Scientific Restoration Of National Shrines And Landmarks In The Philippines By The Forest Products Research And Development Institute Wood Identification Technique

This is the output of 5 contract projects collaborated by the Forest Products Research and Development Institute(FPRDI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) in the last 5 years. Within the period covered, 5 project sites classified as shrines and landmarks in the country were visited and 1,911 items of movable, immovable, furniture and other woodcrafts were identified in the field and the laboratory. DOST-FPRDI developed a practical wood identification in the scientific identification of the samples from the field to the final identification in the Herbarium and Xylarium (CLP1, CLPW) using the authentic samples. Published available literature were also consulted to confirm identification. Simple tools were used in the field i.e., 20x Coddington hand lens, NT cutter, lighter, flashlights, hand gloves and face masks to gather preliminary identification of the woodcrafts. Macro-photographs were also taken for each species of sample examined for the final identification in the laboratory using a Leica stereoscope. Field notes were also gathered from the field i.e., accession number, personal conversation with the curators and the age of specimens. All the woodcrafts were identified with an acceptable level of accuracy (80%) comparable to the newly introduced computer-based xylotron by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) aimed to remove bias in the identification of wood.