Chapter 1136: Corkwood

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

From time to time, a cheer would be heard from a warehouse, which would make some

treasure hunters run over to see who managed to win what.

For treasure hunters, the auction was a harvest feast.

Of course, not every warehouse had valuable goods. Often, when people started

moving the things from a warehouse and classifying them, they would find out they had

lost rather than gained.

When Li Du opened a warehouse, treasure hunters from Flagstaff City gathered around

and asked, “What is in there?”

The warehouse was full of old tarpaulins, which Godzilla and Big Quinn tore open to

reveal some brown-yellow planks.

“A pile of boards,” said Big Quinn.

Dickens wondered, “Boards? Big Li, is this Asian mahogany?”

“No, they aren’t,” said Li Du.

“What’s this?” someone else asked.

Li Du went over and patted the boards, inhaling their smell. He said with a smile, “If I am

right, these are all corkwood planks, and looking at their pattern, I think they are used to

make floors.”

“Corkwood floorboards? Wow, you made a killing this time,” exclaimed Ollie.

Someone promptly asked, “Corkwood floor? What is that? I haven’t heard of it before.”

“So ignorant,” Ollie gave the treasure hunter a despising look. “Corkwood floors are the

best. Not only is this high-grade real wood, but the floor can hold up a person’s weight

steadily when stepped on. It’s pleasantly springy, like stepping on very stable foam.

Compared to floor mats, they are made of natural products and are more secure. It

doesn’t matter if a baby touches or even licks the floor.”

A group of treasure hunter said with envy, “So these are such high-end goods? I've

never heard of it.”

Looking at the envious expressions of the treasure hunters, Li Du smiled, gave Ollie a

push and said, “Stop that. Don’t put up stories anymore, they actually believe you.”

“So it’s not true?” asked Carl.

Ollie laughed and said, “You are so stupid. Of course not. You might not have seen a

corkwood floor, but haven’t you seen a cork from a wine bottle?”

“Are these the same? Li, you tell me. I don’t believe what this bastard Ollie said,” asked

Big Beard Carl.

Li Du smiled and nodded. “Yes, corkwood floors, like wine corks, come from the bark of

cork oak.”

Cork oak was a unique tree. As the saying goes, People are afraid of hurting their

hearts and trees are afraid of hurting their bark. The bark of a corkwood tree would grow

a layer of cork, and stripping this layer would not affect the tree.

Cork was made from this layer. The cork used for wine bottles was of prime quality and

was carved from freshly peeled bark.

However, the corkwood tree had a long growth cycle. It had to be 20 to 30 years old

before the first harvest, and then one could harvest the bark once in nine years. The

quality would not be good if the tree was peeled often or too early, and it would hurt the

tree.

As the wine production expanded, the cork supply was insufficient, so only high-end

winemakers could still afford to use this kind of whole cork. Ordinary wine bottle corks

were made of broken bark pressed together, making a composite cork.

By analogy, compound floors were made of broken wood and compressed using

sawdust and wood chips, and corkwood floors were compressed with corkwood bark as

the main material.

Li Du, who had seen an issue of National Geographic, gave a brief lecture on the tree

and the wine corks.

The most abundant source of cork on earth was Portugal. After the cork bark was

peeled off, the manufacturers would dig out the high-end wine corks from the bark first,

then smash the leftovers into a pulp to make other cork products.

Europe and America were currently under a wave of interest in red wine. Corks were

becoming a collectors’ item., Rich people liked to collect red wine, ordinary people liked

to collect red wine corks, and some people liked collecting both.

Most corks on the market were not worth collecting, and composite corks would soon

break or disintegrate into sawdust.

A really good cork could be cut into pieces, just like real wood.

Since only high-grade wine had that kind of cork, it served in the appraisal of wine

quality. Wine could be judged by its cork. Wine with whole-wood cork would not be of

bad quality.

Since cork tree bark was in high demand, the value of the cork floor was self-evident,

and would not be too low.

In the United States, on average, real corkwood floor would cost 200 to 300 dollars per

square foot. Even in a house with just a 1000 square feet, it would cost at least two to

three hundred thousand to lay out corkwood floors.

This was the price of common cork floor, but the corkwood floorboards that Li Du won in

his bid were actually made of real corkwood. This meant they were carved out whole

and made into boards.

Because this kind of cork floor had one-piece boards, it had better waterproof function

and a more beautiful natural decorative pattern, so its price was very high.

In fact, this superior kind of corkwood floor could easily cost ten or twenty times as

much as the regular mashed-up corkwood pulp sort.

Li Du searched the web and found out that such high-grade corkwood floor could sell for

four to five thousand per square foot. Only the rich and famous could afford it.

Most of the warehouse’s contents consisted of natural corkwood floorboards., Each

board was two meters long and half a meter wide, and there were easily more than a

thousand pieces. If he found an appropriate buyer, he could make a few million!

In addition to the corkwood floor, there were other, cheaper planks in the warehouse.

The border control authorities probably didn’t know the value of corkwood flooring. They

piled it together with ordinary wood when they seized it.

To make money from warehouse auctions, treasure hunters had to rely mainly on luck.

Of course, some would lose.

For example, if Li Du did not have the ability to reverse time and see the source of the

floorboards, he would not know their value and would treat them as ordinary boards.

His good luck did not end here. The two warehouses he opened next contained two

boxes of silver tableware worth one hundred to two hundred thousand in total. He also

found animal hides, such as leopard, otter, and crocodile skins, the value of which was

also very high.

The envious treasure hunters left and began to clear up their warehouses.

When there was no one left, Li Du sent Big Quinn and Godzilla to pick off a large

warehouse with some abandoned cars, which he had gained for $100,000.

He had thought he could easily take over the warehouse, but George entered the

bidding and winning cost him a lot of money.

However, he got the warehouse anyway.

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