Coss Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Well it seems that the rather infrequent and minimal money I've given to MiWiMee's parents, has been turned into a Rubber Tree plantation that is now ready to to begin tapping. I'm almost temped to award them a gold star. Now MiWiMee wan't to get them a machine to process the raw latex so that they get a higher price. I'm not concerned about the money because it's only about 3 nights in Cowboy. My question is for those who may know, what kind of machine might this be? I'm curious and Woogleiki hasn't helped. My understanding is that chemicals of various flavours are added to the latex and then off it goes to giant big factories overseas. But a machine? Any ideas gratefully received Coss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous God Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Smoked Latex get's a higher price than raw latex, then there is processed. My thinking is it's for smoking, without knowing what you spend it seems in the ball park. Another thing they can do, and other more entrepreneurial people do, is to go around, buy the raw latex, and then smoke and sell. Smoke and sell though = smell, it stinks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted October 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Probably smoking then - 20K baht ish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted October 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Ahh further news, machine for make flat and dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Burma Girls lives down the rubber factory district now. Worst smelling place I have ever been. Down past Bang Na somewhere...Prakanong or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage_Kwai Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Seen the said machine in action. Think of mechanised squeegee. The tappers really have two options. They tap the rubber tree, and the sap collects in the cup. They then do the round again, either collecting raw sap, or mixing in a small amount of 'Naam Got' (think it's sulphuric acid) and leaving it to set in the cup. The third round is to collect the set sap. If they just collect the sap, they either sell it raw, or process it with said machine - first the 'Naam Got' in the vat, then when it starts to solidify they put it on the bed of the machine and it is compressed, wringing out some water in the process. They are not smoked, but do fetch a slightly higher price than the stuff left to coagulate in the cups. The place where I saw the machine in action, they don't use it all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Burma Girls lives down the rubber factory district now. Worst smelling place I have ever been. Down past Bang Na somewhere...Prakanong or something. Would that be the Vulcanization process? It uses sulpher so I would expect a rotten egg smell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizardKing Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 mixing in a small amount of 'Naam Got' (think it's sulphuric acid) Giv3n that à ¸Âà ¸³à ¸¡à ¸°à ¸–à ¸±à ¸™ is gam-man-tan and means sulfur, you are likely correct, 'cuse I cannot explain mianky. Sorry, my Thai knowledge & dicto3nary is execeed by this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage_Kwai Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 LK, No, Sulphur would be used for vulcanisation. The process I'm describing is only to get the latex to coagulate into a solid so it's more manageable before it gets processed elsewhere into whatever product it is destined for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddave Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 I met a girl in Pattaya last week who showed me a video she had made of her family's latex processing operation in Si Saket. The coagulated latex is shaped into a loaf kind of like bread dough, then flattened into a rectangle about a foot and a half by a foot and several inches thick. The latex is then fed into a heavy roller device not unlike a washing machine wringer. After 4 or 5 passes through the wringer, the latex sheets are about 4' long and 2'wide and only 1/4" thick. They are then hung on a line to dry in the sun for several days. She said that they sell the cured sheets to a buyer that doesn't want them smoked. They are used in the production of foam pads for bedding. I didn't ask her how much she got per kilo but she did say that they made pretty good money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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