Is Rimu A Hardwood Or Softwood

We have an extensive range of over 40 timber species including nz natives such as rimu tawa kauri matai with exotic favorites macrocarpa american white oak american hard maple american walnut cherry jarrah saligna purpleheart iroko american white ash french oak including solid wooden flooring decking and plywood.

Is rimu a hardwood or softwood.

A stunning timber one of the most beautiful in the world. All trees reproduce by producing seeds but the seed structure varies. It is found mostly on the west coast of the south island currently only a portion of this timber is available to bring harvests in line with sustainable levels. Contains resinous tracheids resin plugs with dark reddish brown contents which look nearly identical to diffuse parenchyma lookalikes substitutes.

It is deep red in colour and is strong and durable. The terms hardwood and softwood refer to the botanical origins of woods and not to their density or physical hardness. This means they ignite much faster and thus can be good as a starter wood to get your wood fire going. Rimu timber has barely discernible growth rings averaging 14 per centimetre.

Softwoods come from cone bearing trees often with evergreen needle like leaves belonging to the botanical group gymnosperm plants with naked seeds. Rimu has moderate durability with the heartwood class 3 being more durable than the sapwood class 4. Rimu is a dense native timber of nz. Medium earlywood to latewood transition.

Rimu is a medium density softwood with a fine textured grain the heart wood is reddish brown. Softwood and hardwood are distinguished botanically in terms of their reproduction not by their end use or appearance. Hardwoods come from broad leaved trees either. The seasoned heartwood which can be beautifully figured is reddish brown or occasionally yellowish with irregular pigmented streaks while the sapwood has a lighter brown tone.

In general hardwood comes from a deciduous tree which loses its leaves annually and softwood comes from a conifer which usually remains evergreen. The middle zone known as coloured rimu has a light brown colour and the sap wood a pale lighter brown tone. Rimu is a fine even textured medium density softwood. Rimu dacrydium cupressinum spruce picea norway spruce picea abies black spruce picea mariana red spruce picea rubens sitka spruce picea sitchensis white spruce picea glauca sugi cryptomeria japonica white cedar northern white cedar thuja occidentalis atlantic white cedar chamaecyparis thyoides nootka cypress cupressus.

Hardwood usually costs more gives off more heat but takes longer to dry than softwood.