Uses

Essential sandalwood oil obtained from the wood has antispasmodic and antibacterial properties and is an antiviral effective against herpes viruses. The essential oil obtained from the reddish heartwood plays an important role in the perfume industry. In order to obtain the sought-after oil, trees are felled at 30 to 60 years of age. To harvest the heartwood, the felled trunks of the trees used to be left lying on the ground for Nature to take its course. White termites would attack the bark and the soft sapwood, until a few months later only the almost cleanly stripped hard heartwood remained. Today, machines are employed to strip the trees. After this the heartwood is chipped and ground to a powder so that the essential oil can be obtained by means of steam distillation. Sandalwood chippings supplement chewing tobacco and are suitable for smoking on charcoal. Incense sticks can also be made from the ground wood. For this, wood meal is mixed with a binding agent, for example gum arabic, and charcoal, then rolled into sticks and dried.
The sandalwood water which is also generated during steam distillation is used to give a masculine note to aftershave, for instance.