What Is Hardwood And Softwood And Types
Following is a list of common softwood varieties and their characteristics.
What is hardwood and softwood and types. Types of wood comparing american hardwoods softwoods and tropical hardwoods. Wood products are known for their natural beauty but when selecting a type of wood for your next cabinetry flooring furniture or millwork project it is important to also consider the level of durability by understanding the difference between wood types. This is a list of woods most commonly used in the timber and lumber trade. This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a.
Classifying wood as either a hardwood or softwood comes down to its physical structure and makeup and so it is overly simple to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods. Unfortunately douglas fir hardwood flooring is one of the softest types of hardwood flooring. Trees with seeds that are enclosed such as within a shell or fruit are categorized as hardwood. A few well known hardwood species are oak maple and cherry but many more trees share hardwood tree characteristics.
North american softwood species have needle shaped foliage instead of the leaves found on hardwood trees. It s damaged easily if the proper care and maintenance aren t taken on a regular basis. Douglas fir is a slightly under the average priced type of hardwood flooring. So what is a softwood tree.
Softwood lumber is highly versatile and beautiful making it ideal for structural applications as well as interior and exterior designs and projects. The most common type of cedar is the western red variety. This type of wood is relatively soft 1 on a scale of 1 to 4 has a straight grain and has a slightly aromatic smell. Wikimedia commons coming to the reproductive description in botanical terms softwood trees are gymnosperms whereas hardwood trees are angiosperms the seeds of hardwood trees will have a shell or a fruit.
A guide to the grain. The primary distinction between hardwood and softwood is based on the reproductive biology of the tree species. More specifically the type of seeds produced by a tree determines whether it is hardwood or softwood. Other types of hardwood trees in american forests include.
Botanical difference between hardwood and softwood gymnosperms and angiosperms image.