ABSTRAKMother-of-pearl is a monocot plants are flowering and fruiting once and then die (monokarpik). Based on its physical properties, mother-of-pearl trunk can be divided into (3) three parts, namely the center (core zone), medium (the middle between center and edge) and the edges (dermal zone). Until now, the mother-of-pearl at the center of the stem is only used as fodder, because of low density, which ranged between 0.15 to 0.20 g/cm3. Therefore, in this study conducted densification techniques against gewang wood soft part (the center) to improve the physical and mechanical properties. Wood sample compression process is divided into two groups, namely (1) the sample is wrapped with aluminum foil with the hope to function as water vapor heat treatment (stem treatment) and (2) a sample directly felted heat/heat treatment (heat treatment).
