Is White Wood A Hardwood Or Softwood

Exhibited by actual specimens and with copious explanatory text by romeyn b.

Is white wood a hardwood or softwood.

For example balsa wood is known as one of the softest and least dense types of wood yet it is categorized as hardwood. Hough us forest products laboratory characteristics and availability of commercially important wood from the wood handbook pdf 916k. The definition of a hardwood is wood that comes from a deciduous tree which differs from its softwood counterparts in significant ways deciduous trees lose their leaves in winter but coniferous. North american softwood species have needle shaped foliage instead of the leaves found on hardwood trees.

Carvings lumber musical instruments electric guitar bodies veneer plywood and wood pulp and fiber products. Prices are in the lower range for a domestic hardwood though larger carving blocks are more expensive. Fir is divided into different groupings with the primary species in the western united states including white fir all belonging to the white fir group. This wood has a soft red brown coloration with a fine straight grain and a smattering of knots.

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. Softwoods come from conifer trees or cone bearing trees. Similarly wood from the yew tree which is one of the toughest woods and is harder than most types of oak is classified as softwood. This wood species is not listed in the cites appendices or on the iucn red list of threatened species.

But as the classification of balsa wood demonstrates there is no minimum weight requirement to become a hardwood. 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. Many species of fir have excellent stiffness to weight ratios especially white fir which rivals other softwood species such as sitka spruce known for its combination of low. In the world of building materials you can compare pine to a hardwood such as oak by thinking of it as a helicopter in relation to a commercial airliner.

Ncsu inside wood project reproduction of the american woods. The reason why we have included this wood in our list of softwoods is that people tend to consider cedar as hardwood but no it is a softwood. The wood from conifers is classified as softwood because with a few exceptions it s softer than the wood from deciduous trees which is classified as hardwood.