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A Hand-wrought Rubber Tapper's Knife
This description of the production of rubber from the tapper's first cut to the finished rubber sheets is based on the traditional methods of in Malaya where the only machine used was a hand-turned ‘mangle’. Modern advancements have long since mechanized the task although the tapping remains a skilled job for the man and his knife.
This hand-wrought tapper's knife (above) has a split wooden handle with a very sharp V shaped blade at the working end. It is 37cm long overall.
All natural rubber originates in the Hevea tree, and the rubber story starts when the tree is tapped by its ‘Rubber Tapper' well before dawn, as the coolness of the early morning improves the latex flow and hence the amount of rubber collected in the latex collecting cups. Trees are rarely tapped more often than once every two days. At each tree a sharp knife like this one is used to shave off the thinnest possible layer from the intact section of bark. The cut must be neither too deep, nor too thick. Either will reduce the productive life of the tree. This starts the latex flowing, drip after drip into the cup he attaches to the tree.
Because this work requires accuracy and is completed in the dark, each tapper will have a headlight which keeps his hands free to manipulate the knife. In the early days these were simply oil lamps which burnt kerosene (paraffin) via the medium of a cotton wick. Provining an open flame and with no reflector these were barely adequate for the job. Thus they were soon replaced by the carbide lamp which burnt acetylene. With a reflector and a controllable flame, these greatly improved the tapper's efficiency. Of course these were then replaced with battery powered lamps.
As the heat of the day increases the flow of latex will slow down and by noon or soon after, the cut will have congealed and the latex will have stopped flowing. Now the rubber tapper has to return to each of his trees in turn and empty the latex collected in the cups into buckets or other containers. When all the latex has been collected the tapper will carry his yield in two containers (normally on ‘coolie poles’) back to the rubber factory, smokehouse or in the case of a rubber smallholding, to the smallholding’s latex collection centre. After the manager has tested the specific gravity of each tapper’s latex (to make sure it has not been watered down) the yield of each individual is weighed and marked down, for the tapper is paid by the weight he brings in.
Next the latex is poured into moulds and formic acid is added to coagulate the liquid latex, which transforms it into a firm, white, solid block of rubber. The block is then rolled using a wooden roller so that it becomes a sheet thin enough for it to be further rolled by the mangling machine which is operated exactly as the old washing mangle used to be. This is the only machinery required by the rubber factory. Once thin enough to enter the mangle rollers, the thick sheet is rolled through the mangle several times making it thinner by squeezing out the water. This makes it easier to dry.
The finished rubber sheets are then transferred to the ‘smokehouse’ for drying in hot smoke although some smallholders could just air-dry them underneath their house. As they dry the sheet changes colour to a golden brown. Once fully dry they are formed into bales of different grades depending on quality and size and sold to the rubber dealer.
To read more about the history of Rubber Plantations and Tappers, click here.
To read more about the Rubber Tappers Carbide lamp, click here.
To read a summary of an article entitled “A Collection of Old Latex Cups”, click here.
To view the Patent sketch and description of "Latham’s Spout and Cup Holder", click here.