tool
Rubber tapping knife
Rubber is extracted from the milk sap (latex) of the heveas. Extraction is
done by tapping the living tree with the tapping knife. The latex is cut
transversely. Therefore, the tap cut is made at an angle of approximately
30 ° to the horizontal plane, causing the latex to run off the cut. A metal
gutter is attached under the cut, through which the latex ends up in the
receptacle (1). The tap knife has a metal curved blade with a U-shaped
curved lip at the end and a straight wooden handle of approx. 10 cm. When
tapping, a strip of bark of about 1.5 cm thickness is cut away with this
sharp lip. The tap knife resembles the timber scribe with which a tree to
be felled is marked and the clog maker's timber scribe with which the
clogmaker applies decorations to clogs. [MOT] (1) See eg VAN DEN ABEELE &
VANDENPUT: 374.