and easily victims of all kinds of allergy may have some trouble manipulating it if they do not take minimum precaution. Once the lacquer is dry, it is absolutely safe, to the point that it is used to coat the inside of tin cans to preserve pineapple or other tropical fruits. And it is of course used under one form or another to coat and varnish many household objects, including a number of food container…

The extraction of lacquer from the lacquer tree is very similar to the extraction of latex from the rubber trees. Like the latex the lacquer exudes between the bark and the wood and is collected at the tip of V shaped incisions and made with sharp blades and renewed at each collecting session. However, a lacquer tree is much less prolific than a rubber tree and the quantity of lacquer collected at one time is very small. The aluminum or ceramic cups which are utilized for the latex are traditionally replaced, to collect the lacquer, by half shells of mussels which are nailed into the trunk by their sharpened end. In addition to its convenience and low cost, this close-to-the earth technology solves the specific problem of preventing the lacquer to touch a metal that would oxidize and spoil it.

The trees are tapped the year around, early morning, from once up to three times a week, depending of the local practices and on the weather as rain makes the collecting of lacquer impossible: the less water the lacquer contains, the better it is 30 to 35% is considered as a maximum above which the quality drops considerably. The tapping is always practiced before dawn: the lacquer is very sensitive to sunshine and would otherwise oxidize as fast as it slowly driblets into the mussel shells.

The raw lacquer as it comes from the tree, is whitish, very viscous and flows very slowly. Each tree gives an eye drop of lacquer every time it is cut, 3 to 4 grams as an average, at the peak of its strength. In its entire useful life, it will give no more than about 3 kilograms of lacquer.

Tapping begin when the trees are three years old and continue for five more years, but the first lacquer from young trees contains much water and is of inferior quality, while past the 6th or 7th year, the trees become less and less productive. Seven or eight years old trees must be uprooted and replaced by young ones. All the trees give an abundant supply of small, rounded seeds but usually some trees are grown uniquely as seeds suppliers and are not exploited for lacquer.

Once the lacquer is collected, it is left undisturbed over a period of a few months in special round bottomed lacquered bamboo baskets, again to prevent any contact with metal, carefully topped with oil and lacquer impregnated paper cover. During this time the lacquer slowly settles and segregates into several distinct layers as follow:

The “Mat Giau lacquer” is the true soul of the lacquer. It is the best lacquer and it is used and processed other different ones.

The “Gioi lacquer” which is the proper good quality lacquer and consists of two sublayers: “Son Nhat” and “Son Nhi”. Son Nhat and Son Nhi differ mostly by their water content.

+ Son Nhat: is yellowish.

+ Son Nhi is almost colorless.

The “Son Thit” is solid and white. It is used to stick, ket, bo vai.

The “Nuoc Thiec” is aqueous product of the lowest quality, which the Vietnamese mixed with sawdust to make good thick putty.

People can make many different lacquers from the above lacquers according to using aims. There are many ways to process the lacquer such as mix, filter and “stir-cooked”.

Vietnamese lacquer is currently exported to Japan. The Chinese used also to import a lot of Vietnamese lacquer. They specially brought the Son Mat Giau, the rich upper layer which forms only after a long settling time, which they incorporated into their own varnished. The price of lacquer has recently risen considerably and the Vietnamese complain that lacquer was becoming too expensive.

Some illustrative images: