The shortage of wood (due to resource depletion) for furniture coupled with its high and fluctuating costs has increased the zeal for many researchers to seek for alterna­tives. OPW in the form of solid residues such as EFB, OPT and OPF have been used currently in producing good quality furniture (Abdul Hamid et al. 2005). The high — density gradient which exists along the radial and longitudinal direction of the OPT makes it less attractive to be used either as lumber or plywood (Loh et al. 2011). However, other studies have improved upon these properties to make OPT suitable for high-quality lumber. Abdul Khalil et al. (2010) have used OPT and EFB in pro­ducing special plywood using phenol formaldehyde. They concluded that hybridi­sation of EFB with OPT produced a better quality plywood in terms of bending strength, shear strength and screw withdrawal compared to that produced from OPT alone. Pretreatment of OPT veneers with low molecular weight phenol formalde­hyde (LMWPF) improves its surface roughness and density in which the plywood produced is able to control liquid penetration to more than 30 s (Loh et al. 2011). Hoong et al. (2012) recently reported on a new method of producing high bonding strength plywood (of 259% stiffness) from OPT using low molecular weight phenol formaldehyde (LmwPF) resin. Other studies (Paridah et al. 2006; Anis et al. 2003; Sulaiman et al. 2009) have also produced high-quality plywood from OPT. Laminated veneer lumber from OPT together with other palm furniture has been produced and on sale in Japan (Abdul Hamid et al. 2005).

The production of binderless particle boards from OPTs (Lim and Gan 2005; Ratnasingam et al. 2008) and steam-exploded pulps and fibres from the OPF (Laemsak and Okuma 2000) has been reported. OPW solid residues have also been utilised for the production of fibreboards as furniture, building and wall-partitioning materials (Wahid et al. 2005).

In most parts of Africa and some parts of Asia, OPLs are traditionally used as roofing and partitioning materials of huts and mud houses. In order to make the roofs durable and strong, clay is used to bind the OPLs to the ceiling beams of the hatches.

Processed palm wood is found to be resistant to termites, mould and wood rot thus makes them applicable for use in both moist and dry conditions. Again, the production of palm wood for furniture is reported to be environmentally safe (emitting about 1.5 kg CO2/kg product) compared to the production of steel, aluminium and glass with CO2 emissions of 23.9, 12.0 and 8.4 kg CO2/kg product (Wahid et al. 2005).