Very little thick or blanket crepe is now made on estates in Malaya, so that beyond the mention of that type little need be written. A fair amount of blanket crepe is sold in the Singapore market, but it should generally be regarded as re-made rubber--_i.e._, it may have been prepared from thin crepes, or from native pale sheets, in local rubber-washing factories. In appearance these crepes have a rough finish, and vary in colour according to the crude material employed.
The general preference of the market at present is for a thin, smooth-finished crepe, with a close-knitted surface--_i.e._, free from what is described as "laciness." What effect this looseness of finish can possibly have upon the quality of the rubber is not understood, but the standard type set up by the market must be comparatively free from small holes.
Under existing conditions governing the sale and purchase of rubber, various "standards" are set up. These really have no bearing upon the intrinsic qualities of the rubber, and are concerned almost entirely with superficial attributes. They are necessary in the absence of any proper scheme of evaluation for the establishment of certain standards of comparison, which imply that the rubber is apparently clean, free from certain recognised defects, and has been carefully prepared--as far as can be determined by a superficial examination. Thus the question of "finish" has attained disproportionate importance, but must be respected when preparing rubber for sale.
Under ordinary conditions, thin crepe rubber, as it leaves the finishing machines, has what may be termed "deckled" edges. On many estates, in order to comply with market conditions, the edges of the wet crepe are trimmed, and the trimmings re-made into lengths of crepe. This is done under the impression that the market price is influenced by the evenness of the edges of crepe rubbers.
Again, it sometimes happens that, owing to "wear" of the rolls, the finished dry crepe may show a faint but distinct pattern of mark--a diamond or a horizontal bar. Since these are not accepted under the "standard" comparisons, rubber exhibiting these characteristics does not obtain the top market price. In other words, these innocent and innocuous marks are regarded as defects and penalised accordingly.