Editing Gutta-percha (section)

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[[File:Southern Chivalry.jpg|thumb|right|Lithograph depicting the [[caning of Charles Sumner]] with a cane made of gutta-percha]]
[[File:Walking cane used to assault Senator Charles Sumner, May 1856 - Old State House Museum, Boston, MA - IMG 6685.jpg|thumb|right|The gutta-percha cane used by [[Preston Brooks]] to attack [[Charles Sumner]] on the floor of the [[United States Senate]] in 1856 (in the collection of the [[Old State House (Boston)|Old State House]] museum, [[Boston, Massachusetts]])]]
In the mid-19th century, gutta-percha was used to make furniture, notably by the [[Gutta Percha Company]], established in 1847.<ref name=GPC/> Several of these ornate, revival-style pieces were shown at the 1851 [[Great Exhibition]] in Hyde Park, London. The company also made a range of utensils.<ref>{{cite book |location=London) |first1= |title=Great Exhibition (1851) Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes Into which the Exhibition was Divided: Reports, classes XXIX, XXX |date=1852 |publisher=Spicer Brothers |page=1740 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZdDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1740 |language=en|volume=4}}</ref>

The "[[guttie]]" golf ball (which had a solid gutta-percha core) revolutionized the game.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=James |title=Circles: Fifty Round Trips Through History Technology Science Culture |date=8 September 2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-4976-8 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oz-0bacLB60C&pg=PA86 |language=en}}</ref> Gutta-percha was used to make "mourning" jewelry, because it was dark in color and could be easily molded into beads or other shapes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Loeffel-Atkins |first1=Bernadette |title=Widow's Weeds and Weeping Veils: Mourning Rituals in 19th Century America |date=1 April 2012 |publisher=Gettysburg Publishing |isbn=978-1-7346276-1-9 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxnhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |language=en}}</ref> Pistol hand grips<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/gutta-percha/ | title=Gutta Percha | accessdate=10 January 2025 | author=Clapp, Wiley}}</ref> and rifle shoulder pads were also made from gutta-percha, since it was hard and durable, though it fell into disuse when synthetic [[plastic]]s such as [[Bakelite]] became available.

Gutta-percha was used in canes and walking sticks. In 1856, United States Representative [[Preston Brooks]] used a cane made of gutta-percha as a weapon in [[Caning of Charles Sumner|his attack]] on Senator [[Charles Sumner]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Green |first=Michael S. |date=2010 |title=Politics and America in Crisis: The Coming of the Civil War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x80_kiWmx58C&pg=PA94 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=94 |isbn=978-0-313-08174-3 |via= Google Books}}</ref>

In the 1860s, gutta-percha was used to reinforce the soles of football players' boots before it was banned by [[The Football Association]] in the first codified set of rules in 1863.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/16/football-proposed-new-law-trials-good-idea-kick-ins-flying-substitutions-dribbling-free-kicks-30-minute-halves |title='Faster, sportier, fairer': are football's proposed new law trials a good idea? |work=The Guardian |first=Paul |last=McInnes |date=16 June 2022 |access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref>

Gutta-percha was briefly used in [[bookbinding]] until the advent of [[vulcanization]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bythell|first=Shaun|title=Confessions of a Bookseller|place=Boston|publisher=[[Godine]]|date=2022|page=51|isbn=978-1-56792-722-1}}</ref>

The wood of many species is also valuable.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}