- Copal resin - Smoking resin -

- Copal - (Natural resin/Smoked resin)

We offer here a copal of best quality for industrial customers in large quantities, as well as for small customers.

Copals are recent fossil resins of different origin. They are found in the surface layer of the soil (about 3 meters) and they are usually "dug". The pieces are a few centimetres in size. After digging, the copal pieces are cleaned, partly mechanically and partly chemically with soda or potash solutions.

There are different systems for distinguishing copals: according to their botanical origin, we distinguish agathocopals formed by conifers (parent plants: various Agathis species) and true copals formed by caesalpinioids.
Another classification, more common nowadays, is made according to the geographical origin. In this way copals from East Africa, West Africa, cowrie copals from New Zealand and New Caledonia, manila copals from the Philippines or the Sunda Islands and South American copals are distinguished. Depending on the exact country of origin the copals are then called e.g. Manila copal, Congo copal or cowry copal.
A third classification takes into account only the hardness of the resins and divides them into hard and soft copals. To the hard copals belong here after e.g. Zanzibar, Sierra-Leone, Benguela and Angola copal. Some soft copals are Accrakopal, Kauri and Manila copal.

In general, copals are characterized by their hardness, high melting point and low solubility in alcohol. Among themselves, copals can also be distinguished by these and additional characteristics such as texture, shape and size, color, transparency and fracture.

Use of copal:

• high-quality paints & varnishes
• as fumigation resin