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Our products
While other rubber products may use synthetic rubber or mix synthetic rubber and natural rubber, our rubber bands are primarily manufactured using 100% natural rubber because of its superior elasticity.
Raw Materials
Most of rubber bands are made from organic rubber because it offers superior elasticity. Natural rubber comes from latex, a milky fluid composed primarily of water with a smaller amount of rubber and trace amounts of resin, protein, sugar, and mineral matter. Most non-synthetic industrial latex derives from the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), but various equatorial trees, shrubs, and vines also produce the substance.
Within the rubber tree, latex is found between the external bark and the Cambium layer, through which the tree's sap flows. Distinct from the sap, latex serves as a protective agent, seeping out of and sealing over wounds in the tree's bark. To "tap" the substance, rubber harvesters cut a "V"-shaped wedge in the bark. They have to be careful to make their cuts at a depth of between .25 and .5 inch (.635 and 1.2 centimeters) in a mature tree (7 to 10 inches or 17.7 to 25.4 centimeters in diameter), because they must reach the latex without cutting into the sap vessels. They must also take care to tap each tree in a slightly different place every time. At the end of the nineteenth century botanist Henry Ridley began recommending this measure, having noted that repeated tapping in the same spot swiftly killed rubber trees. After workers make a cut, latex oozes out and collects in a container attached to the tree. Tapping takes place every other day, and each tapping yields about 2 ounces (56 grams) of the substance. After tapping, the cut dries, and latex stops flowing in an hour or two.