Cork is the bark of cork oak. In the Mediterranean, especially in Portugal, it is found that this kind of cork is more than half of the softwood in the world. Trees are an extraordinary renewable resource. The service life of the bark can be harvested every 9 or 10 years - most trees can live for about 200 years. An extremely old tree has a history of 80 years and can produce 440 pounds of cork. This is the raw material to produce about 25000 natural wine corks. Cork is durable, light weight, natural insulation, fire protection and anti-corrosion, and has soft, flexible quality. It can be shaved thin enough to be used as fabrics from handbags to interior decorations. Cork can be layered in a thicker form or on other materials to make excellent furniture and building materials. Handmade websites have a few hundred fantastic ideas for reusing wine corks, from turning them into picture frames to making decorations, and then using them as cleaning knives or containers. Cork stoppers have also been found in the professional design community. There are many beautiful examples in furniture and household accessories.