Woods Considered Hardwoods

Most common hardwoods.

Woods considered hardwoods.

Check out the national hardwood lumber association for ways to support sustainable forestry. Exhibited by actual specimens and with copious explanatory text by romeyn b. Unlike the conifers or softwood firs spruce and pines hardwood trees have evolved into a broad array of common species. Following is a list of common hardwoods and their characteristics.

If you can try to buy wood from a sustainable forest commercial tree farms that ensure the supply of the wood. 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. Ash is a white to pale brown wood with a straight grain. Hardwoods are considered to be broad leaved trees as opposed to conifer trees.

Hough us forest products laboratory characteristics and availability of commercially important wood from the wood handbook pdf 916k. 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. Citation needed in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen hardwood which come from angiosperm trees contrasts with softwood which are from gymnosperm trees. Types of wood comparing american hardwoods softwoods and tropical hardwoods.

There are a wide variety of hardwood forests in the united states and around the world. Ncsu inside wood project reproduction of the american woods. 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.