Paulownia trees have attracted great interest, and the genus has developed a substantial “following” in the US over the past few decades. As highlighted in this communication, they have been popular in Asia for a great many centuries. We have invited the author, who has a commercial agroforestry and tree plantation services company, to share some of his passion for this plant which clearly has substantial potential for sustainable agroforestry systems in many areas of the world. Introduction The Paulownia tree has been grown in China for at least 2600 years. It may well hold the record for history’s oldest plantation tree. In ancient times (221-207 BC), a book entitled On Qin Dynasty reported that thousands of Paulownias were planted around Arfang City in China (1). Paulownia wood, a light-colored hardwood, has been revered for centuries by Japanese craftsmen because of its workability and beauty. In the Japanese tradition, Paulownia was used to build kotos (Japanese harps) because of the wood’s superior acoustical quality. Paulownia species probably first came to the United States sometime during the mid-1800s, although researchers have also discovered evidence that the genus Paulownia grew in the northwestern United States in prehistoric times (2). Because the seeds are very tiny and light in weight (1.75 million per pound), the Chinese immigrants often used the seed to cushion their dishes and other breakables when shipping from the Orient. Some seeds undoubtedly escaped and took root. About 1970, a group of Japanese wood buyers, while driving through Virginia, noticed the trees growing wild. The Japanese began buying up these old-growth (P. tomentosa) Paulownia logs. By 1979, U.S. growers established a commercial plot with three acres of P. elongata planted in Polk County, North Carolina.

Paulownia Lumber

Hollow wooden boards

Hollow wooden surfboards are made of wood and Epoxy. Hollow wooden surfboards particularly have no foam in their development. (Sheets made with foam and wood are normally known as compsands or polish sheets.) Various development strategies are utilized within the surfboard and help reduce the heaviness of the finished board. By and large, hollow wood surfboard is 30% to 300% heavier than a standard foam surfboard. The primary motivation, aside from magnificence, is this is an all the more ecologically neighborly strategy for development (contrasted with epoxy and polyurethane techniques) which utilizes quickly developing wood, for example, paulownia, cedar, spruce, redwood, and obviously, balsa.

The present development strategies dive from the 1930s Tom Blake paddleboarding technique, which supports a focal stringer with exclusively formed transverse ribs secured with a skin and rails. A cutting edge elucidation of Tom Blake's work is the border stringer strategy utilized by a few makers, using covered rails as stringers associated with a progression of plywood ribs. This skeleton is then sheathed with 5mm-thick wood strips, making a quick empty board with great flex properties.